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By Jonathan Gault
May 12, 2019
The legend of Matthew Boling grew up to meet the state of Texas this weekend.
Unless you live under a rock, you have now heard of the sprinting phenomenon in high school that set fire to the track this spring. Boling, a senior at Strake Jesuit College Prep in Houston, has more than 16,000 Twitter followers, was featured on ESPN High noon, and has radio hosts talking about it to five states away.
Discussed at Detroit Sports Talk Radio. This is unheard of. They hardly speak nba. Matthew Boling and the race on the subject.
– Nick Willis (@nickwillis) May 12, 2019
While Boling has been very good at high school for a long time (he has long jumped 23-11 in grade 10 to rank 4th among high school nationals and ran 47.38 for 400 that year), Boling has burst into the consciousness of the nation in Texas. Relay in March, winning the 100 meters at 10.20 (+2.2 m / s of wind) and jumping from 26 to 3.5 (8.01 m) in the long jump – the longest jump made by a high school student in 10 years. By the end of April, he was the national leader in three events: the 100 (10.22), the 200 (20.58) and the long jump (26-3.5).
But that was just a prelude to what was to happen on Saturday, when Boling won three races in a remarkable performance at the Texas 6A competition in Austin. Boling's day started in the long jump, where he made a second attempt at 25-4.5 (+2.2 in the wind) before passing the last four laps to conserve the energy needed for his track. It was still enough to win the competition more than one foot.
The first event of the day on the Boling circuit was not so easy. While he was anchoring his Jesuit squad Strake in the 4 × 100 relay to cross the finish line first, they were disqualified for violating the zone. But he caught up in the next race on the 100m track, scoring a personal best 10.13 (Boling's previous legal record was 10.22, he also ran 9.98 with a tailwind 4.2 m / s). April 27).
Bolting 10.13 legal in the state of Texas. Link the record Texas HS, the records meet. #uilstate pic.twitter.com/55ZujedWfp
– Athletics News (@tandfn) May 12, 2019
Boling is considered a national record by many outlets. Although it is a record of the National Federation of High School Athletic Association (the fastest record recorded by a high school student during the regular season against competitions reserved for high school students), this Was not the fastest. never by an American high school student. It remains Trentavis Friday"10.00, set at the US Junior Championships shortly after the HS Graduation in July 2014.
Boling is now tied for fourth place Athletics News"List of 100 meters in high school, always in accordance with the laws of the wind, which we consider the definitive list of all times.
| Time | Athlete (school) | Year |
| 10.00 | Trentavis Friday (Cherryville, North Carolina) | 2014 |
| 10.01 | Jeff Demps (South Lake, Groveland, Florida) | 2008 |
| 10.09 * | Anthony Schwartz (American Heritage, Plantation, Florida) | 2018 |
| 10.13 | Derrick Florence (Ball, Galveston, Texas) | 1986 |
| 10.13 | Matthew Boling (Jesuit Strake, Houston, Texas) | 2019 |
* Mark came up in altitude to Albuquerque
Boling was not done, however. In his fourth race of the night, Boling overcame a big deficit to anchor Strake Jesuit to victory in the 4×400 relay with an incredible 44.75 split. Strake Jesuit's time of 3: 10.56 was also a new national leader (Boling's leg starts at 2:23 mark of the video below):
MB: Matthew Boling 4 × 400 Split 44.74
It was a day for Boling, which was one of the main reasons why Strake Jesuit finished second in the team title race, scoring 40 points and finishing second, two points behind Klein Forest. If the 4 × 100 incident had not been committed, the Jesuit of Strake could very well have been the state champion.
After the meeting, Boling was in high demand. Few professional track athletes could generate the swarm of media that wrapped it yesterday.
Rock star status. Congratulations @ matthew_boling1 pic.twitter.com/g28icypGBr
– Inside Texas Track (@InsideTxTrack) May 12, 2019
***
Set the record straight on Matthew Boling
Boling blew up on social media this spring and you've probably seen a ton of deceptive misleading clicks comparing the sprinter known as "White Lightning" to Usain Bolt. This may not be a surprise. Bolt is the only sprinter that traditional media has heard of. So it is naturally the measure stick that they want to use whenever someone else runs fast, even if it's painfully unfair to compare a high school student to the biggest sprinter of the day. History of the world. .
So, let's expose some facts and examine realistic discussion about what Boling has achieved and where he can go from now on.
1) Yes, Matthew Boling is white. Get used.
Let's be honest: one of the reasons for Boling's blast is that most people are not used to seeing a white sprinter dominate athletics.
Watch this ESPN clip High noon after the exploits of Boling Texas Relays. Bomani Jones can barely contain himself, rubbing his hands with joy before revealing the secret of Boling's ethnicity on his co-facilitator Pablo S. Torre.
"I see you, young Collinsworth," said Jones. "… Humble these boys! Humble them! Humble them! Have them explain what happened to their friends. "
Do you think Jones would be ga-ga after a high school competition in March if Boling was black? No way.
This does not mean that Boling did not attract attention. He is an incredible athlete, period. But if Boling were black, the hype would not have been so big and you probably would not read this article for now.
