Houston high school runner Matthew Boling breaks national record in 100-meter dash
Yahoo
Ryan Young
Houston high school sprinter Matthew Boling has garnered immense national attention on the track in recent months.
On Saturday, the 18-year-old took that to a new level.
Boling ran the 100-meter dash at the Texas UIL state track and field championships at the University of Texas in Austin in just 10.13 seconds — breaking a 29-year-old national record.
The Strake Jesuit high school senior made headlines earlier this month after his performance at the Texas Region III-6A track meet when he ran the 100-meter dash in just 9.98 seconds — which marked the fastest all-conditions mark ever recorded by a high school sprinter. Boling was helped by a tailwind of just more than twice the legal limit at that meet, however.
He backed that up on Saturday, though, with his wind-legal time still setting the new national record — and he still thinks he can go faster.
“Honestly when I looked at the race before us and saw that the wind was 1.3, I was like 'Oh, I'm excited,’” Boling said, via the Houston Chronicle. “Because after last week, everyone was like 'Oh, the wind wasn't legal' and stuff like that. So I was like 'Alright, I'll just drop a fast time today.’”
The Georgia signee won the long jump earlier on Saturday, too, at 25 feet and 4.5 inches in just two jumps. He currently holds the Texas record at 26-3.5, which is the seventh-best distance in high school track and field history.
"I wasn't aiming for any big records," Boling said, via the Houston Chronicle. "Like in the long jump I only took two jumps because I just wanted to be rested because I had so many events today. I just had to do my job and get as many points for the team as possible."
Boling, naturally, drew plenty of eyes at the meet on Saturday. He even had a police escort with him as he walked around the stadium.
That attention, he said, actually pushes him.
And at the rate he’s going, that’s all but certain to be a good thing.
“I look up and whenever I see the crowd get up to start videoing and watching, it definitely gets me hyped,” Boling said, via the Houston Chronicle. “That's what I love about the 100. Everyone comes to watch it and it's really fun. I got out well and I was just happy with it and the build-up and anticipation was a lot of adrenaline, but it was really fun.”
Originally Posted by Rain Man:
Why is she running the third leg? I thought the fastest person was usually the anchor.
Maybe the strategy is to demoralize the other teams' anchor runners since they're going to be behind so far when they start.
Typically it goes 2-3-4-1.
I’m guessing it’s a coaching decision on individual skills. Maybe the first leg isn’t the second fastest but she puts up a better split out of the blocks than taking the handoff. I’m guessing the anchor runs a better race holding a lead than going to get one.
Either way when she can do THAT on the third leg it’s hard to be wrong.
Originally Posted by Buehler445:
Typically it goes 2-3-4-1.
I’m guessing it’s a coaching decision on individual skills. Maybe the first leg isn’t the second fastest but she puts up a better split out of the blocks than taking the handoff. I’m guessing the anchor runs a better race holding a lead than going to get one.
Either way when she can do THAT on the third leg it’s hard to be wrong.
I’m a total dork for track and field.
So the coach had Abby rip the souls out of the other teams' slowest runners? [Reply]
Newly signed Eagles receiver just ran the 2nd or 3rd fastest 110 meter hurdles time in history. I think the name is Devon Allen, but I am too lazy to look it up, or link video.
Originally Posted by ChiefsFanatic:
Newly signed Eagles receiver just ran the 2nd or 3rd fastest 110 meter hurdles time in history. I think the name is Devon Allen, but I am too lazy to look it up, or link video.
He ran a 12.84 and the WR 12.80.
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Didn't have a good start either, really came on in the last 40 meters.
Not that any of it matters, but it is nice to see some white folk represented in the shorter races lately. Matthew Boling, Abby Steiner, Devon Allen- pretty cool.
Lamont Jacobs is a beast too. He just hit 9.8 in the 100m recently. It looks like he might have taken over the new World's Fastest Man crown.
