WASTED TALENT?

How about a guy who did this in HS.

400m - 47

800m- 1:48, 1:46 relay twice

1500m- 3:51 as junior

3 x state cross coutry champ, beating some good runners

2 x state indoor 300m champ against some great 400m comp.

Rodney Giles, Maryland 1983. Went to Pitt, never heard from him again. Anyone no what happened??

i hope i am not proven to be right, but maybe the great david platt. he has gotten in with the wrong crowd and could end up inside. i pray he doesn't. he has the potential to be great.

cal-tech wrote:

By who, you and your mom.

"widely regarded as one of north america's most competitive highschool race(s)"

This is a running website. That presumes that you know at least something about running. Please try to keep up. If you don't know much about OFFSA ask around. In the words of Ron Burgundy, "it is a big deal".

ran it wrote:

I'm fairly certain Brian Grosso ran for a couple years at the Univ of Arizona. Care to elaborate on your post?

Yes. Just from threads, etc... I remember reading he turned pro after HS, but by no means am I insisting on it. How did he do at Arizona?

he's working in boston nowadays..

Message:

People say that Lukezic is an amazing runner, but he only managed one state crown. Jesse Fayant owned Lukezic in high school only losing to him one time in the mile. Fayant had a better kick and if the two were next to each other with 200 to go Fayant would win everytime. He did all of this off running 25-30 miles a week and only running 5 out of 7 days a week. He went to UW and never ran competitively again after his freshman year. NOt sure exactly why? You see how good Lukezic is now, and wonder what he could have done?

wow....someone obviously doesnt know what they are talking about. lukezic was the best ...hands down. and his track record as of late has nothing to do with it.

and if you attended mead, you ran....a lot. so i dont buy his supposed workout. for the record, lukezic only ran 35ish miles a week. and regardless of whom beat whom...lukezic still has faster H.S. times then jesse fayant.

one of my oldest friends has a natural gift for running. but for some reason, he spent all of high school trying to play basketball or run the 400, both of which he sucked at. we finally got him to come out for cross country his senior year. he NEVER trained, and i mean NEVER. all he did were his track workouts. he put in no base work during the summer because he had summer basketball league. he ended up running 15:51 in his first and only cross country season. i know, had he ran all of high school and actually put in some decent training, he could have been a state champion. must suck to be really good at something you hate.

now?

What if?? wrote:

People say that Lukezic is an amazing runner, but he only managed one state crown. Jesse Fayant owned Lukezic in high school only losing to him one time in the mile. Fayant had a better kick and if the two were next to each other with 200 to go Fayant would win everytime. He did all of this off running 25-30 miles a week and only running 5 out of 7 days a week. He went to UW and never ran competitively again after his freshman year. NOt sure exactly why? You see how good Lukezic is now, and wonder what he could have done?

It's called "development". Does it matter what he could have done in High School when he's one of the best in the US now?

Dear Sir,

I am a former Essex County Schools Cross Country Champion, and ran for Essex many times. Mr. Tony Maxwell, Hon, Secretary Essex County Schools Association has publicly refuted any claims by Mr. Beckham that he had won the Essex County 1500m at any time. Can you please provide where and when this competition took place because we have been looking through the County Schools archives and David Beckham does not show up anywhere. In respect to the Essex County Cross Country Championship Mr. Howard Williams, Hon. Secretary Essex County Athletics Association has refuted the claims that Mr. Beckham has competed and won the Cross Country title on many occasions. As far as we are aware David Beckham has never competed in or won any county track or cross country title.

keep it quiet... wrote:

wannabekila wrote:

Herb Eliott!

The guy retired at 23, never beaten, with the WR and Oly title.

To think what might have been !!!

don't let "living in the past" read this or he'll blast Elliott.

Why would I blast Elliott for retiring? (By the way, he retired at 22, not 23.) Show me an example where I criticize an athlete for retiring early. I did criticize Bob Timmons's training of Jim Ryun. I thought Timmons largely caused Ryun's early burnout. If you disagree with me on the matter, why don't you make your case?

keep it quiet... wrote:

wannabekila wrote:

Herb Eliott!

The guy retired at 23, never beaten, with the WR and Oly title.

To think what might have been !!!

don't let "living in the past" read this or he'll blast Elliott.

Why would I blast Elliott for retiring? (By the way, he retired at 22, not 23.) Show me an example where I criticize an athlete for retiring early. I did criticize Bob Timmons's training of Jim Ryun. I thought Timmons largely caused Ryun's early burnout. If you disagree with me on the matter, why don't you make your case?

