Have Male HS Distance Runners Gotten Better In Oklahoma?

Yes. However, the reason behind our state's improvement is a complicated answer. Just recently at the Jenks Invitational; we saw seven Oklahomans run under 2:00 in the 800m. 

Clay McKinney 1:52.46

Daniel Davis 1:52.79

Ty Brooks 1:53.12

Garner McAfee 1:54.24

Sammy Farris 1:54.67

Atticus Nabors 1:59.11

Elijah Lake 1:59.87

In recent years, we may have seen this at a state meet race, but hardly ever in early April. Sure, this race maybe just occurred on a good day where most of the best athletes competing felt strong - but this race is not a one time instance. Instead, it's a representation of the development of how much faster Oklahoma has gotten in the distance events. 

It is common that Oklahoma has had one or two elite high school distance runners in the last ten years. Think of guys like Matt Young or Gabe Simonsen amongst a few others. Those guys were trailblazers for the development of distance running post 2015 or so. 

The shift happened in 2022. Gabe Simonsen had graduated with a few other top athletes in the state and it was time for that era to be an element of the past. Suddenly, there was not just one or two people running times that have become more normal now, it was much more. 

If we pull the top 100 times of the last decade (2016-present) in the 800, 1600, and 3200m, the majority of the best times ever come from post 2022. Let's break this down further. 

In the 800m the top 11 times came after 2022. 18 of the last 20 top times came from 2022 and on. 41 of the top 50 times since 2016 have occurred from 2022-2026. This is substantial. The 800m has become a staple event for Oklahoma, and as the years go by the field just gets deeper. It's like the Jenks 800m race - seven people under 2:00 in a regular season meet used to be unheard of. Oftentimes an athlete could win a regular season 800m race in 1:57-1:59. That just simply is not the case anymore. When an athlete ran sub 1:57 in the regular season it was kind of a big deal, and while that time is still impressive it now doesn't garner a lot of attention from the state. 

It's a similar story in the 1600m. 8 of the best 10 performances of the last decade were achieved after 2022. 15 of 20 were achieved post 2022. The fields just keep getting deeper. The times that it takes to win these races are different than it was even five years ago in 2021. A 4:27 could win a lot of regular season meets, and honestly at many state meets that was a very competitive time. Now if an athlete does not run under 4:20 at the majority of divisions in Oklahoma, their chances are lower at winning a state title. In the 3200m, the top 40 of 50 times belong to athletes post 2022. It is now clear that this is becoming a pattern. 

At the 2025 6A state meet, 11 athletes ran under 2:00 minutes. And 7 of those athletes were 1:55 or better. In the 3200m, 9:25 was third place. This used to not be common.

At the 2024 6A state meet, 15 athletes were under 2:00 minutes in the 800. With 7 at 1:55 or better. In the 1600m, 14th place ran 4:28. What about the 3200m? Well, 3rd place was 9:18. 

So, why are the times faster? Is it the emergence of more private coaching? Social media influencers showing how running can be cool? Athletes setting the tone at faster paces? Shoes? Spike size? Some other reason? The answer is honestly - probably a little bit of everything (besides spike size, that was a joke). 

Private coaching in this state has gotten more popular. This has led to athletes getting trained at higher levels from a younger age. The majority of distance runners in the past that started in middle school likely did not take it seriously. Their long runs were at best 3 miles, and most of their practices were just an escape from school to hang out with their friends. As the years have gone by this has changed some. Many of the middle school athletes are being privately trained - leading to faster times at younger ages. Also, many high school athletes depending on where they go to school participate in private coaching. This is particularly something that happens in some smaller schools, where the head coach of the XC or distance track team may also coach a couple other sports. Private coaching has been amazing for those athletes and small school coaches who have a ton of responsibilities on their plate. 

Starting in the early 2020s, we saw this new age version of fitness influencers. Social media continues to develop, and pretty much every high school runner in current day has grown up with it. Professional runners have Instagram and TikTok accounts that make running sound awesome. And teams like Tinman Elite or brands like ON Athletics have been influential on this trend. It helps kids see that running can actually be really cool and a great social activity. Thus, leading to more respect and desire to participate in the running and fitness world. This is also true with localized instagram and facebook accounts that cover Oklahoma running. The daily access to the running community in Oklahoma is much easier to follow, and athletes post consistently now about their running. 

The shoes are a common argument that people make towards what has occurred in Oklahoma. This is partially true. Shoe technology has vastly improved from spikes to trainers. If runners have the money, they can dish out $300 dollars for a training shoe that significantly alters the impact on their legs and the bounciness they get off the jump with carbon fiber plates. This has surely helped to some degree.

However, the main reason surrounds the athletes. The competition pre 2022 was great. Races were competitive and the community was very strong. However, as we've shown -  the times were just not as consistently fast as they are now. What has clearly happened is that there has been a domino effect starting after the COVID lockdown and onto the present day. 2021 saw Simonsen run 4:14, something that hadn't been done in 5 years at the time. Then he ran 8:55 in the 3200m, the state record. At that year's state meet the OSSAA made it a one day event due to COVID precautions, so the times were going to be slower, but the 6A 800, 1600, and 3200 all went down to the wire. Those close races led to more self belief for the returners the following year. Thus, they really stepped it up - marking the beginning of the shift. Times improved and suddenly athletes were having to run faster in order to place higher up in the rankings. All it takes is a few athletes to break a barrier and more will follow. Oklahoma distance running has always been competitive, and as more athletes started to run elite times, more followed as the desire to win and be towards the top is human nature. This started a chain reaction, and the quality of times in the state just overall improved. 

That chain reaction developed over the last four years, and now here we are to a meet in early April, where seven athletes ran under 2:00 minutes in a regular season race. Oklahoma male distance running is in a great place, and it's just going to keep getting better. This effect has also occurred on the female side as well, stay tuned for a future article on how girls' high school distance running has gotten significantly faster as well.

Thanks for reading,

Shawn Rutledge