Having watched both Kennedy and Ritz run while they were in high school, it does not surprise me in the least that Ritz broke Kennedy's record. Both did it 8 years after leaving HS. The major difference is that Ritz's intervening 8 years were much less consistent than Kennedy's. But bear in mind that Ritz has been more or less healthy for two consecutive years now.
Here's his accomplishments from summer '07 to now, lifted from Wikipedia:
# 2007 - 9th place 10,000 m at IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan
# 2007 - 2nd place at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Team Trials, qualifying for the Beijing Olympics
# 2008 - 1st place at the U.S. Cross Country Championships.
# 2008 - 9th place, 1st American, at the Men's Olympic Marathon in Beijing, China, with a time of 2:11:59.
# 2009 - 2nd place at the U.S. Half Marathon Championships.
# 2009 - 11th place, 2nd American, at the 2009 Flora London Marathon (2:10:00 PR)
# 2009 - 2nd place, 10000m, USA Outdoor Championships, 27:58.59
# 2009 - 6th place, 10000m, at IAAF World Championships in Berlin, Germany (27:22.28 PR, no pacemakers)
# 2009 - 3rd place, 5000m, at IAAF Golden League Meet in Zurich, Switzerland, setting the American Record in the 5000m of 12:56.27
Consistent upswing. But we didn't notice with our Hall/Rupp/Lagat mania because until last week he really didn't stick out among Americans--which is in itself a huge breakthrough.