I was also reading up on China's top sprinter named Su Bingtian. Apparently he's hit a top speed of 27.2 mph in training, which is just behind Bolt's top speed. Though I think what makes Bolt a true freak is the length of time he is able to maintain that top speed.
What we really need is some damn Indian sprinters on the board. I just looked it up and apparently the WR for 100m in India is only 10.26. I mean, that is obviously a great time, but on an international scale that is kind of pitiful, especially with a population over 1 billion. You'd think we'd see more Desi representation, but I don't even really see many of them in the gyms when I go. Culturally they don't seem to be too interested in most sports. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ThaVirus:
Not that any of it matters, but it is nice to see some white folk represented in the shorter races lately. Matthew Boling, Abby Steiner, Devon Allen- pretty cool.
Lamont Jacobs is a beast too. He just hit 9.8 in the 100m recently. It looks like he might have taken over the new World's Fastest Man crown.
I was also reading up on China's top sprinter named Su Bingtian. Apparently he's hit a top speed of 27.2 mph in training, which is just behind Bolt's top speed. Though I think what makes Bolt a true freak is the length of time he is able to maintain that top speed.
What we really need is some damn Indian sprinters on the board. I just looked it up and apparently the WR for 100m in India is only 10.26. I mean, that is obviously a great time, but on an international scale that is kind of pitiful, especially with a population over 1 billion. You'd think we'd see more Desi representation, but I don't even really see many of them in the gyms when I go. Culturally they don't seem to be too interested in most sports.
I happened to be in South Korea during the 1992 Olympics, and a South Korean dude won the marathon. It was a big deal in Korea. That's not a sport where Asians tend to excel for whatever reason.
But agreed, where are the Indians in the Olympics? You'd think that they would have some degree of success due to the enormous talent pool, but my guess is that they probably have a lot of great athletes who never get identified because they're semi-homeless in a small village. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rain Man:
I happened to be in South Korea during the 1992 Olympics, and a South Korean dude won the marathon. It was a big deal in Korea. That's not a sport where Asians tend to excel for whatever reason.
But agreed, where are the Indians in the Olympics? You'd think that they would have some degree of success due to the enormous talent pool, but my guess is that they probably have a lot of great athletes who never get identified because they're semi-homeless in a small village.
I think that definitely has to play a role, though I do find it strange how many African and Caribbean islanders make their way to the Olympics despite being similarly destitute. Running doesn't cost much (financially or calorically) since humans are so efficient at it.
I suspect there is also a strong cultural factor at play. Anecdotally, even westernized Desis don't seem to have much interest in sports. I think South Asian parents, like East Asians, really pressure their children into academic fields as opposed to sports. They all want their children to be doctors and engineers. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ThaVirus:
I think that definitely has to play a role, though I do find it strange how many African and Caribbean islanders make their way to the Olympics despite being similarly destitute. Running doesn't cost much (financially or calorically) since humans are so efficient at it.
I suspect there is also a strong cultural factor at play. Anecdotally, even westernized Desis don't seem to have much interest in sports. I think South Asian parents, like East Asians, really pressure their children into academic fields as opposed to sports. They all want their children to be doctors and engineers.
Coincidentally, I just discovered last night that a guy that I went to high school with is a doctor (well, some sort of cosmetic doctor) not too far from my house. That's unusual since I live a long way from where I grew up. He was a Desi. I then googled his two brothers, and yep, all three are doctors.
But yeah, I'm not sure what sporting culture is like in India. I know that they're huge into cricket, and that's not a sport that gets much coverage outside a few commonwealth nations. So maybe their best athletes are devoted to that. Maybe the lack of Desi athletes, then, is a combination of a low sporting culture, a different sporting culture, and a poverty-diluted talent pool and training system.
I agree, though, that there are some odd outliers. Are all of the Jamaican sprinters truly home-grown Jamaican? Or do they court foreigners? And Kenya and Ethiopia win a lot because they've got a huge running culture, so we can explain that. (However, I got a chance to talk to an Olympic distance runner once and he scoffed at the East Africans, saying that it's known that they're highly doped.) [Reply]
