NAIA All-American Max Hampton of College of Idaho ran a great 10K PR on Friday, clocking 30:50.70 at San Francisco State’s Distance Carnival. Max’s 2015 season best was 32:40. One can only wonder what he thought about the man who finished 2 seconds ahead of him. Sean Wade, old enough to be his father, ran his fifth M50 world record of the year. (Results are here.) Distance great Pete Magill posted this on Facebook: “The man is definitely on a roll! Sean Wade just ran the Men’s 50-54 world best for 10,000m, with a 30:48.87. He’s now the fastest-ever age 50+ runner on the track from 1 mile to 10,000m. Wow. Just wow.” So now we can start using the Henry Rono analogy.

Sean Wade of Kenyan Way, his coaching gig, pulled a Rono (also Kenyan).

Here’s a Wikimedia reminder of Henry’s heyday:

The peak of Rono’s running career was the 1978 season. In a span of only 81 days, he broke four world records: 10,000 m (27:22.5), the 5000 metres (13:08.4), the 3000 metres steeplechase (8:05.4), and the 3000 metres (7:32.1); an achievement unparalleled in the history of distance running.

We could argue Sean’s achievement rivals Henry’s. Sean’s five WRs came in 56 days — from Feb. 6 to April 1. No fooling. All Sean needs is a steeple to complete the comparison.

Here are the Age-Graded marks for Sean’s M50 records:

1500 (indoors) in 4:07.01 is worth 3:35.7 for open (20-30) class.

Mile (indoors) in 4:23.07 is worth 3:50.1.

3000 (indoors) in 8:43.63 is worth 7:49.

5000 in 14:52.92 is worth 13:19.

10,000 in 30:48.87 is worth 27:34.

Sean is a few minutes off the 2016 Olympic Trials qualifying standards for the 5K and 10K, but he’d make the women’s fields:

Men

5000m 13:28.00 (24–2)
10K 28:15.00 (24–1)

Women:

5000m 15:25.00 (24-2)
10K 32:25.00 (24-1)

Results from Sean’s heat:

Section 2
1 Gabe Arias-Sheridan (SO)St. Mary’s (Cal.) 30:17.19
2 Russell Brown (SR)St. Mary (Kan.) 30:28.13
3 Wil Norris (SR)Arkansas State 30:28.47
4 Jeremy Porter (SO)Azusa Pacific 30:28.82
5 Cody Drisko (SO)Azusa Pacific 30:30.59
6 Pat Letz (SO)Nebraska 30:38.40
7 Josh Spooner (SO)St. Mary’s (Cal.) 30:38.41
8 Edward Chance (FR)St. Mary’s (Cal.) 30:39.32
9 Matt Seidel (SO)Seattle U. 30:45.04
10 James Withers (FR)Utah State 30:45.16
11 Abdul Hamid (SO)American River 30:48.11
12 Rogan Meza (SR)Unattached 30:48.54
13 Sean Wade Kenyan Way 30:48.87 WR M50-54
14 Max Hampton (SR) College of Idaho 30:50.70
15 Turner Wiley (SR)Seattle Pacific 30:53.09
16 Benji Preciado (JR)San Francisco St. 31:00.55
17 Steven Velarde (FR)Chico State 31:01.65
18 Alejandro Garcia (JR)Chadron State 31:06.47
19 Baxter Arguinchona (SR)Seattle U. 31:10.01
20 Dylan Stansbury (JR)Chadron State 31:10.47
21 Caleb Diaz (JR)Southern Oregon 31:16.82
22 Cooper Gill (SO)Fresno State 31:23.32
23 Ricardo Banuelos (FR)Allen County CC 31:24.91
24 Derek Gibson (SR)Alaska Anchorage 31:26.64
25 Andrew Cobourn (JR)Chico State 31:29.54
26 Omar Padilla (SR)Humboldt State 31:36.49
27 Jonathan BriskmanStrawberry Cyn 31:43.18
28 Yonny Castillo (SR)Willamette 32:01.88
29 Ben Monk (SO)Seattle U. 32:19.04
30 Will Rial (SR)Run Fast 32:26.19
31 Kenny Trejo (JR)San Francisco St. 32:39.76
–Chris Montgomery (JR)Pittsburgh DNF

Max Hampton, you now have something to tell your grandkids about.