There are 16 high schoolers--including Class of 2016 graduates--competing at the U.S. Olympic Trials this weekend. In 2012, just eight preps competed at Hayward Field.
Of those 16, one has already qualified for the Games in Rio: Vashti Cunningham, the 2016 high jump indoor world champion who signed with Nike before her graduation.
View the full list of high schoolers competing in the Olympic Trials here.
The number of prep athletes competing at an internationally elite level and signing professional contracts has drastically increased in the past two years. Cunningham is the latest star to jump to the pro ranks, but her move was facilitated by the likes of former teen stars like Mary Cain and Jordan Hasay, who competed at the Trials as teenagers in 2012 and 2008, respectively. Both raced the 1500m.
Hasay made the final, and set the then-national high school record 4:14.5, later broken by Cain in 4:04.62.
The 1500m this year features two high schoolers: recent Billings, Montana, graduate Christina Aragon--a Stanford commit--and Kate Murphy, a rising senior at Lake Braddock in Virginia. Both athletes advanced to the semifinal round, to be held tomorrow.
Cain and Hasay both now represent the Nike Oregon Project and advanced to their respective finals, the 1500m and 5K, at the Olympic Trials in Eugene on Monday night. Gordon Mack of FloTrack caught up with the athletes after their races and asked what they thought about the rise of teen runners and their own experiences racing the Trials 1500m rounds as preps.
"It's kind of funny in a way because I was like, 'Wow, I'm kind of one of the old people here. I should get my cane and be like, 'Oh hey kids!,' Cain said. "It's exciting how the sport is growing in the younger sector.
"Four years ago, it was a big deal being a 16-year-old here--I was the youngest kid--and this year, there's a bunch of 16-year-olds, so I'm like, 'OK!' Honestly, I think that's healthy. I think in all sports, in order to continue to grow, you need younger people."
"My high school coach is here, and I emailed him and we were saying, it seems like we got it started, but they are insane now," Hasay said. "I can't believe 4:07, and I know Kate, and she's great. They're just incredible. I can't believe that they ran that fast. When I ran 4:14, that was probably the hardest race I've ever run; that's as tired as I've ever been. There's no way that I could go faster than that.
"It's fun to watch and that's what this meet is all about. It brings back memories."
