The big three.. Kinda (Webb, Ritz, Hall)

Learning to Run wrote:

Alan Webb, Ryan Hall, and Dathan Ritzenhein all graduated the same year of high school. Were all three quite good..

It has been 11 years since they graduated high school.

Ryan Hall: Half Marathon Record 2x Olympic qualifier

Alan Webb: USA Mile Record Holder 2x Olympic qualifier

Dathan Ritzenhein: Former 5k record holder 3x Olympic qualifier

Out of that 2001 graduating class how would you rank their post college careers from best to worst?

Make that:

Alan Webb: USA Mile Record Holder 2x Olympic qualifier

Ritz

Hall

Webb

The space between ranks are very tiny though.

When else did Webb qualify for Olympics other than 2004?

Great runners, but no WC or Olympic medals from any of them, nor the likelyhood of ever getting one.

Webb, by far, had the most potential.

Because none of them never hit the podium, like Saladbar, they can never be considered one of the all time US greats.

Rating Hall over Webb is ludicrous. Webb's finished 7th (or 9th?) in the world- higher than Hall. Webb's won nat'l championships in tough events. Hall won the '08 trials. His other nat'l champs were in the half-mara. & 12K- but most of our best don't priortize. Webb's set great records and won GP races. Hall will have 2 OG appearances, and that'll be his only argument- And sorry, but that doesn't overhaul everything else.

It's very close but at the moment I would say

Webb

Hall

Ritz

However, if any of them medal in a WC or Olympic games it would easily put them in front of the other two.

Learning to Run wrote:

Alan Webb, Ryan Hall, and Dathan Ritzenhein all graduated the same year of high school. Were all three quite good..

It has been 11 years since they graduated high school.

Ryan Hall: Half Marathon Record 2x Olympic qualifier

Alan Webb: USA Mile Record Holder 2x Olympic qualifier

Dathan Ritzenhein: Former 5k record holder 3x Olympic qualifier

Out of that 2001 graduating class how would you rank their post college careers from best to worst?

Webb only qualified once in the Olympics in that was '04

Webb

Hall

Ritz

That could change in a few weeks though.

sweet deal wrote:

It's very close but at the moment I would say

Webb

Hall

Ritz

However, if any of them medal in a WC or Olympic games it would easily put them in front of the other two.

Ritz got a medal at the half marathon World Championships.

Ritz had a junior cross medal too

Bin Der Dun Dat wrote:

Great runners, but no WC or Olympic medals from any of them, nor the likelyhood of ever getting one.

Webb, by far, had the most potential.

Because none of them never hit the podium, like Saladbar, they can never be considered one of the all time US greats.

salazar has a world xc silver and ritz has a world junior xc branze and as mentioned a world half marathon bronze.

wasnt teg in the same high school graduating class of 2001?

I'd go

Ritz

Hall

Webb

Ritz, as surprising as it seems, has spent more time on a high level as Webb. Career wise, while Webb might have shined brighter, I have to think that Ritz has ultimately had more frequent success. Hall, on the other hand, is lacking a medal and races far too infrequently and anything lower than a marathon is basically a step back for him. Ritz has been decent or incredible at a broader variety of events.

If we went strictly off prize money and appearance fees, I'd probably say

Hall

Ritz

Webb

Salary wise, Webb might've had the largest contract although recently Ritz and Hall might have passed him.

This is a fascinating thread. Very fascinating. It's almost unfair to even allow it to exist though as it's so hard to rank them as there events are so different.I mean do we count NCAA performances. By what criteria are we ranking them?Do we care what the mainstream people think? If we treated the world-half as the same as another world championship, then it would be a no-brainer. Ritz #1.But with two minutes of thought at 8:30 in the morning, I actually say Ritz #3.Which I'm sure a Ritz fan would say, "But Ritz beat hall at the Olympics."Buy my main ranking criteria is: "Have I ever woken up dreaming that that athlete would win a major or at least medal?"Off the top of my head, the only time I've done that with Ritz is at NCAA cross really, right?With Hall, I got up to watch him run London in 2008. I was glued to the tv for 2+ hours in Boston last year.With Ritz, the biggest thrill was that 12:56 and I could barely see him in the tv screen for most of the race.But of course, some of webb's greatest runs were in time trials i didn't care about.This is my unofficial stream of consciousness post. Maybe I'll come back later and do a real 1-3 ranking. When I first read this thread, I actually got mad as I thought it was unfair to the athletes as these are 3 of the all-time greats, despite what people say.I think all the time - man what if those three guys weren't around. Who would we have been following for the last decade?I do know one thing. Poster "Bin Der Dun Dat" is a fool.

