<<< <<< For one indication of why U.S. men aren't making much of an impact on the international marathon scene, I posit that it's because the teams we're sending are people who don't have sufficient track background. >>>
I've noticed that the people we are sending in the distance events (Steeple/5k/10k) all have sufficient "track background", yet they are not making an impact either. Should we hold trials for the 5k and 10k ... then tell the top three in those two events that they don't have a chance against the top-Africans ... therefore you will be forced to run the marathon? Other than you are completely correct that the '97, '99, '00 and '01 teams had very thin palmares' compared to the men Golden Years ... I don't really know what this list is exposing? Should we ask all distance runners with a top-5 finish at NCAAs to try the marathon only? -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2001 2:39 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: t-and-f: no top-end U.S. marathoners For one indication of why U.S. men aren't making much of an impact on the international marathon scene, I posit that it's becuase the teams we're sending are people who don't have sufficient track background. Starting with the '64 Olympics, because that was the year where the U.S. had WR-setter Buddy Edelen on the team, here's all the OG teams since, and the last three WC teams as well. Note the track credentials (based on NCAA scoring) up until the last couple of years. 1964 5. Buddy Edelen (5th NC 2M) 14. Billy Mills (5th NC 5K) 23. Peter McArdle (no college affil--Irish-born) 1968 14. Kenny Moore (two 6ths NC steeple, 4th & 8th NC 5K) 16. George Young (no NC score--noting that NCAA didn't have steeple or 10 when he was in college, and longest race was 2M-- but was AR holder in steeple) 22. Ron Daws (no NC score, but same collegiate setup as Young) 1972 1. Frank Shorter (2nd NC 5K, 1st NC 10K) 4. Moore 3. Jack Bacheler (2nd, 5th, 7th in NC steeple) 1976 2. Shorter 4. Don Kardong (4th, 8th NC 5K) 40. Bill Rodgers (no NC score) 1980 no competition 1984 11. Pete Pfitzinger (no NC score) 15. Alberto Salazar (3rd, 4th, 6th in NC 10K) dnf--John Tuttle (7th NC steeple) 1988 14. Pfitzinger 29. Ed Eyestone (1st NC 5K; 1st, 1st, 6th NC 10K) dnf--Mark Conover (no NC score) 1992 12. Steve Spence (no NC score) 13. Eyestone 17. Bob Keimpainen (3rd, 6th NC 10) 1996 28. Keith Brantly (5th, 7th NC 10K) 31. Kempainen 41. Mark Coogan (7th NC steeple) 1997 13. David Scudamore (no NC score) 56. Dan Held (no NC score) 62. Marco Ochoa (no NC score) 63. Jon Warren (no NC score) dnf--Don Janicki (no NC score) 1999 24. Rod DeHaven (no NC score) 26. Eddy Hellebuyck (foreignimport) 34. Jonathan Hume (no NC score) 47. Steve Swift (no NC score) dnf--Brantly 2000 69. DeHaven 2001 WC 35. Josh Cox (no NC score) 38. Hellebuyck 48. Mike Dudley (no NC score) dnf--David Morris (no NC score outdoors, but did win indoor 3K) dnf--Khalid Khannouchi (foreign import) gh ps--i would note that i didn't research it, but it's always possible that there are people with equal track credentials to some of the earlier people who have turned to the marathon but simply have failed. But I don't think so. The marathon is largely populated by people, I think, who simply didn't pack the gears to make it at the NCAA scoring level. Lesser talent=lesser results. (No offense meant, just cold hard light of day.)
