Drew Hunter

Drew Hunter is an American distance runner from Purcellville, Virginia. He is the national indoor mile record holder for high school athletes, a feat he achieved in 2016 with a time of 3 minutes 57.81 seconds. He dedicates his many successes to a group of his biggest fans and best friends, the Lambda Squad.^[2] He was named Gatorade National Cross-Country Runner of the Year in 2016.^[3] He committed to the University of Oregon on November 12, 2015.^[4] However he signed a 10 year contract with Adidas on July 8, 2016 and will go pro instead of attending college.^[5]

Biography

Personal life

Hunter is the fourth of nine children in his family. Five of his siblings are adopted; two from Haiti and 3 from China. His father and mother are both also runners. His father, Marc Hunter, was a national-class distance runner for Cleveland State University.^[6] He competed in the 1980 Olympic Trials in the 5000-meter event and owned a personal best of 13:36 in the event. Joan Hunter ran at West Virginia University and has won multiple masters indoor national titles.^[7] Marc and Joan coached Alan Webb during his freshman year at South Lakes High School in Reston, Virginia.^[8]

High school

Hunter won the High School Boys 3000-meter race as a high school sophomore at the Penn Relays Carnival in 2014.^[9] He went on to set the national sophomore class record in the event at 8:16.31. In the fall of 2014, Hunter placed 4th at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. Hunter won the New Balance National Indoor two-mile national title in a winning time of 8:48.22.^[10] He started his outdoor season with a 4:07 victory at the Penn Relays, becoming the first high school athlete since Olympian Matt Centrowitz to own both the high school boys 3K and mile Penn Relays titles.^[9] Hunter achieved a season best of 4:02.36 at the Adidas Dream Mile at the Adidas Grand Prix.^[11] He broke Grant Fisher’s 2-year undefeated run at the Brooks PR 2-mile championship, where he set a personal best of 8:42.51 in the event.^[12] He ended his 2015 track season with a 2nd place finish behind collegian Blake Haney in the junior boys 1500m at the USATF Outdoor Championships. He closed the last 400 meters of that race in 53.10 (seconds).^[13] Hunter set a personal best of 14:20 in the 5000 meters at the Third Battle Invitational. He set a course record of 14:26 at the Foot Locker South regional meet before winning his first Foot Locker National title in 14:55.7.^[14] In his indoor debut, Hunter broke the high school boys national indoor 3k record with a time of 7:59.33 at the Camel City Elite meet in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.^[15] He followed up that performance with another national record in the high school boys indoor mile, running 3:58.25 at the Armory Track and Field Invitational.^[16] Hunter then waited two weeks before resetting the record with a 3:57.81 performance at the Millrose Games.

Professional

On August 5, 2016, Hunter placed 6th overall in the men's mile race at the 2016 Sir Walter Miler, finishing in 3:57.15.^[17] It was his first race since graduating from high school.

References