2) No, Boling is not as good as Usain Bolt was at his peak …
On April 27, Boling made a total of 9.98 out of 100, which some sites took as an excuse to start Bolt comparisons.
9.98 would have ranked 7th in the 2016 Olympic final!
9.98, it's only 0.40% of Usain Bolt's world record!
It's not just the internet users. Last week, a friend asked me if I had heard of this white Texas kid, almost as good as Usain Bolt.
Obviously, these comparisons are ridiculous. Four tenths of a second is MUCH over 100 meters – it's basically the difference between the world record (9.58) and the US high school record (10.00). But Boling's 9.98 came with a tailwind of 4.2 m / s, which makes it worth 10.16 in still conditions. Always extremely fast, but not at a distance, like Bolt. In fact, if you take into account the wind speed, 9.98 was only slightly better than the 10.13 it had played Saturday at the Texas State meeting, with a tailwind of 1.3 and a value of 10.19 in immobile conditions ( again, it is remarkably fast for a high school student, but certainly not unheard).
Of course, it's not fair to compare Boling at age 18 to Bolt at his peak. But at the age of 18, Bolt ran a speed of 200 legal winds at 19.93. Only 54 men in history ran at 19.93 or faster. The fastest human in 54th at 100 meters was 9.92.
Another comparison that is right to make between Bolt and Boling is that none of them started as a 100-meter runner – both started as guys at 200/400. Bolt only started focusing on the 100 to 21 year old in 2008, the year he broke the world record and won his first Olympic gold medal. Similarly, Boling did not start leading the event until this spring as a senior, after concentrating on the 200, 400 and the long jump earlier in high school (he also takes a 6-7 high jump as a sophomore). The 46,1500 bp Boling ranked him sixth among high school students last year.
3) … but it could be the next Grant Holloway
If you are looking for a better comparison for Boling, this is the current star of the University of Florida Grant Holloway. Like Boling, Holloway has played in many high school events; as a senior in 2016, he was ranked in the top five in the country with 110 hurdles and long jump. At the university, Holloway was mainly interested in the 60-meter test this year and began to dominate in this event (in March, he became the second man to win the 60 and 60 hurdles at the same indoor championships. the NCAA) and has the 4×400 relay as well as while continuing to excel in obstacles and long jump.
Holloway, a junior, will almost certainly become professional after the NCAA championships in June, and Boling, who is expected to enroll at the University of Georgia this fall, may be able to replace him as the next NCAA star. . become one of the best sprinters and short jumpers of college ranks and, like Holloway, can still help on the 4 × 400.
4) This is how Boling compares to other high school students, past and present
2019 Athletic.net rankings, all-time standings Athletics News.
100 meters (10.13 sb)
2019 high school rank: # 1
Best Rank in High School: T- # 4
200 meters (20.58 sb)
2019 high school rank: # 3
Best Rank in High Schools: Not in the Top 10
Long jump (26-3.5 / 8.01m)
2019 high school rank: # 2
Best Rank in High School: # 8
Relay 4x400m (3: 10.56)
2019 high school rank: # 1
Best Rank in High Schools: Not in the Top 10
5) Boling is a bit old for his grade
According to his IAAF profile, Boling will turn 19 on June 20. Most media reports that he's still 18, but it's worth noting that his date of birth was April 20, 2000 in last year's U-20 World Championship registrations . Anyway, it's slightly older than your typical high school.
In comparison, Trayvon Bromell set the US U20 record of 9.97 seconds to win the 100 at the 2014 NCAA Championships. Bromell was 18 years old and 338 days old when he began his career as a freshman at Baylor University. Yesterday, when he ran his 10:13, Boling was 19, 21 days old (if he was born on 20/04/00) or 18 years old, 325 days old (he was born on 20/06 / 00).
6) Where is Matthew Boling going from here?
Boling is already one of the fastest American sprinters in high school and, if he continues to improve, he could one day go to the Olympics. But the United States is also incredibly deep within 100 meters. Last year, the four fastest men in the world were all Americans. all ran under 9.90 seconds, and the first three – Christian Coleman, Ronnie Baker, and Noah Lyles – are 23, 25 and 21 years old, respectively. If Boling continues his current trajectory, he might one day challenge these men – his 10.13 automatically allowed him to qualify for this year's US Senior Championship in July – but it should also be noted that the fastest American high school student of all the temperature Trentavis Friday, never ran faster than his HS pb. In fact, none of the American high school students who ran faster than Boling has formed a single Olympic team or world champion as an individual.
Of course, Boling is more than a 100-meter runner. The truth is that we can speculate all day on what Matthew Boling could do or not do next, but for now, it's more fun to sit down and let Boling show it to us.
For more information on Boling, check out the LetsRun.com forum.
MB: Matthew Boling 4 × 400 Split 44.74 Includes a racing video.
MB: Is Matt Boling's best event not the LJ?
MB: Why does everyone continue to refer to Matt Boling's 10.13 as the new national record? It's the best time of the season in the only HS competition.
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