Turn Back The Clock: High School Careers Revisited
With Rod DeHaven
Welcome to Turn Back The Clock: High School Careers Revisited where we are interviewing America's top distance runners about their high school (and college careers). Today's interview is with 2000 US Olympic Marathoner Rod DeHaven. A former miler, Rod will be the sole US entry in the 2000 Olympic marathon in Sydney.
Rod grew up in South Dakota where he graduated from high school in 1984 before moving on to Division II South Dakota State.

Click here to read what Rod has to say about his chances in the 2000 Olympic Marathon and his future plans.

The Rod DeHaven

The Rod DeHaven File:
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 130 lbs.
Born: September 21, 1966, in Sacramento, Calif.
Current Residence: Madison, Wis.
High School: Huron, SD '84
College: South Dakota State '87 (Division II)
PRs 1500m: 3:40.15 ; 5000m: 13:40.4;
10,000m: 28:06.25, Marathon: 2:13:02.
Coach: Self
Affiliation: US, New Balance
Pre-college Progression
7th grade pr. 17:20 for 5k
8th grade: 4:41 1600m and 10:00 3200m
12th grade prs. 4:08 1600m 9:08 3200m (both state records)
Click here to see a bio of Rod DeHaven as compiled by USATF.

Q and A With Rod DeHaven
(August 22, 2000)
LETSRUN: Tell us a little about your high school career. How did you get into running? It's not really the most popular of sports.

DeHaven: I ran a 15 mile road race when I was 10 and basically ran the same road race - which occurred right after the track season ended - until my senior year in high school.
I made the varsity cross country team when I was in 7th grade. I ran like 17:20 for 5k in the 7th grade. I qualified for the state track meet when I was in 8th grade, and then I kind of petered out a bit my freshman and sophomore years. My junior year, I was undefeated in cross country until the state meet which was held on my homecourse and then pissed down my leg (i.e. let the pressure get to him) and got 5th. And in South Dakota, you pretty much run against everybody at least a couple of times during the season so it wasn't like somebody came out the blue (and beat me), I just ran poorly. I won the mile and two mile (outdoors) my junior and senior years (in track). I ran like 9:08 my senior year in high school for 3200 meters and 4:09 for 1600 meters and like 1:52 relay leg (for 800 meters).

LETSRUN: What do you think of today's high schoolers? It seems that both the college kids and high schoolers are running a lot faster than say ten years ago. Have you kept up with them at all?
DeHaven: Yeah (I'm aware of that). I don't know why (it's happening). I think Stanford (and their resurgence in distance running) has a lot to do with it. They have a great setup there. Vin's (Stanford coach Vin Lananna) got a big squad and he's got a facility that enjoys great conditions so his kids don't have to go across the continent to chase times. They've got several meets at home and they can run fast there.
For the high school kids, the power of the Internet probably has something to do with that. I don't know what else explains it. Before you had to wait for Track and Field news to come out or USA Today (with a list of the top marks), and by that time the season was over. Or maybe it's just a cycle. I have no idea really, it's just one of those things.