GERMAN FERNANDEZ could have won the Senior Race at USATF XC Champs

I was just looking at the results and thinking the same exact thing.

His teammate Ryan Vail was right in there and got 6th.

Fernandez, Derrick, Puskedra, what a great future for distance running in U.S.

The women's JR runners show a lot of potential as well.

J.R. wrote:

I was just looking at the results and thinking the same exact thing.

His teammate Ryan Vail was right in there and got 6th.

Fernandez, Derrick, Puskedra, what a great future for distance running in U.S.

The women's JR runners show a lot of potential as well.

German was already stronger than Vail when they had their first set of mile rep's last fall. He's surely only stronger now. There is no doubt that he would have at least contended for the win. And from what I can tell, he only put down the hammer over the last 2K, meaning he could have stretched it out for a faster time than 23:20.

Different fields with different levels of competition. Maybe he could've, but it's not automatically clear that he would've.

OK in the 1st degree wrote:

Different fields with different levels of competition. Maybe he could've, but it's not automatically clear that he would've.

Absolutely correct. He could have put the hammer down in the Senior race and then found himself rigging up while 6 guys pull away over the last 500. It's all speculation. However, I feel this kid is on his way to being world class.

OK in the 1st degree wrote:

Different fields with different levels of competition. Maybe he could've, but it's not automatically clear that he would've.

I don't recall anybody talking to you.

in the senior race he probably would have gotten spiked in the back of his heel and had to drop out. don't know where I get that idea from.

Likewise, I'm sure.

You can never say for certainty that one runner would beat another in a different race, but you can say that a 23:20 is a superior time considering the courses were the same.

Too bad that times don't matter.

german made it look very easy and relaxed

but some of the course was much much more sloppy for the men's race

guys were falling down on the back hill

even meb almost went down twice

i even saw a guy go down and get his hand/wrist spiked pretty bad

not sure if he broke it, but there was lots of blood

how were the courses the same when they were different distances baffles me

the rocket wrote:

but you can say that a 23:20 is a superior time considering the courses were the same.

uh_no wrote:

how were the courses the same when they were different distances baffles me

You started with a question and finished with a statement. Interesting.

No. I was there and when German ran the course was shape. By the second loop of meb's race the far back side of the course was a mud bog. I heard a few runners lost shoes, and some even went down because of the mud.

snarkle wrote:

uh_no wrote:

how were the courses the same when they were different distances baffles me

You started with a question and finished with a statement. Interesting.

lmao

I don't know. I was pretty tired by the final lap

very cool headline on this site

www.thecassidyfeed.com

I\'m sure Fernadez would have been competitive in the senior race, but the second 1000m on the loop was completely muddy by the time the senior race started, so times really can\'t be compared. I jogged the course just after the junior mens race and was surprised to find that there was only a small section on the uphill before the 2000m mark where it was muddy and was expecting a fairly clean course. But it was a different story during my actual race. Spikes didn\'t seem to do anything and i did see several people fall and everyone was having close calls.

Ok. I'll admit I wasn't at the race and was obviously under the wrong impression that the races were identical. But did the 12k course cover completely different ground than the 8k? Or are you guys all just talking about the conditions of the same course?

It is?

jllthenew wrote:

very cool headline on this site

http://www.thecassidyfeed.com