Is Bobby Curtis at Contender in the NCAA 5k?

Yes. You are correct.

Bobby is definitely a contender. He has been working hard all year, and is really fit. After his 3:57 mile, he shows that he has the speed, and he has run faster in the 5K so he has the endurance. Watch out for him.

Watched the race... he looked really strong the last 100m.. he was not going to be out-kicked. Perhaps not a factor in a 13:30 race, but definitely in a tactical race.

From one head case to another...bobby chokes the big one..

Curtis has a chance...Great runner and might cap a rollercoaster career with a NCAA crown.

nooooooooooo.. because McDougal was never a contender.........................the east is weak this year................

took him long enough....good runner, yes.....unrealized potential, emphatic YES

anyway...no way he beats solinsky, fast race or slow race.

if the race goes around 13:45-14:05 he has a great shot, can close as well as anyone in the field

Video interview with Bobby Curtis and Josh McDougal at

http://trackshark.com/coverage/2007/images/JoshMcDougal.mov

http://trackshark.com/coverage/2007/images/BobbyCurtis.mov

The real question: Is McDougal now a real contender for the NCAA title after not wasting his best effort in a qualifying race 2 weeks before the big show?

Umm, McDougal ran a 13:20 this year. If that doesn't qualify as a contender, I have no idea what does.

mcdougal will never be a contender

This is really where Curtis should have been all along in college. He has shown good strength (winning big east XC) and he has a very strong kick, at least he did in high school. In his only serious attempt at the 800 his sr yr in hs he ran 1:51 winning by 10 seconds and also could go sub 50 for the 400m in high school. If he is around towards the end of the race at nationals and has anything left I would not count him out.

I see that McDougal talks a alot about the team. thats cool, but as some people have pointed out before, he hasn't won any meets at the end of the year. Maybe thats not a priority for him, which is fine, but if he ran the 5k, couldn't he just run away from the field? We've seen that he has the strength to run more than one race in a weekend at a ... decent pace... so couldnt he just run the qualifying run, and then take the field out and make people run with him? This may not be the smartest way, but since he has been out kicked (maybe that wasnt his 100% all out effort) he knows that its a possibility. I think it would be awesome to see someone do that in this kind of race.

Look,I have nothing against Bobby and I actually really enjoyed watching him race in high school. However, the answer to your question is "no, Bobby Curtis is not a contender in the NCAA 5k." This is not to say that he can't win it--anyone can--but he is no more of contender than Billy Mills was in 1964. Anyone can win the race in theory but Curtis should not be considered a contender.

The issue is that Bobby Curtis has run--by my count--two good races in his college career. This is not nearly the body of work needed to become a contender for the NCAA 5k title especially given the resumes of the runners this year. This board tends to saddle up on bandwagons going either direction. Curtis outkicks McD and guys start salivating; Mottram loses to Ritz and something must be wrong. In the end, runners are not judged by one race or performance. They are judged thankfully by their entire body of their work. The great ones are those that showed up and won on the right days like Geb and Viren. The ones that disappoint (or are controversial) are the ones who either never got a fair shot (like Santee) or just never seemed to run well at the right time (like Clarke).

Bobby has been running big races since his sophomore year of high school. To say he doesn't have "nearly the body of work" needed to run a high caliber race is rediculous. He is about as savvy as they come...

I'm not saying he is the hands down favorite, but he will always be a contender in a field of this caliber as long as he's healthy....

Smart running...Mcdougal "saving" himself by chilling in a qualifying race 2 weeks before? Have you ever seen the kid "save" himself for a race later on? NO! He just ran 18,000 meters in a 24 hour period 2 or 3 weeks ago....he's probably still beat up from that effort.

I am sorry but I would argue that Bobby's high school career is less relevant than the fact that he has struggled mightily in his NCAA career until very recently. The question was about the NCAA 5k and I asserted that he is not a contender given his NCAA career. When you look at his competition in the 5k--Rupp, Vaughn, Solinsky to name a few--I think their NCAA resumes make them much more likely contenders than Curtis. Sorry.

While Curtis' career has been a roller coaster now on the way up for sure, he has:

Won Big East XC over Sub 8 3K'er and miler Chris Lukezic

15th at NCAA Nats XC as a soph, in a field that was loaded

Third at Pre Nats XC

3:58 split at Penn, 1:49.6 split at Penn on 4 x 8

3:57.20 yards

13:43 in First 5K effort beating Slattery who went 13:36 two weeks later.

Just won Regions 5K over McD , a 3:57 guy himself and 13:20.

Many folks struggle for periods, if you asked anyone who sees Curtis now, they would say he is clearly getting to be that next level guy, that folks saw in him 4 years ago.

He made 58.8 last night look like 65.0, and that does show the talent.Last mile in 4:11/12?

In a "walk it out" special at NC's in 5k, he is now as dangerous as anyone else.

Bobby had a sleep disorder that forced him to withdraw from school academically at the end of his sophomore year. Once he got that sorted out, he started coming back really strong. He has a year left next year to really step up on the national scene, so if not this year then it'll be next.