Running In Circles

Josh Hoey just opened up his season with an indoor world record of 1:12.84 in the indoor 600 meters.

Last season he went on a tear, setting the American 800m record indoors and becoming the indoor 800m world champion. He finished 4th at the U.S. Championships missing the world championship team by one spot but he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

Tune in to hear how one of the greatest 800m runners in the world right now is preparing for the season and the behind the scenes of how he just set a world record in his season opener.

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Today I’m joined by Marcelo Mantecon!

Marcelo just led his team Belen Jesuit to their 10th consecutive Florida State Championship by getting the win individually.

This weekend is Nike Cross Nationals and next weekend is Brooks Nationals, both of which Marcelo will be competing in. He didn’t compete at the Nike regional meet due to it being on the same day as his State meet but received an at-large invitation.

He’s been a dominant force this season in the South, winning the Great American XC festival and the Southern showcase, arguably the two most competitive regular season races the south has to offer.

He’s coming off a national title in the indoor 5k with a time of 14:14 at Nike nationals and will look to improve on his 15th place finish at NXN last year.

Oh and did I mention that he’s only a junior…

Today I’m joined by Ben Balazs!

Beni runs for the University of Oregon and won a national title in the 2k steeplechase in high school.

Last year he won the Big Ten title in the steeplechase, placed 7th at NCAA’s in the steeplechase, earning All-American honors and followed that up with a 7th place finish in the steeplechase at the U.S. Championships.

Most recently he won the Dellinger invite, leading the way for Oregon and then placed 12th at the Big Ten Championships.

This conversation is a look inside what it’s like to train at the University of Oregon and Beni’s journey towards the top.

Today I’m joined by Brett Gardner!

Brett transferred to the University of Virginia this fall to finish up his eligibility after competing for NC State.

On this episode Brett discusses how he felt about a second place team finish and 32nd individually against a stacked field at the Gans Creek Classic which will be the scene where Nationals will be held later this year.

He also shares some hot takes about food and more.

While at NC State Brett won an ACC title in the 3k steeplechase and placed 8th in the 5k in 2025.

He also placed 16th at the NCAA championship in the steeplechase in 2025.

He holds personal bests of 8:29 in the 3k steeplechase and 13:36 in the 5k.

Brett will look to help Virginia fight for an NCAA title in November.

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Today I’m joined by Iowa distance star, Marissa Ferebee!

Marissa is currently a senior in high school and will run for Arkansas next fall.

She’s had a quiet start to her season because of a long track season but will defend her NXR Heartland title later this year and will be a key piece for her team as they try to qualify for NXN.

Last year Marissa broke the Iowa State record with a time of 16:30, becoming just the second ever high school girl from Iowa to run under 17 minutes for the 5k and placed top ten at Nike cross Nationals.

In this episode we discuss some adjustments she’s made her training, how she went from a middle of the pack runner to one of the best in the country, her commitment to Arkansas and much more.

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Today I’m joined by the newest addition to the BYU cougars, Thomas Boyden!

Before transferring to BYU Thomas ran for Stanford where he had a very successful career. While there he ran personal bests of 7:41 in the 3k, 13:21 in the 5k, and 28:06 in the 10k.

He also placed 9th in the ACC cross country championships last year and 4th in the 3k at indoor ACC’s.

Last year Thomas was accepted into UCLA law school but he will put it on hold until he’s finished up his running career.

He’s one of the top transfers this year and will look to help the BYU men become repeat champions at the Cross Country national championship.

In this episode we discuss how Thomas has managed to get through injuries, his law school aspirations, decision to come to Stanford and much more.

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Today I’m joined by Oregon commit Quentin Nauman!

Quentin took the track world by storm last outdoor season where he went on an absolute tear throughout the entire post season.

At the Iowa State Meet he won four State titles running 8:57 in the 3200m, 3:59 for the 1600m, 1:49 for the 800m and 1:47 for the 800m in a relay.

He went on to win the mile at Hoka Festival of miles with a time of 3:58 and a 54 second last lap, in arguably the most stacked high school boys mile race of all time. Finally, he went to Nike Nationals where he won the national title in the mile.

Clearly he’s an incredibly accomplished running and he’s still got his senior year of high school left before he goes to the University of Oregon in the fall to continue his career.

This season he will look to continue his momentum and qualify for Nike Cross Nationals for the first time.

Today I’m joined by SouthLake Carroll high school senior Caden Leonard!

Last year Caden completed the triple crown in Texas by winning the cross country state title and both the 1600 and 3200 in outdoor track. He also placed 3rd at Nike Cross Nationals last year and will go into this season as the number one returner. But the path won’t be easy, as high school distance running is as stacked and competitive as ever.

Caden holds personal best’s of 4:02 in the mile, 8:47 in the 3200 and 14:19 in the 5k.

Next fall he will move from Texas to North Caroline where he’ll run for The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

In this episode we touch on a little bit of everything including Caden’s upbringing in the sport, his commitment to UNC, the upcoming season and more.

Tune in to hear about how one of the best high school runners in the nation is approaching this cross country season.

Today I’m joined by Cooper Lutkenhaus!

Cooper just did the unthinkable at USA’s and shocked the world.

He ran a 1:42.27 800 as a 16 year old and placed 2nd to qualify for the world athletics championships in Tokyo where he will represent the U.S.

I talked to Cooper a couple weeks back leading up to the meet and after his historic high school season.

During the high school season he was dominant in every race he ran and set the high school national record for the 800 as a sophomore.

During our conversation before USA’s Cooper told me “I’m just going into that race just trying to do the best I can, stick to my race plan. Who knows, maybe that’s to qualify for the semifinals, that’s a big goal I have. But going into the race, I wanna have fun with it. It’s my last race of sophomore year.”

Little did he know he would end up running a huge personal best and make the team.

Tune into this conversation to hear Cooper’s thoughts before he ran what will go down as one of the most historic races a high schooler has ever ran!

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Today I’m joined by Brock Kelly for his second time on the podcast!

Brock has been living life to the fullest recently as he finished up his collegiate running career, ran Grandma’s marathon and traveled to Switzerland.

Now that Brock is done with school he’s focusing on full time content creation and working on growing his brand OE Athletics.

You’ve probably seen Brock on instagram reels where his series “The Daily Mile” really took off. What started as him documenting swimming a mile everyday while he was injured has turned into much more and it’s something a lot people really resonate with.

In Today’s conversation we discuss what the past couple months have been like for Brock and how his goals in running have changed now that he’s not in the NCAA, along with many other topics.

If you enjoy the episode be sure to leave a five star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts because it only takes a few seconds.

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