I graduated from HS in 91 and watched Nelloms and Robert Smith battle in the 100, 200, 400... Nelloms with his short little cat-like strides and Smith with his massive stride.Nelloms is by FAR the most talented athlete to come out of Ohio in a long time... flat out smoked everyone.

I went to college at Miami of Ohio and then tranferred to Mizzou. I was a 7 all comfernce athlete in Big 8. ran against some really good competition... someone on here metioned Paul Mcmullen from EMU. If you ever ran against him in the mile you probaly would nt say he was a waste of talent. He had nig time strength... he got me in the last 20 meters at Drake to steal a 4x800 race from us.

I always wondered what could have been with nelloms if he just concentrated on the 400 and quit screwing around with the 100. The dude was fast and could maintain his speed. He could have been one of the best I think. SERIOUS WASTE...

I graduated from HS in 91 and watched Nelloms and Robert Smith battle in the 100, 200, 400... Nelloms with his short little cat-like strides and Smith with his massive stride.Nelloms is by FAR the most talented athlete to come out of Ohio in a long time... flat out smoked everyone.

I went to college at Miami of Ohio and then transferred to Mizzou. I was a 7 all confernce athlete in Big 8. ran against some really good competition... someone on here mentioned Paul McMullen from EMU. If you ever ran against him in the mile you probably would nt say he was a waste of talent. He had big time strength... he got me in the last 20 meters at Drake to steal a 4x800 race from us.

I always wondered what could have been with nelloms if he just concentrated on the 400 and quit screwing around with the 100. The dude was fast and could maintain his speed. He could have been one of the best I think. SERIOUS WASTE...

Dude, dont judge people you dont know.

I am friends with some of Obe Moore's former track teammates in HS. After Obe grad HS, right before he was heading off to college his daughter died(on of those freak natural deaths).

He just hasnt really gotten over that. His friends say he has never been the same.

Sorry this post is from 2004...but had to find where you get your facts HOYA...I actually was a member of a National Champion Razorback squad...transferred to Missouri State and set the conference record in 1992...as far as working in a steel mill...my father was a structural steel contractor and worked for him a couple of years..and in 2004 your right I was through with competitive running for over a decade by the time you posted my name and your opinion of me....who are you and what do you have going for yourself????

Gotta mention Usain Bolt, even though he's at the top. Imagine what he could do in the 400/800 (the real sprint events) if he was actually motivated enough to train hard for them. He could probably run a legitimate low 42 and 1:38-1:39 if he cared enough.

Hell, he would probably run 9.4x and 18.9x if he cared enough and didn't party every other weekend and eat McDonalds. This guy could literally put world records where they won't be touched for 100+ years, but he doesn't care enough to do it.

Wildcat 101 wrote:

Umberger, Rachel 11 Concord 2:11.94 (NH Record)

Umberger, Rachel 11 Concord 4:57.77

She also ran sub 60 for the 400 and around 11 minutes for 3200. She went to UNC (I think) then transferred to UNH and did absolutely nothing with her running.

Though she was an absoltuley wasted talent, this post is way off base with its facts.

Umberger ran 2:08.6 and won the Adidas Outdoor Champs as just a junior in high school. . . A lot more impressive than what was quoted above. She also ran 4:51/18 flat. Went to DUKE, but was never the same since winning the national champs in 2002. Her high school coach was a complete nut and ran her into the ground-- think she spent most of her senior year in a boot of some sort.

Once she graduated high school she was already in a coffin- Duke simply was the nail.

Hagerstown went through a period in the late 70s to early 80s where they had better talent than some major D1 programs but wasted all of it. Carl Watkins and Eric Brown out of PA went there in the early 80s, they ran close to 1:50 in the 800 in H.S. and were barely breaking 2 minutes after a year at Hagerstown. I blame a lot of what happens at JUDCOs on the athletes because the same lack of discipline they showed in H.S. carried over to college. It is a shame really because a lot of talent has been wasted on what I call the Jr college black hole. If a H.S. kids demonstrates the talent to compete at the NCAA level you have to start getting his academics straight right away, even if that means having step away from running for a period.

Guy in the early 80s ran at my school. 10.44 100m, 21.24 200m, and 47.34 400m. Think he ran like 2 years in college and played football. 6.19 55m, 10.28 100m, 20.89 200m. I believe he was a heavy partier. Sub 4.4 40 yard dash. Went on to play like a season in the NFL. It is a shame he never focused on track