Remembering the days of Webb-Mania!
South Lakes VA star turned track world upside down, leads DyeStat All-Decade Boys Track and Field team
by Dave Devine and Steve Underwood
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Alan Webb | Athlete of the Decade
Class of 2001, South Lakes (Reston VA)
It took 3 minutes and 53.43 seconds in late May of 2001 for Alan Webb to ignite the heaviest track and running message board assault in history and establish himself in prep track immortality – and as the DyeStat/ESPN RISE Track and Field Boys Athlete of the Decade. But Webb-mania actually began two years earlier.
In the Foot Locker Outdoor Championships, Brendan Mahoney won the mile in 4:04.78. But in second place, wowing track fans everywhere, was a sophomore from South Lakes High School of Reston, Va. Webb’s 4:06.94 that day smashed a 36-year-old 10th-grade record by none other than Jim Ryun. Young phenoms don’t always pan out, so no one knew that a much bigger Ryun record would be under siege a few years later. |
