Where would Ritz place at NCAA nationals in 2024

Agree. He's been running reps with his athletes. He's still plenty fit.

he would get last

Ritz was an elite runner. American record holder in 5000m on track of all things.

Bronze medal world Half Marathon 60:00 flat. IMO better than than Hall's American Half record at Houston. Ritz ran his in rainy conditions on harder course.

And of course bronze in world XC Under 20.

So yeah one of the all-time best XC runners at the HS and collegiate level.

I am waiting for the next American to medal at World XC at any level.

Ritz would place first cos he out kicked hall who still has the American record for half and fastest marathon yup

this why i am for supershoes.

prevent injury.

the shoes back in the day were TERRIBLE. affecting form alot.

you do have to reset the record book however.

back in the day, shoes were very underrated.

not anymore.

I am also looking forward to this, we may very well see Grant Fisher pull it off in 2026.

Conner Mantz can go out and win the NCAA cross title but Ritz would have a hard time cracking the top-20?

The world xc junior bronze is as elite as almost any American male runner has ever accomplished.

He’s in the top few any time.

Conner Mantz wouldn't win this year. Nico Young couldn't win it and he was 12th in the Olympics in the 10K. I have no idea why all these people think NCAA Ritz could keep up with these guys. The competition is at another level in the NCAA now.

Conner Mantz wouldn't win this year. Nico Young couldn't win it and he was 12th in the Olympics at 10K. I don't see why everyone thinks NCAA Ritz would beat all these guys. Competition is at another level in the NCAA right now.

Watching those Track All Access OK State videos - probably not top 5.

Last to 10 from last. Same as Billy Mills and Jim Ryun.

They are all old, right?

I'm talking Ritz when he was running in the NCAAS, not Ritz now.

It doesn’t matter, it’s a wash. Whether he crosses the line first because he’s more juiced than the other competitors or he places one hundredth because the dopers ahead of him are more doped…who cares? The sport is fake.

He'd win like he always did. I ran with him. He's one of the most competitive and hard working athlete's I've known. He rises to the occasion.

Didn't Conner Mantz face Ritz in HS back in 2000??

Honestly I think the backlash to the OP’s take has gone too far. Win like he always did? He won one NCAA XC title by 1.3 seconds. Gavin Thompson of Eastern Michigan was 3 seconds back and had lifetime bests of 3:59y-8:01-14:00-28:40. Ritz was 4th as a freshman in his only other NCAA XC championship, 24 seconds behind Boaz Cheboiywo. He never won an NCAA title on the track, placing 4th in the 5k in 2002 and 2nd in the 5k in 2004, outdoors; indoors he was 3rd in the 5k in 2002 and 4th in 2004 a few months after winning that XC title. In 2003 he was 24th at Sr. World XC. That’s not always winning.

Assuming we’re talking about an NCAA version of Ritz and not peak (2009) Ritz, I doubt that he’d win this year or have won last year or plenty of other years. 13:03/9th at the Olympics Graham Blanks, 26:53/17th at Sr. World XC Habtom Samuel, 13:06 Ky Robinson (18 seconds back), 12:57/26:52 Nico Young (27 seconds back)—2023 was no easy race to win. I also think college Ritz would be torched by a guy like Sam Chelanga v.2009, who beat Chris Derrick by 33 seconds and would run 27:08 (pre-super spikes) a few months later.

Ritz was absolutely a great runner and would be highly competitive in this era, a smart pick for top 5-10, but the competition IS stronger and Ritz never had the best run of health in college, so I doubt that he would come out on top.

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