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2008 LetsRun.com US Men's 800, 1,500 Rankings As Of May 30, 2008 This week at LetsRun.com we introduce the LetsRun.com Mid-d & Distance Rankings. This week we're doing the 800 and 1500. Next weekend the steeple, 5k, and 10k. We're sure we made a few errors as this is our first attempt at this. Email us at letsrun@letsrun.com with any comments you have.We rushed to put this up and didn't include photos. If anyone has some photos they'd like us to use, please email us. We decided that one of the biggest problems with track and field is that it's very hard for the casual fan to follow it as there are a ton of events and no-one knows who is in form or not. Thus we thought we'd help people keep track of things by ranking the top 10 US runners for each distance event. The ranking are based on current form and are supposed to reflect how we think they'd end up if you lined them up and had them race right now - it's not a cumulative yearly ranking. Our stats came from a combination of TrackandFieldNews.com US leaders lists, our own adjustments, and incredible individual stats at tilastopaja.org
10) Will Leer - DOB: ?? PB: 3:38.11 (2008), 2008 Best: 3:38.11, Last Race: 3:38.11, 2007 Best: 3:40.06. 9) Rob Myers -DOB: 8/5/1980PB: 3:34:89 (2005), 2008 Best: 3:40.89i Last Race: DNF 3k at adidas, 2007 Best: 3:36.49. We won't hold his DNF from the 3k in the heat of LA against him, but we'd like to see him run a 1,500 and he might be moved up quickly. 8) Chris Lukezic: DOB: 4/24/1984 ,PB: 3:33.28 (2006), 2008 Best: 3:40.29, Last Race: 3:40.29, 2007 Best: 3:36.95. Lukezic ran weell last year at USAs. Many seem to forget that he was right with Webb, Manzano and Lagat until the last 200. However, he didn't have a good indoor season this year (4:05 mile at Reebok Boston) and hasn't done anything of note outdoors so far this year. In his last race, he lost to 5k stud Matt Tegenkamp at Stanford (3:40.04 to 3:40.29). The good news for Lukezic is that his training partner, Kevin Sullivan ran really well at adidas. 7) Matt Tegenkamp:DOB: 1/19/1982 PB: 3:34.25 (2007), 2008 Best: 3:40.04 Last Race: 3:40.04, 2007 Best: 3:34.25 At 1,500, he appears to be a bit overmatched by the big 1500 studs as exemplified by him losing to Lomong by .62 in Arizona early in the year (3:39.50 to 3:40.12). However, he can more than hold his own against guys that aren't likely to make the Olympic team but are strong candidates for a top 10 showing. For example, he defeated Lukezic at Stanford by .25 on May 4th. 6) Andrew Wheating - DOB: 11/21/1987 PB: 3:38:60 (2008), 2008 Best: 3:38:60 Last Race: 1:46.83 800, 2007 Best: 3:45:17. From a no-name to an Olympic contender all in a year. We sure hope he's enjoying the magical ride as much as we are. We also hope to see him run the 1,500 at NCAAs as we want to see him have a showdown with Manzano. 5) Jon Rankin- DOB: 2/9/1982 Personal Best: 3:35.26. 2008 Best: 3:36.61 Last Race: 3:36.61 (6th adidas) 2007 Best: 3:35.72 But Rankin is running well so far this year and was only .25 behind Lomong at the adidas meet. But in that meet, Lomong was up front all along, Rankin moved up late. 4) Lopez Lomong - DOB: 1/1/1985 Personal Best: 3:36:36 2008 Best: 3:36:36 Last Race: 3:36:36 2007 Best: 3:37.07 So far this year, he's been running well. He beat Tegenkamp and Riley and Solinsky in Arizona before getting 4th at the adidas Track Classic. Adidas was a bit of a disappointment for us as we thought he might be close to Nick Willis and Kevin Sullivan but given the fact he totally was wiped out in the fall prior to the restart, we'll give him a pass. 3) Leonel Manzano - DOB: 9/12/1984 Personal Best: 3:35:29 2008 Best: 3:56:98 mile or 3:41.80 1,500 at altitude Last Race: 3:41:80 2007 Best: 3:35.29 He's in super form now as he's totally 100% race sharp. The question is do you put him 3rd or 4th? Very, very hard to choose between the two. We gotta go with Manzano for now simply because the point of these rankings is to tell you who is in the best current form. At the end of the year, we'll do a yearly ranking. Manzano is really sharp right now as he's been racing since February. If you asked us who is more likely to get 3rd at the Trials, we'd have to say. Lomong - simply because he edged Manzano at NCAAs last year and he'll be fresher than Manzano. However, just because Lomong is faster than Manzano and stronger than Manzano, that doesn't mean that Lomong necessarily has a better kick than Manzano. At the Trials, it really should be very interesting. Another big thing going for Manzano is he is hungrier. He doesn't have a contract yet and will want to produce big-time. Lomong is already living the high-life. Manzano seems to be getting more and more serious about running each year and getting better as a result. Stat of the week: In researching the stats for this piece, we were surprised to learn that Manzano is only 5 months younger than Chris Lukezic. 