There is a new force to be reckoned with in high school track. Hobbs Kessler, who competes for Skyline High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, broke the national indoor high school record in the mile, running 3:57.66 at the Shoes & Gear Other Hearst Subscriptions.
How Hobbs Kessler Set the National High School Indoor Mile Record the mark set by Drew Hunter in 2016 by .15 seconds.
The 17-year-old didn’t start running until his freshman year in high school, but he’s no stranger to the sport—both of his parents, who are successful runners themselves, coach Skyline’s track and field and cross-country teams. Previously, Kessler focused more on rock climbing than he did running, and he even climbed at the 2019 Youth World Climbing Championship in Arco, Italy.
But his parents convinced him to give cross country a try, saying that he didn’t have to do it again if he didn’t like it.
“That bond on my cross-country team, it sucked me in almost,” Kessler told Runner’s World. “It tricked me. I made buddies on the team, and it was awesome. I’ve just gone from there.”
His running trajectory has peaked quicker than most since his freshman campaign. When he started, he boasted a mile time just below five minutes. Slowly, he worked his way down, but the biggest jump came during the pandemic. He focused over the summer on building up his body and his speed with workouts from his dad.
Additional help came when his dad had a chance encounter with University of Michigan coaching legend Ron Warhurst, who still coaches runners in Ann Arbor like Nick Willis.
“I was out there everyday just plugging away, and my dad ran into Ron and said we were doing workouts,” Kessler said. “Ron was bored because Nick [Willis] and some guys were quarantined or in New Zealand, and Ron came out, saw my workouts, and we just formed a bond as I was doing tempo Tuesdays, hills on Fridays, and a long run on weekends. I just built up my body all around and became more engrossed in the running community.”
Chasing Sub-4
When 2021 arrived, Kessler, who signed to run with Northern Arizona University last September, had a goal of going sub-4:00 in the mile—something only 10 high schoolers had done before. His first chance came when Willis invited him to the Shoes & Gear meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on February 7.
For Kessler, training for the race—he had six weeks to prepare, which is a fairly short time block—and running the race was the easy part. Everything else at the race got him a little flustered.
“I’m pretty We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back, so I haven’t been to many big track meets,” he said. “It was pretty intimidating getting there and thinking everyone here is better than me. I was a mess before the race. I forgot my bib when I went to the staging area. I didn’t know how to warm up. It was kind of a disaster, but once the gun went off, I knew I was good. I was just trying to get to that point because I know how to run.”
Kessler got out quick and took third position from the inside. By 100 meters, though, he found himself in the back of a straight line of runners going around the 200-meter, banked track.
Kessler kept his composure and maneuvered past runners who dropped back as the race went on. He watched the clocks that were placed every 100 meters—and before he knew it, there were 100 meters left. With the limited real estate remaining, he ran as hard as could to the line, finishing in third behind Takieddine Hedeill, who won the race, and Willis, who took second.
Because Kessler was on such a high after the race, knowing he went sub-4 in his biggest race so far, it didn’t even dawn on him that his time had also broken the national indoor high school record.
“I knew I had run fast, but didn’t know I ran that fast until someone came up to me and told me I got the record,” Kessler said. “It was just weird. I didn’t try to pick it up until the last 100 and it’s crazy how that those little decisions affect you in the race.”
Kessler has always seen himself as a “low-key” runner who was going to peak in college and surprise people. A few days after his record-setting run, he’s still trying to comprehend exactly what he accomplished.
“I don’t know why it was so hard to register,” he said. “After the race, nothing was processing in my brain. It was so weird. To be in that elite company, it’s not really how I view myself. I made a statement. I saw it coming, and I saw myself running that time, but I don’t see myself up there with these pro guys. I still see myself as the same person.”
4 Shoes to Build Speed
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
DAA Industry Opt Out
Saucony Fastwitch 9
Learning From Mistakes Even After a Good Run
Though Kessler is happy with how he ran, he is also happy he made mistakes from which he can learn. Some of those include learning how to turn on a banked track—what Kessler called “a learning curve, literally”—and also when he should make his move. He thinks if he went with 600 meters to go, he could’ve even shaved a few seconds off. He’s also thinking about what the future holds—he wants to keep improving in the mile, 3200, 800, and maybe the 400.
For now though, he’s back in Ann Arbor training with the Skyline track team. They ran together on Tuesday, and after five minutes of running together and talking about his race, it was back to normal where Kessler felt like just another guy on the team with normal back and forth banter.
He also wants to keep climbing. If all goes according to plan, he hopes to spend some time between indoor and outdoor season climbing Red River Gorge in Kentucky with his dad and a buddy who lives there.
“We’re rolling with the punches right now,” he said. “Right now, we want to focus on getting back to the ground emotionally and get back to work. I want to learn to adjust to the new position I’m in now and figure out that other stuff a little later. Sub-4 was my goal for the season and it feels a little anti-climatic to knock it out real quick, so I don’t know. My goal now is to just see how fast I can run.”
We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back Runner’s World and Bicycling, and he specializes in writing and editing human interest pieces while also covering health, wellness, gear, and fitness for the brand. His work has previously been published in Men’s Health.
