High school runners competing barefoot

Came across a set of pics on IG from a cross country meet involving Logan HS near Boise, Idaho(IG: @logantfxc). One of the pics shows a Logan boys runner competing barefoot in the meet. Will post pic on the Facebook page.

 

Please add to the thread if you see a HS runner from any school competing in bare feet during a meet. If there are pics, post them here as well. TJ will like them as well.

 

Found a pic from a meet in 2017 in Minnesota. A girls senior varsity runner from Mound Westonka High School, Amy Howarth, ran a 5K race at an invitational meet in bare feet. Will post the picture on the Facebook page.

 

From this past weekend:

According to the Ottumwa(IA) Courier:
Pekin(IA) girls cross country freshman Lauren Derscheid ran barefooted in the mud and finished 8th overall in the Varsity Girls White race at the Forest Park Cross Country Invitational near St.Louis Saturday (9/8). Pekin won the team title.

 

There is a pic now posted on the Facebook page of an unidentified girls cross country runner finishing a muddy race in bare feet at a high school meet. No other information given on this.

 

There is a pic on the Facebook page of a boys varsity runner from Texas who ran barefoot in a meet from September 13th on a water logged course. No other info is available due to the fact that the article containing the pic requires a subscription online.

 

TJ, you'll like this one.

From the October 3rd edition of the Bonner County Daily Bee newspaper in Idaho, there is a photo of a girls high school XC runner named Amber Johnston running a cross country race with NO SHOES on. She was running in a pair of ankle socks at an invitational meet. The caption under the picture says that she ran barefoot in homage to Zola Budd.

The Bonner County Daily Bee has a link to this story on their Facebook page for you to browse at. I also have this posted on my Facebook page as well.
(If you were wondering, Amber is a sophomore at Priest River Lamanna HS up there in Idaho)

 

Some more info: Her team's Facebook page(Priest River Cross Country) has told me that Amber has gone the whole season running practices and meets with no shoes this season. She is being known as the "barefoot runner" even though she actually runs in her socks.

 

TJ, I have some more information on this:

I am now connected on Messenger with Amber's mother Brenda and she told me on Messenger that the reason for Amber running in socks/barefoot is because she has trouble wearing shoes due to a medical issue in which her hips twist inward. Brenda has gotten a chiropractor's note saying that she cannot run in shoes,but the Idaho state HS association is telling her that Amber has to wear shoes for district and state meets because the rules mandate it & they apparently for now will not make an exception in her case. I have messaged Brenda telling her to e-mail the state association and explain her situation to them.

Brenda also informed me that Amber is also on the track team and has competed in socks there too.

 

What the IDHSAA is saying is that all competitors must have laces and soles, according to what they told her mother.

 

TJ, I have sent an e-mail to the IDHSAA executive director demanding that they change their mind and allow Amber to run in socks at the state meet.I told them exactly what you stated in your reply in the previous posts!

Hope they come to common sense now that they are aware that her medical condition and issues are legitimate.

 

TJ, I did not officially hear back from the IDHSAA,but it looks like they gave Amber special permission to run in her socked feet at the district meet based on the picture that I saw in which Amber posed post race with her mates standing sockfoot. I will post the pic on the Facebook page and on Messenger.

 

Will find out next week if they do let Amber compete sockfooted at the state meet.

 

Update: Her mom tells me on Messenger that Amber has to wear shoes at state. She went and got Amber some barefoot - like shoes for the race. She will try to also get some Vibram toe shoes as well. The thing is,Amber seems very stubborn about wearing shoes because of her medical issues. She is most happy when she can run in her socked feet.

Hopefully Amber was able to tough it out today without having to kick off the shoes which would result in a possible disqualification.

 

Update: Amber finished 44th out of 70 runners in the girls class 3A race. She kept the shoes on the entire race (hips hurt and sore), based on what she told her mom and informed me on Messenger. Her time was 22:29.5 and she was the 5th runner on the team to finish.