The Sunday Shakeout

2026 barely started, and track and field has been turned upside down. Jakob Ingebrigtsen is the best middle-distance runner in the world, and he just has surgery. Sam Ruthe is a 16-year-old from New Zealand who just ran faster than any teenager in history. One is trying to protect what he’s built. The other is just beginning to understand what he’s capable of. Ingebrigtsen opened 2025 with a stret...

In 2025, Hermiston High’s Leroy Lozano Mejia quietly became someone the Washington distance scene could no longer ignore. The sophomore entered the fall as a sleeper and left it with authority. Built on patience and aerobic strength, he doesn’t chase attention. He shows up, does the work, and lets races speak for him. After running 15:36 and finishing 11th at the 3A state meet as a freshman, Leroy...

In 2025, Lafayette High School’s Xavier Richardson reached a season that had been years in the making. The Lexington, Kentucky senior didn’t rise quickly or cleanly. His path was marked by races that fell apart, progress that stayed hidden, and belief that came late. By the time this year arrived, Richardson wasn’t chasing a breakout. He was waiting to see if patience would finally pay him back. T...

In 2025, Ballard High School’s Cassidy Armstrong turned a season nearly lost to injury into one of the strongest postseason runs in the country. The Seattle senior, committed to Duke University, entered the fall coming off a hip stress fracture that erased her entire junior track season. Six weeks unable to walk. No running until August. No early-season races to test fitness or confidence. Armstro...

Some athletes ease into the spotlight. Carter Smith ran straight toward it... faster than almost anyone his age. The Mifflin County senior from Lewistown, Pennsylvania is still early in his distance-running journey, just three years into the sport, yet his natural ability has forced the running world to pay attention. An 800-mile talent with rare range and feel, Smith pairs raw speed with an insti...

Wake up, baby. We're back with the doubleheader weekends. A formal interview will be dropping later today... one of the biggest talents in high school in 2026. This episode, however, has a different tone. I open up about my life outside of the sport of running as we enter the new year. I am as transparent and clear-cut as possible about my mental and emotional state after my junior cross-count...

Texas State Meet. The 3200 meters. One plan. One chance. Rowan Saacke executed. The Bridgeland High School senior from Cypress, Texas spent the past year learning how to stay steady when the stakes were highest. Patient in her approach. Grounded in her training. Oriented toward the team more than the spotlight. Her junior year, the breakthrough came at the Texas state meet. Rowan controlled the 32...

In South Dakota, distance running rarely comes with a spotlight. Mikah Peters earned one anyway. The Brandon Valley senior spent years quietly building belief, never assuming he’d be the best guy on his own team, let alone a national contender. Progress came slowly. Intentionally. Through seasons of patience and an offseason obsession with getting better. In November, that belief finally crystalli...

December doesn’t reward you right away. No races. No crowds. No proof that the work is doing anything at all. In this solo episode, I walk through how I’m approaching winter training — not just the mileage, but the mindset behind it. Why winter is my favorite season. Why PRs are made long before spikes ever hit the track. And why patience, not excitement, is the real competitive advantage. I break...

In 2025, South Eugene’s Yosuke Shibata quietly put together one of the strongest junior seasons in the nation. He started the fall with a win at the Oregon City XC Invite, dropping 14:53.8 and showing early signs that he was ready for more. Two weeks later, he went 14:38.2 at Nike Portland XC — a race that didn’t just give him a PR, it put him on everyone’s radar across the region. From there, he...

In 2025, Spokane’s Miro Parr-Coffin became the freshman every Northwest distance fan had to watch. The Gonzaga Prep standout opened his high-school career by dropping a 14:29.6 at The Mook XC Invitational , finishing second in a field loaded with upperclassmen. Two weeks later, he backed it up with another runner-up finish at the Battle of the 509 , proving the breakout wasn’t a one-off. His momen...

In 2025, Camas senior Cohen Butler became one of the most composed and dangerous distance runners in the Pacific Northwest. Cohen opened his fall with a fourth-place finish at Nike Portland XC (14:40.8). That September weekend turned some heads, but it was nothing that warned people what was coming. Two weeks later, he took control of the field at Hole in the Wall, running 14:36 for a course recor...

This week on the podcast, I'm doing a solo episode. Going into my junior year, my confidence was sky-high after the summer training block of my life. As I have documented on the show, I got hit with major adversity and sickness multiple times throughout September and October. While I didn't realize it at the time, I had it in my head that my performance would be the deciding factor in how...

