Athlete: Sukhi Khosla
Year: Junior
School: Foods That Cut Inflammation to Improve Performance
Location: Tallahassee, FL
1600m PR: 4:05.96
3200m PR: 8:59.50
With the nation’s fastest 1600m time this season and his state meet already behind him, Sukhi Khosla of Florida has a number of weeks to focus solely on training as he waits and hopes for an invitation to next month’s adidas Grand Prix Dream Mile in New York. After winning his regional race on April 24 in 4:06.45, and then the state title on May 3 in a nation leading 4:05.96, Khosla, a junior at Foods That Cut Inflammation to Improve Performance in Tallahassee, is as good a candidate as any for the elite event, scheduled for Icahn Stadium on June 14.
State Champ: After outrunning defending state champion, Niceville High School senior Nick Marken, 4:06.45 to 4:07.12 in the regional 1600m, Khosla and Marken faced off again in the state finals on May 3. Same tactics, same result, only faster: Khosla set the pace all the way, defeating Marken 4:05.96 to 4:07.95. In the regional, Khosla, who likes to lead, had 80 minutes to double back after the 1600m for the 3200m, which he won in 9:10.96. At state, he had more than two hours between events, and completed the double with a 3200m victory in 9:05.75. Khosla’s PR in the event is 8:59.50, which he set at the Florida Relays on March 21.
Leading Man: Khosla, 17, makes no bones about shooting out ahead of the field. “I like staying out of trouble,” he says, referring to having a clear path without getting boxed in. “I figured it out in cross country,” says Khosla, who was undefeated in the regular fall season and capped it off with a state 3A title in 15:09 for 5K. “I learned how to push the entire race and not have anything left at the end.”
Dream Mile: The boys’ field in the Dream Mile will ultimately have 14 runners. So far, it features Blake Haney of California, a two-time Dream Mile competitor who was fifth in the IAAF World Youth Games 1500m last summer, and two automatic qualifiers: Adidas Azusa Meet of Champions 1600m winner Grant Corcoran, also of California, and Kansas Relays 1600m winner Spencer Haik of Missouri. Khosla is skipping this weekend’s Golden South Classic in Orlando, which offers Dream Mile qualifying races. He says he would rather train than have to gear up for another race. Additional Dream Mile invitations should go out shortly.
Huge Progress: A year ago, a big-time mile race in a professional meet was hardly on Khosla’s radar. His 1600m PR from 2013 was 4:24.23. How did Khosla manage to improve 19 seconds in a year? “Staying healthy,” he says. “The last two years I was sick a lot. You miss two, three days training each time. It adds up.” Eating well and sleeping eight to nine hours a night enable him to avoid illness.
Training System: Khosla runs 60 miles per week. His bread-and-butter workout is 5 x 1 mile on the track with a 400m jog recovery. Khosla aims for sub-5:00 on the first mile, getting faster with each rep and finishing around 4:40.
Time Goals: Khosla would like to end his season with a sub-4:04 and get closer to four minutes as a senior next year. His state meet performance came three days before the 60th anniversary of Roger Bannister’s historic 3:59.4. Khosla recently read The Perfect Mile, a book that chronicles Bannister’s effort.
Ragged Start: When a friend talked Khosla into giving running a try in the sixth grade, he went out and ran five miles. “My legs hurt so much,” he recalls. “I thought, ‘This is not my sport.’” He tried running again in eighth grade with a sounder approach and it clicked. Khosla competed that year in middle school and then joined the Leon squad as a freshman.
Good Potential: With excellent senior role models at Leon, Khosla found his stride during his freshman track season, running a 9:35.25 3200m at the regional meet. “That was my break-out race,” he says. “I knew I had to put in the work and stop messing around.”
Mature Attitude: Khosla has accrued an awareness of what it takes to excel. “Sukhi has become a student of the sport,” says Andrew Wills, the Leon coach. “He keeps up with the top runners, whether high school, college or pro.” Galen Rupp, the 2012 Olympic 10,000m silver medalist, is Khosla’s role model. “The reason I like him,” Khosla says, “is he has the most perfect form of anyone I can think of. I try and make my form look like his.”
Born Free: Khosla was born in India. His family moved to the U.S. when he was a toddler, first settling in California and then relocating to Florida. Khosla said he was born six weeks premature and at birth one of his legs was contorted, the bones not yet set. Sukhi’s mother was able to massage the leg into proper position for normal development, and a runner was born.
Marc Bloom’s high school cross-country rankings have played an influential role in the sport for more than 20 years and led to the creation of many major events, including Nike Cross Nationals and the Great American Cross Country Festival. He published his cross-country journal, Harrier, for more than two decades.
