Say it ain't so: Happy 40th Birthday (yesterday) to this former NCAA xc champ......

Your tweet gave it away...

"Happy 40th birthday to @Adam_Goucher

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=6341366

…"

Who's Adam Goucher?

Is he that guy who arrogantly boasted bring on the Kenyans only to fail miserably as a pro?

Guess it should make sense as Lagat is 40 and he was in the NCAA XC race that Goucher won in 98. Here's some other names from that race that are or will be getting close to masters status. Abdi will NEVER seem like he's 40 and I remember getting beat in a road race by Fein when he was 14 and I was in my 20s.

1 1 Adam Goucher, Sr 29:26 Colorado

2 2 Abdi Abdirahman, Sr 29:49 Arizona

3 3 Julius Mwangi, Sr 30:00 Butler University

4 4 Matthew Downin, Jr 30:00 Wisconsin

5 5 Sean Kaley, Sr 30:12 Arkansas

6 6 Brad Hauser, Sr 30:18 Stanford

7 7 Benard Lagat, Jr 30:20 Washinton State

8 Jeff Simonich, Sr 30:22 Utah

9 8 Jonathon Riley, So 30:31 Stanford

10 9 Todd Snyder, Sr 30:34 Michigan

11 10 Matthew Lane, Jr 30:36 William and Mary

12 11 Ben Noad, Sr 30:37 Providence

13 12 Brent Hauser, Sr 30:39 Stanford

14 13 Keith Kelly, Jr 30:45 Providence

15 Ian Conner, So 30:46 Ohio State

16 14 Andrew Begley, Jr 30:46 Arkansas

17 Christian Belz, Sr 30:49 Washington

18 15 Steve Fein, Jr 30:51 Oregon

I knew it was Adam just from the title of the thread. He' s just a bit younger than Lagat.

known for wrestling lions on his easy days.

stick with eharmony wrote:

Who's Adam Goucher?

Is he that guy who arrogantly boasted bring on the Kenyans only to fail miserably as a pro?

Miserably failed? Far from it. He was top 10 world xc (admittedly short course). Won an Olympic Trials in a truly amazing performance and won US titles in all 3 disciplines (xc, indoor track, outdoor track).

Happy birthday to a decent runner that Americans over glorify and treat like this big thing despite never getting in spitting distance of a global medal.

Their seems to be this trend where amazing college and High school distance runners in America spend the important years injured and out. Maybe going that hard at 16-22 is a bad idea.

stick with eharmony wrote:

Who's Adam Goucher?

Is he that guy who arrogantly boasted bring on the Kenyans only to fail miserably as a pro?

rojo wrote:

Won an Olympic Trials in a truly amazing performance and won US titles in all 3 disciplines (xc, indoor track, outdoor track).

Wait, so there were Kenyans at those US championships...well, other than Lagat?

Anyone who says Goucher's pro-career wasn't disappointing is being too nice, not that I blame you, he's a pretty cool guy. Sure he had successes on the national level and threw down some impressive times, but ultimately when you consider that his greatest achievement at the international level was a 10th place finish at the (track) World Championships, he really didn't live up to the hype. The dude was unstoppable as a collegian while competing against future Olympians, some who would be medalists, and then only really amounted to a guy with PB's too slow to make it into 99% of DL meets today and who nowadays wouldn't even be able to make an Oly/WC team.

And yes, I think 10th place at the track & field WC's is more impressive than 6th on the short course at World XC.

I think Goucher deserves more props for his 6th on the short course. Looks like a pretty deep field to me. Didn't the bronze medalist Kaouch later get busted for EPO?

Even Ryan Hall was in that race! Did not remember that.

1 114 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 10:54

2 220 Isaac Kiprono Songok KEN 10:55

3 242 Adil Kaouch MAR 10:57

4 213 Benjamin Limo KEN 11:00

5 112 Mohamed Ali ETH 11:01

6 338 Adam Goucher USA 11:02

7 206 Augustine Kiprono Choge KEN 11:03

8 219 Edwin Cheruiyot Soi KEN 11:06

9 284 Saif Saaeed Shaheen QAT 11:08

10 287 Sultan Khamis Zaman QAT 11:08

11 21 Craig Mottram AUS 11:10

12 121 Sileshi Sihine ETH 11:12

13 63 Kevin Sullivan CAN 11:14

14 233 Hicham Bellani MAR 11:15

15 238 Khalid El Aamri MAR 11:16

16 2 Khoudir Aggoune ALG 11:17

17 321 Wilson Kipkemei Busienei UGA 11:17

18 211 Brimin Kiprop Kipruto KEN 11:17

19 339 Ryan Hall USA 11:18

20 205 Yusuf Kibet Biwott KEN

definitely going to disagree with this one here. remember, this was when EVERYONE would show up to world cross (ok, outside of el G/lagat) and the short course was just loaded with studs! to get 6th is prob the most impressive accomplishment of his life, outside of perhaps a US champs 5k or two that he never should have won, but did anyway, on grit alone.

Dewey_Runner wrote:

And yes, I think 10th place at the track & field WC's is more impressive than 6th on the short course at World XC.

Happy B-day Goucher and thanks for the awesome memories! I'm a 37 year old guy from Kansas. Goucher destroyed me several times in college as did Steve Fein in high school. Good times!

Personally I'd be pretty stoked to finish behind a guy named Mohamed Ali.

stick with eharmony wrote:

Who's Adam Goucher?

Is he that guy who arrogantly boasted bring on the Kenyans only to fail miserably as a pro?

Kill yourself, Stick. It's time.

Do the right thing. NO ONE will miss you.

I do not believe it has been noted, look at that gap! 23 seconds!! Was that the famous RimRock course that Jim Ryun helped design? What is the record for that 98' course?

brojo wrote:

He married very well.

Anyone else think this part is kind of creepy?

This list proves that Goucher, at one time, was among the best. Let's see - he beat Choge, Cheruiyot, Shaheen, Mottram, Sihine, Kipruto, Hall, Biwott, and probably a whole list of others. Few Americans can claim they finished ahead of even one of these runners.

Most of these guys would be in the Hall if T&F had one. But let's hear from the 16:00 5kers on what they think.

Because the ability to make a decent argument is related to aerobic talent.

It's a bit off topic, but I recall seeing the Hausers and a guy named Nathan Nutter go 1-2-3 for Stanford in the NCAA 10,000 in Buffalo in 1998. Pretty sure Abdi was 4th or 5th. It was a night race, very cold, even for Buffalo in May, and only a few people in the stands. On our way out we met Rafer Johnson. I think his son threw javelin for UCLA. He was a real gentleman. By remarkable coincidence, on the radio the next morning, they observed the 30th anniversary of RFK's assassination, and they played that famous tape with someone shouting "Rafer, get the gun !"

Anybody who wins NCAA cross country is a huge success.

I thought it was Tim Broe, oh well HB Adam