Kosuke Ishida from Asakawa Junior High School in Japan ran 8:17.84 to set a new Japanese national junior high grade record. Ishida, who is only a freshman, set the record at the JAAF Junior Olympics, according to Japan Running News.
His time would have been the second-best among U.S. high schoolers at the end of last track season, only behind now Stanford University freshman David Principe, who ran 8:16.60 at the Rick Schomp Invitational.
To put this in even more perspective, Lukas Verzbicas (Sandburg) holds the American national class freshman record for 3000m with a run of 8:20.15 from back in 2009.
This race is after Ishida ran another impressive time of 3:49.72 for 1500m back on September 23 in a time trials meet in Yokohama. That would convert to a 4:08 full mile -- the American record for 14-year-olds is 4:24.0, and 4:08.8 for 15-year-olds.
| Place/ Name | Prefectures | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
(1) Kosuke Ishida | Fukuoka | Asakawa | 8:17.84 (NJH GR) |
(2) Ito Taisuke | Nagano | Ako Ina | 8:33.82 |
(3) Masaya Tsurukawa | Kumamoto | Tomba | 8:34.21 |
Full Results If you know Japanese (Good Luck)