Bin Der Dun Dat wrote:

Great runners, but no WC or Olympic medals from any of them, nor the likelyhood of ever getting one.

Webb, by far, had the most potential.

Because none of them never hit the podium, like Saladbar, they can never be considered one of the all time US greats.

To compare these guys to the guys from the 60s or 70s is unfair as it's so much harder now. If Frank Shorter delayed his birth by 30-35 years, do I think he would be an Olympic medallist in the year 2012? Absolutely not.

And do you count HS as I certainly give a lot of credit to ritz for the 2 FL wins? NCAA cross as well.

An impossible task here.

The marathon is going the way of professional Tennis and cycling - Olympic and other championship performances mean less and less as prize money increases at the pro races. Therefore, I really can't criticize Hall for a lack of medals. I think it's better to look at prize winnings and competitiveness in 'open' events, which aren't restricted to 3-per-country (cross country champs being the exception, of course).

Given that, I think Hall has to be ranked first (although I see that nobody else here agrees with me!).

Then we have the tough task of ranking Webb versus Ritz. Webb's has great PRs (3rd fastest American 1500m runner) and some quality wins in US champs, Paris grand prix, and at least one WC final.

I agree with coach bigfoot that Ritz has spent more time at a high level.

I ask myself, which of these runners is more known to the competition - are/were the top runners even aware of Webb or Ritz? Although Webb had some great years, maybe Ritz has been a presence (although a weak presence internationally) for longer. So Ritz edges Webb, but only by a little.

At least two of these guys seem to be borderline crazy, though. Not sure about Ritz...

I'm going to say Ritz, Hall then Webb

1. Ritz on account of:

-- Top placings at Global championships

3rd at World Junior XC

9th at 2008 olympic marathon (just in front of Hall)

6th at 2009 World Champs 10k

3rd at 2009 World Champs Half Marathon

--12:56 American record.

2. Hall in second for:

--Consistent excellent finished in major marathons

2007 London - 7th, 2008 London - 5th, 2008 OG - 10th, 2009 Boston - 3rd, 2009 NYC - 4th, 2010 Boston - 4th, 2011 Boston - 4th, 2011 Chicago - 5th

--59:43 AR Half Marathon

--2:06:17 and 2:04:58

If Hall has a good Olympic Marathon (top 5 or so), I'd consider his career to date better than Ritz's. A high finish at an OG is pretty much all he needs at this point, or a WMM win.

3. Webb

3:46 mile AR

3:30.5 1500

He's too inconsistent on world stage than other 2 and no noteworthy major championship finishes.

Gotta say the "Big three" of US distance running are way behind the Big one of US Ddistance running of Lagat!

areusure? wrote:

Gotta say the "Big three" of US distance running are way behind the Big one of US Ddistance running of Lagat!

We're talking about the "big three" of the high school class of 2001 though. No one is saying these are the three best american distance runners, but they are three of the best and their storylines have been inextricably entangled since HS, so it's fun to talk about who's the best relative to eachother.

Yes, Lagat has been far more successful than all of them, but that's kind of irrelevant to this discussion. As are the accomplishments of Galen Rupp, MAtt Tegenkamp, Chris Solinsky, Alberto Salazar, Craig Virgin, Steve Scott, Frank Shorter, JOhny Gray, Evan Jager, Dave Wottle, Sydney Maree, Bob Kennedy, Todd Williams, Eddy Helleybuck, Gerry Lindgren, and any other American distance running legend who is not named Alan Webb, Ryan Hall, or Dathan Ritzenhein.