Is Fernandez ducking Rupp?

German is currently in negotiations with Adidas Sports for a international running sponsorship. He will not be running in March Nationals.

Danke

Good point. You know if the roles were reversed and Fernandez was running indoor and Rupp didn't run (for whatever reason), that Rupp would be catching all kinds of crap right now.

jkjoregon wrote:

Is Fernandez ducking Rupp?

Yes, he's ducking Rupp to go face those weak Kenyan, Ethiopian and Ugandan runners.

Come on jkjoregon, Fernandez is planning on mixing it up at the front of the toughest juniors race in the world and you think he's skipping indoors to duck Rupp? Come on man!

mj wrote:

Good point. You know if the roles were reversed and Fernandez was running indoor and Rupp didn't run (for whatever reason), that Rupp would be catching all kinds of crap right now.

Well spake

Ducking? Oh, I get it. Of course. The Ducks.

Fernandez will be there for his country.... Rupp will not.

What Smith says about Fernandez's long-term goals seems pretty sound to me. I think the guy really knows what he's doing and is an excellent coach for GF to be working with.

Smith also talks about him missing school (a week for world xc). He is running for his country and against a tougher field. Rupp could of made the senior team if he wanted to but didn't. And Ryan Gregson will be competing last i heard so i don't think he is "Ducking" anybody.

citius5000 wrote:

Smith also talks about him missing school (a week for world xc). He is running for his country and against a tougher field. Rupp could of made the senior team if he wanted to but didn't. And Ryan Gregson will be competing last i heard so i don't think he is "Ducking" anybody.

This is true, he'll have a 13:56 guy to face rather than a 13:18 and 13:19 (indoors). He'll also have a bunch of ambiguous africans, of which he is not really expected to beat so there won't be any measurable failure there.

Yes, to a certain extent he is ducking Rupp or at least NCAA's. He will have Derrick and Puskedra (obviously not on the level of Rupp) so if he somehow gets beat by one of them it will be seen as a huge failure.

To run this much of an indoor season and then not at least do the 3K (no prelim) is pretty stupid. I think the pressure from the marks he made and the expectations that fans have manifested from those marks is having an effect on coach and runner. Otherwise why hell run so many indoor races and double at conference with an all out wire to wire mile? It doesn't follow that they are NOW thinking about his short term future, when the only indoor race that matters is about to happen.

A worse case is he does the mile at nationals and gets 3rd or 4th or even 2nd. How could a 3:55.0 miler get beat buy guys who haven't gone under 3:57? But of course it could happen. Maybe if they knew Wheating wouldn't do the mile they might have stuck around. But there is Ulrey.

Maybe Nike is throwing something their way for him not to run against Rupp. I think Fernandez can handle Rupp at 3k. Nike would have a hard time swallowing their golden boy being beat by an 18 yr old after everything they have done for Rupp.

0/10

From The Stands wrote:

Maybe Nike is throwing something their way for him not to run against Rupp. I think Fernandez can handle Rupp at 3k. Nike would have a hard time swallowing their golden boy being beat by an 18 yr old after everything they have done for Rupp.

Track Fan wrote:

Fernandez will be there for his country.... Rupp will not.

Dumbest comment ever, as if Rupp didnt represent his country in the olympics a few months ago

beijing wrote:

Track Fan wrote:

Fernandez will be there for his country.... Rupp will not.

Dumbest comment ever, as if Rupp didnt represent his country in the olympics a few months ago

I hear the worlds course is not Rupp certified. Hince he is not running at worlds. The Olympic 10k was on a Rupp certified track, so he was able to run there.

Actually Rupp made every race he intended to run clear from about a week or more out this indoor season. Also made clear for months that he planned to double at NCAA's.

Here's another thought that just hit me. Remember when Fernandez was going to run the 3K at Washington, but then we never saw his name on the entrants. Yet 8 other Ok St guys were entered. Nobody knew for sure if he was actually going to run it until the day of when people saw him there.

I think this kind of ducking is going to hurt fernandez in the long run. Still has footlocker to answer for. Still has NCAA's to answer for, no not the fall, but for all the bad running before the fall. How does a runner who is capable of crushing Luke and Derrick over 8K cross take 8 kilometers at NCAA's just to catch their backs? He was never a contender in that race.

Now skipping NCAA indoors to run a race he has not shot of winning. NCAA's it's win or lose, but world cross is a grey area of success unless gregson, luke or chris beat him.

If he has a failure there I see him coming back and tearing up some fast time trials and low profile races and building up more pressure only to have this same situation going into outdoor NCAA's.

This could be the worst thing for him. Better to face the fire now. It will not get better by avoiding it.

For God's sake, leave Fernandez alone. He is only a 'true' freshman and Rupp is a senior for cryin out loud. Not a fair comparison. How would Rupp have done against German when Rupp was a Frosh? Case closed.

how is he a failure????he is 18....you dont become a failure till you graduate from college after posting fast times and then do nothing internationally...thats a failure....a succesful freshman season is not a failure, not to mention the success he is having...furthermore, running has alot of politics and i wouldnt be suprised if rupp and fernandez dont race against each other till the pre classic, because their both attend nike schools and nike could make a huge amount on that meet with those two as the top billing.

Duckduckgoose wrote:

Yes, to a certain extent he is ducking Rupp or at least NCAA's. .....

To run this much of an indoor season and then not at least do the 3K (no prelim) is pretty stupid.

......or maybe the guy wants to concentrate on the World XC champs.

LEAVE GERMAN ALONE wrote:

For God's sake, leave Fernandez alone. He is only a 'true' freshman and Rupp is a senior for cryin out loud. Not a fair comparison. How would Rupp have done against German when Rupp was a Frosh? Case closed.

This was the case with Rob Cheseret. Rupp never ducked him and finally beat him at Pac-10 cross country after getting beat 8 times or more previously.

thinking back wrote:

LEAVE GERMAN ALONE wrote:

For God's sake, leave Fernandez alone. He is only a 'true' freshman and Rupp is a senior for cryin out loud. Not a fair comparison. How would Rupp have done against German when Rupp was a Frosh? Case closed.

This was the case with Rob Cheseret. Rupp never ducked him and finally beat him at Pac-10 cross country after getting beat 8 times or more previously.

ok, so how would the freshman rupp done against the freshman Fernandez?