2. Alan Webb - DOB: 1/13/1983 Personal Best: 3:30.54 2008 Best: 3:30.54 Last Race: DNF Carlsbad 5k 2007 Best: 3:30.54 The problem is Webb's 2008 season has been a disaster so far. A 16th place showing in the US 8k championships and then a DNF in the Carlsbad 5k. The knock on Webb in the past has been that he doesn't know how to peak properly when it counts and that he doesn't know how to not overtrain. The early season results certainly don't assuage those fears. The good news? Both of Webb's early season disasters came in distance events. Plus he skipped indoors. That can mean only one thing. Webb was focused on building his strength which was what we wanted to see from him after last year's amazing track season. Webb still seems confident and it doesn't seem possible that he could burn himself out with proper distance training. Overtain a little? Yes. 1. Bernard Lagat - DOB: 12/12/1974 Personal Best: 3:26:34 2008 Best: 3:35:14 Last Race: 3:35:14 2007 Best: 3:33.85 So far in 2008, he's done pretty well for himself as he currently sits at #1 on the US list at both 5k (13:16.19)and 1,500 (3:35.14). Lagat is a stud but he's far, far from a sure thing at the Olympics. Given the heat that is expected, we think he's probably a more sure thing for a medal at 5k than he is at 1,500. Given the fact that Bekele isn't going to double, if the Africans don't work together to push the pace in the 5k, it's likely to come down a kick which makes it easy pickings for Lagat. Editor's Note: We were notified that by World Express Management, that former Arkansas star, Said Ahmed with a 3:35.94 pb, ran 3:38.26 to win an African Grand Prix meeting (category II) in Sudan on May 26th. He beat Abdala Abdulgadir(who usually does the peacemaking for Abubaker Kaki) 3:38.59 and in third was Yahya Osman (18 years) who improved to 3:39.25. Ahmed has been in Kenya training since February. All the info above is from World Express. This info isn't reflected in the rakings above which might rank Ahmed around the #6 spot. Men's 800 #11 Brandon Shaw DOB: 9/11/1981 Personal Best: 1:46:20 (07) 2008 Best: 1:47.33 Last Race: 1:47.65 2007 Best: 1:46.20 #9 Matt Scherer- DOB: 11/21/1983 Personal Best: 1:46.61 (08) 2008 Best: 1:46.61 Last Race: 1:46.61 2007 Best: 1:47.89 #8 Duane Solomon - DOB: 12/28/1984 Personal Best: 1:45:69 (07) 2008 Best: 1:47.33 Last Race: 1:47.65 2007 Best: 1:45.69 #7 James Hatch - DOB: 9/271982 Personal Best: 1:46.27 (08) 2008 Best: 1:46.27 Last Race: 1:46.27 2007 Best: 1:50.50 #6 Ryan Brown - DOB: 9/17/1984 Personal Best: 1:46.29 (07) 2008 Best: 1:47.18 Last Race: 1:48.07 2007 Best: 1:46.71 #5 Jonathan Johnson - DOB: 3/5/1982 Personal Best: 1:44:69 (07) 2008 Best: 1:46.90 Last Race: 1:46.90 2007 Best: 1:44.69 Thus people may not have noticed but Johnson actually set his PR in Europe (1:44.69) last year. Earlier in the year, he finished 4th at USAs. We guess it makes more sense that not nearly as many people are noticing because 4th in USAs 3 years after winning it, isn't likely to create a lot of publicity. #4 Alan Webb - DOB: 1/13/1983 Personal Best: 1:43.84 (07) 2008 Best: None. Last Race: DNF Carlsbad 5k 2007 Best: 1:43.84 Webb doesn't race many 800s so it's hard to say how he'd do if he stepped on the track right now and raced. We imagine it would take a rust-buster or two for him to reach top form. Thus he might be beat by some US guys. We'd like to see Webb run a quality 800 on US soil (maybe the next time there are no world champs) just to see if he could dominate or not. However, it would probably be in his best long-term interest to try a 5k instead (13:10.86). That's how good Alan Webb is. Fast enough to be the world's #2 at 800 and strong enough to do serious damage in the 5k. Hell his 10k PR is better than Olympic marathoner Dathan Ritzenhein. The total package for sure when he's on. #3 Andrew Wheating - DOB: 11/21/1987 PB: 1:46.83 (2008), 2008 Best: 1:46.83 Last Race: 1:46.83 800, 2007 Best: 1:50.17 The only question mark regarding Wheating is what is his true event as his coaches at Oregon said they are unsure if he's an 800 or 1,500 man ultimately. He's probably got a better shot of making the Olympic team in the 800 this year but we'd like to see him end up in the 1,500. Actually, we are tired of specialization, what's preventing the world from having someone who can run both quality 800s and 1,500s like the great Seb Coe? At Pac 10s, Wheating destroyed the 3rd placer at USAs last year - USC's Duane Solomon. #2 Nick Symmonds - DOB: 12/30/1983 Personal Best: 1:44:54 (2007) 2008 Best: 1:46.48i Last Race: DNF adidas 1,500 2007 Best: 1:44.54
We'd like to see him run a really quality 1,500 to see if he has a future there. #1 Khadevis Robinson - DOB: 7/19/1976 Personal Best: 1:43.68 (2006) 2008 Best: 1:47.37 Last Race: 1:47.37 (1st) 2007 Best: 1:44.27 Robinson's racing style makes it a bit hard for him to defeat Symmonds at times head to head but there is no doubt who is the better 800 runner up to this point in their careers. Note: Kevin Hicks ran 1:46.55 last night and would bump into the top 10 (somewhere between 3-8) with his performance. Prior to that he hadn't been under 1:48.26.
We're sure we made a few errors as this is our first attempt at this. Comments, suggestions? Email us at letsrun@letsrun.com We rushed to put this up and didn't include photos. If anyone has some photos they'd like us to use, please email us.
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