250 meters to go. One move left. The underdog from Portsmouth finally takes his shot. Rhode Island’s Sean Gray has spent years quietly sharpening his tools, building speed, endurance, and belief from the ground up. The Portsmouth High School senior has been unstoppable this fall, going undefeated and capturing two major titles. At the Rhode Island State Championships, Sean delivered one of the mos...

What happens when patience finally pays off? Sean Fries isn’t just another name on a leaderboard. He’s a senior out of Minnetonka High School — the newly crowned Minnesota state champion, Stanford commit, and the #2-ranked runner in the nation. Just yesterday, he won his first state title in 14:50 on grass, breaking the meet record and finally claiming the race that had eluded him for years. But w...

What do you do when the race that broke you is now the opportunity to cement your legacy? Kellen Williams, a senior at Jesuit High School in Portland, has lived both sides of greatness. Two years ago, as a sophomore, he watched his team’s NXN dreams slip away in the final kilometer. Today, he’s the #1 guy on the #2 team in the nation, leading Jesuit’s chase for a national title. We unpack Kellen’s...

Today on the podcast is Lily Alder . Lily is a senior out of Timpview High School in Provo, Utah , and is committed to run for the legendary BYU Cougars in 2026 . One of the most decorated high school athletes to come on the show, Lily has put together an incredible resume over the past year—she’s the Nike Outdoor Nationals Mile Champion , Brooks PR Mile Champion , Utah State Champion in the 800 ,...

The October Rundown. This week, I did not plan for a guest. I have been wanting to do a genuine solo episode for a while now. To put it lightly, my junior cross-country season has not gone to plan. Today, I reflect upon my season so far, and the challenges and unexpected turns so far this fall. Historically in my running career, when I don’t run well, I can usually pinpoint injury or illness as th...

Today on the podcast is Ty Cirino. Ty is the #2 returner in Oregon 5A cross country, out of Central High School in Independence, Oregon. With the graduation of Tayvon Kitchen and Josiah Tostenson this past spring, the door is open in Oregon high school XC Ty Cirino is a possible heir to the throne. As a junior, Ty won the The Mook XC Invite at Alderbrook in a new course record of 14:43 (which was...

Today, I got to chat with Isaac Benjamin. Isaac is a senior out of South Kitsap high school in Washington. He is #2 returner in the Northwest and one of the top high school athletes in the nation going into this season. He holds PRs of 4:13 for 1600, 8:52 for 3200, 14:35 for track 5K, 15:01 for cross country 5k, and 30:18 for track 10K. He is also a Brooks NIL Athlete. Isaac is one of the most fun...

Today on the podcast I am sick once again! This is not the news I want to share today; however, this is part of the back-to-school process. Grateful that I still get to sit down this week to discuss some major topics, such as the 2025 World Track & Field Championships in Tokyo, my thoughts on the current state of Jakob Ingebrigtsen, and the Men's 10,000m with a shocking American absence from t...

Today on the podcast is Asher Oates! Asher is the #1 returner from Tennessee, ranked 24th in the nation by Milesplit. Asher is a senior out of Independence High School in Tennessee. Just yesterday, he ran 14:44 for 5K XC, soloing a PR gun to tape in only his second meet of the season. He is the defending Tennessee state champion for cross-country in Division 1 Class AAA. He also got 20th at Footlo...

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of The Sunday Shakeout ! I am your host, Nicholas. Today on the show, I had the pleasure of chatting with the fastest freshman twins in the NCAA this fall at Wake Forest… Zack and Max Cervi-Skinner. They’re from Idaho, where they ran for Coeur D’Alene High School and built quite the legacy for CDA Distance. In 2023 and 2024, they led the CDA boys to a tea...

This week on the podcast… I’m sick. I had an awesome episode planned with a couple of guests, but since I’ve been under the weather since Friday, I decided to push that interview back. Instead, I dive into some solo reflections: my excitement for the upcoming cross-country season, how my training has been going lately (50-mile weeks, double thresholds, the works), and my thoughts on the long-term...

This week on the show is Dylan Weniger. Dylan is a graduated senior from Sherwood High School in Oregon and will be running for Gonzaga under Pat Tyson this fall. Dylan is the most underrated runners in the Pacific Northwest. This man flies under the radar like no other. Yet somehow, he is a 4:06 miler, he ran 8:14 for 3K, and is a 2x Oregon 6A State Champ (1500m & 3K). How can a two-time stat...