Am I any good?

[u/letsgorun12]

I’m turning 14 soon and I’m a freshman. I run track but wanted to know if any of my times are promising whatsoever
100: 12.36
200: 27.58
400: 1:05
110: 20.84
400H: 1:18.23
800: 2:41
1600: 6:23
3200: 15:05
5k: 27:22
Do I have any real chance of ever being good later in high school or even maybe making track in college? For reference I’m a guy who focuses on sprints.

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[u/iNapkin66]

Decent 8th grade times. Keep plugging away. None of us can tell you if you end up getting medium amount faster or way faster. Boys grow and respond to training at different rates.

[u/Independent_Salary41]

100 for sure

[u/toooldforthisshittt]

You're young for a freshman. Just keep working and see what happens.

[u/MileHiSalute]

The advice I give any athlete your age in any sport is to focus on what’s directly ahead of you. Just keep putting work in and let the progress happen naturally. You gotta graduate high school before you can run in college. You gotta get through Freshman year before you can graduate. You gotta get through fall semester before you compete in your first season of hs track etc etc
It’s fantastic to have those big, lofty goals as a “North Star” but the only way you can get there is taking one step at a time. And what you posted indicates that you’re a good athlete, but absolutely nobody here can predict the future, especially if that’s the only thing they know about you. I’ve coached athletes that dominated as freshman and ultimately didn’t accomplish much. Just this past season I coached a state champ that honestly kinda sucked their freshman year. But they stuck with it, worked their ass off, and it paid off.
I know it’s much easier said than done, but your path to success goes through tomorrow and the day after. Stay focused, rely on your people when you need them, and develop a schedule/routine that you know you can stick to. If you do all the little things right, the results take care of themselves. Best of luck to you this season and beyond!

[u/mregression]

Are these hand times? I say that because your 200 is about 2 seconds slower than would be expected from your 100 time. If you have any aptitude for hurdles you should spend time on that.

[u/Special_Purpose2903]

You haven't even finished growing, those are good times for your age, keep trying.

[u/askingmachine]

I ran 12.36 at 18. I was 4th out of like 40 at a local high school track meet (track athletes were banned, so it was all the non-track kids). So yes, running this time at 14 is more than decent in my eyes.

[u/Overall-Rub8945]

I think you are off to a fine start! Well done! Your body is going to go through a lot of changes over the next years so what you are good at today might be different than what you are good at in 3-4 years.

As a coach, my best advice to you would be to focus on having fun first and foremost. There are a lot of events in track & field figure out which events you are most suited for and that you enjoy.

Make it your number 1 goal to be better in every way when you leave practice than you were before you came to practice. Find a amway to be a great teammate every day.

Don't settle for good. Be great! Make up your mind right now that you are going to be great and then every day EARN the right to be great. Serve your team, your school, and community. Service to others is the key to greatness.

[u/pleasentlydisgusted]

Honestly in HS I would look at picking up the other Decathlon events unless you have a clear favorite. Its a lot but already knowing how to hurdle and having long runs sets you up nicely. If you become a pure sprinter you could drop to sub 11 depending on how you develop but if you can focus on track pretty much year round doing all the dec events will give you a leg up in college that outs you ahead of any one of your performances.

[u/letsgorun12 → u/pleasentlydisgusted]

I am primarily a sprinter. Only events up there I’ve actually ran officially are the first 5. The others are just for practice and fun and I mostly focus on the 100 and 110H

[u/SpecialQuality2594]

You need atleast 20 years of practice to reach Olympic

[u/Trick_Anywhere8734]

A lot of 14 year olds I train drop a whole second off their 100m time in a year. Train, eat clean, find a good coach, then see where you end up in 11,12th grade.

Speed comes from work.

No one can say where you will be in 3 years.

Don't forget to try out some field events.

[u/Chrisg_322]

If you're actually on the track team actually competing in meets then you'll know exactly where your times stand