Recent History
In the early part of last decade, a girl from Tennessee breaking the five-minute barrier in the four lap race was rare. As recently as 2013, not a single runner state-wide accomplished that feat during the outdoor season. Here's the breakdown of the number of girls per year who did so from 2010 to 2015.
| Year | Number of Runners |
| 2010 | 2 |
| 2011 | 1 |
| 2012 | 1 |
| 2013 | 0 |
| 2014 | 1 |
| 2015 | 3 |
In the last five seasons, there has been a significant increase in its frequency.
| Year | Number of Runners |
| 2016 | 6 |
| 2017 | 3 |
| 2018 | 5 |
| 2019 | 10 |
| 2021 | 7 |
Five Tennessee runners broke the five minute barrier in this race from the 2019 Music City Distance Carnival. In total, 8 runners from Tennessee did so at this meet.
More targeted racing? Smarter training? Increased emphasis
on post season racing? Not sure what ultimately is contributing to this but I'm
not going to complain about it. The question becomes is this sustainable? Based
on our current crop of female distance runners, there's no reason to believe we're
going to see a reversion back to 2010 anytime soon. In fact, this season has
the potential to eclipse the mark of 10 girls sub-5:00 over 1600 meters that
was set in 2019. Let's take a look at the contenders.