I'm pretty certain that no other winner of a major 5000m (or above) championships has demonstrated so much all-round athletic ability as a teen as Steve Ovett did.
Also Peter Snell if you can count him as a 'distance runner'.
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49
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Lauren Johnson attended Huntington University on a track/basketball scholarship, and earned All-American honors in basketball, track and cross-country. Okay, it's an NAIA school, but still pretty impressive.
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She could be the only Olympic medalist in distance running who could do this.
Also an all-district soccer player in high school.
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Coevett wrote:
I'm pretty certain that no other winner of a major 5000m (or above) championships has demonstrated so much all-round athletic ability as a teen as Steve Ovett did.
Also Peter Snell if you can count him as a 'distance runner'.
Yeah, Snell was an excellent all-around athlete. He was quite competitive in the old Superstars competitions. Ten years after he retired from racing he could hold his own against top professional athletes in the NFL, NBA, soccer, boxing, skiing, etc.
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Just Another Hobby Jogger wrote:
She could be the only Olympic medalist in distance running who could do this.
Also an all-district soccer player in high school.
Isn't interesting that this "all-district" all-state and all-whatever is limited to the US? Elsewhere, in most of the world, people play football (and most sports) for the fun of it, not for these silly competitions and honours. Even when they play for their school teams and the like, its, for them, a normal part of their life and you would never hear them mention it as an achievement.
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This is probably because in many other countries most sports are organized by clubs, not schools. And people are more aware than US citizens that they might not be understood when they say that athlete x played soccer in Oberliga B-Jugend in their youth even that might have been quite competitive (in countries where soccer is big like almost everywhere, except US...).
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Nick Bare
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Justyn Knight
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OttosArmyHaven wrote:
Justyn Knight
Colin Bennie, multiple NCAA all-american in track and XC was a very good high school hockey player in Massachusetts (all-region, high scoring forward on team that advanced far in state playoffs each season). That’s not “Bert Blyleven” pro level, but it is pretty good for someone who is a high-level distance runner.
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Alan Webb is a name that comes to mind. When he was in his 3:46 mile shape back in 07 he looked like he could have did atleast one rep of 230 or 235. He was strong for a runner and he also had some speed to him. Maybe 11.2ish 100 guy
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Chris Sullivan, Ridgewood High School Class of 1985 (Group 4). 4:10 1600, football varsity starting QB, basketball varsity starting guard.
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Paul McMullen
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Its Coley Candaele. He was California player of the as a QB. His teams were something like 33-0 , or maybe one loss or a tie.
4:06 miler. Cal State champ.
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Sarah Lancaster went 89-38 in singles at University of Texas. (She also played varsity basketball for one season.)
She is now a 4:05/15:09 runner who qualified for the Olympic Trial in two events.
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2:18 at the casino and way off the grid... wrote:
Joe Falcon was the only runner that I have heard could bench press more than me at weighing under 130 lbs. When I weighed 128 Max was 265lbs.
My college teammate Paul Stemmer (120 lbs) benched 285. Fifth at the 1975 NCAA xc meet. Millrose Games 2 mile champ. Best 10k 28:30.
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Jack Cuvo00
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In the 1990s, Andy Downin was a star soccer player at Duxbury HS in Massachusetts. At the time they were consistently one of the best teams in the state. Late on a Friday night in November, Downin scored the winning goal in the 6th overtime to take the division 1 state championship.
The next morning on Saturday, he put on his cross country spikes for the first time that year, and went out and won the state XC title. In response the MIAA created the "Downin rule" which prevents athletes from switching sports beyond halfway in a season, which is still in effect today.
Downin went on to run at Georgetown, break 4 in the mile, and was one of the best milers in the US during the dark ages of the early 2000s. I think he works for New Balance now?
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Just Another Hobby Jogger wrote:
She could be the only Olympic medalist in distance running who could do this.
Also an all-district soccer player in high school.
Wow. We have a winner. Backflip on a balance beam? Way more athletic than "looked like he could bench 235." Close second would be a top-level high school QB. Athleticism is about strength, stamina, flexibility, body control, coordination, focus and performance under pressure.
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crisscrosscountry wrote:
Most distance runners find running after being cut from the church baseball team and have nowhere else to go.
Actually it's the other way around. Kids learn early on in life whether they can run with the big dogs. If they can't, they migrate to the other sports where they can overcome their lack of speed by developing ball skills (baseball) or can push against the fast kids to slow them down (football, basketball).
The fast athletes can play any sport they choose, but the ball sports are for the kids who can't race.
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crisscrosscountry wrote:
Most distance runners find running after being cut from the church baseball team and have nowhere else to go. But a proud few use their aerobic engine to complete herculean tasks beyond the track or xc course. These are the men and women I'm interested in focusing on. Bonus points for the further their athletic accomplishments extend beyond distance running, otherwise I feel like it would be a bunch of decent soccer players. I'll start with two CA state champs who gave me the idea for this thread:
Coley Candaele: CA state champ in 1990 with a 4:06 1600m after he spent the fall as the starting quarterback for the CIF champions. Also coached Michael Norman in high school.
Michael Stember: how many distance runners can dunk? Not many can dunk as a 5'9" freshman and decide to give up a starting spot on a competitive Jesuit basketball team to run cross country.
Who else ya got?
I am 6'1 and could Dunk while in 4:3x/16:00ish shape. But i knew a 1:49 high schooler that could dunk much easier than me lol
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