what did he do of any significance on the world stage?
what did he do of any significance on the world stage?
Didn't Brad Hudson run 2:17 at either the 84' or 85' Chicago Marathon when he was 18?
Dave White - 2:17.xx a few years later
Hunt was an amazing High School runner who came along at a crazy time in So Cal. There was also Eric Hulst, Curtis Beck who ran close to 4 as a junior, Ralph Serna, yada yada yada However these were "just" high school runners, the bulk of the publicity really went to people like Craig Virgin or Tony Waldrop who seemed to run a 3 55 mile indoors every week. Nowadays Hunt would probably have his own website & reality show...Totally different era, so many stories that no one knows about
allknowingpeeps wrote:
what did he do of any significance on the world stage?
Pfeffer was the AR holder in the half marathon and was a 2:10 marathoner. He often gave guys like Bill Rodgers and Rod Dixon their full money's worth on the roads, as well as being a Colorado trail-running legend. You have to throw him in with Herb Lindsay, Greg Meyer, Jon Sinclair, Mark Curp as amongst the best of the true road specialists of the late 70's and early 80's.
If you pull up the link and scoll toward the bottom, there's a picture of Pfeffer running alongside Toshihiko Seko, Waldemar Cierpinski, Rob De Castella and the Soh brothers at Fukuoka.
allknowingpeeps wrote:
what did he do of any significance on the world stage?
This is getting ridiculous. In 1979, Pfeffer won the Enschede marathon in the Netherlands and was second in the NYC marathon. In 1980, he ran 2:10:29 at Fukuoka, which was one of the top ten times in the world that year. At a time when Americans were among the best marathoners in the world, Pfeffer was one of the very best. I don't think there's any male marathoner in the U.S. today -- and that includes Abdi, Meb, Hall, and KK -- who is currently as competitive on the world scene as Pfeffer was when he was in his prime. He was a super talent, a very hard trainer, and a ferocious racer. In fact, his hard training and racing probably cost him some huge victories and an even greater running legacy.
It's strange how some runners are remembered by so many, and others -- with roughly the same level of accomplishments -- are virually forgotten.
[quote]christopher Barr wrote:
Hunt's time was run at the old LA Times meet, on a 10 lap to the mile wooden track. I remember watching the race on TV. I believe Hunt was the better marathoner in HS. Afterwards, I don't know.
Hunt's 402 mile was at the Jack in the Box meet in San Diego on a track that was one of the fastest, 10-12 lap board tracks around at the time. (but still a banked, board track; nothing like the jetstream indoor tracks of today)
Chris Barr,
Did you go to Mt. Whitney High School?
I was just looking at those results of the 1975 NCAA race. Amazing how many future greats were running in NCAA competition back then. Of course, guys like Rono and Salazar showed up the next year or two.
Avocados Number wrote:
This is getting ridiculous. In 1979, Pfeffer won the Enschede marathon in the Netherlands and was second in the NYC marathon. In 1980, he ran 2:10:29 at Fukuoka, which was one of the top ten times in the world that year. At a time when Americans were among the best marathoners in the world, Pfeffer was one of the very best. I don't think there's any male marathoner in the U.S. today -- and that includes Abdi, Meb, Hall, and KK -- who is currently as competitive on the world scene as Pfeffer was when he was in his prime. He was a super talent, a very hard trainer, and a ferocious racer. In fact, his hard training and racing probably cost him some huge victories and an even greater running legacy.
It's strange how some runners are remembered by so many, and others -- with roughly the same level of accomplishments -- are virually forgotten.
well said, sir.
Mitch Kingery went to my cross town high school. Nice guy but burnt out really bad starting the end of his junior year. Was running mega miles and they really took their toll. He ran just under 9 minutes for 2 miles and then went on to run for Cal Poly. Never ran well after high school.
He did it as a junior too. No one has come to within 20 minutes of his time in the last 20 years. Has the course changed over the years?
Any other info on Kingery? I remember seeing his name on that list and not knowing a thing about him (apart from his HS marathon record).
Paul Wesley went to my highschool. The kid ran a 33 minute 10,000m when he was 12. And not much after that. Fell out with the high school track coach. The dad was crazy, always pushing him. Another burnout casualty.
WTF? When did Wesley Paul run at South? I distinctly remember him running at Shawnee Mission West!
allknowingpeeps wrote:
very very sad!!! with the exception of Hunt(decent pro career but nothing spectacular),Pferrer(did ok on the roads as a pro), Gompers(ran at Harvard, made a junior xc world team in '83 finished fourth at the '88 marathon trials and his time was a world jr record). "their candles burned out long before they ever did anything"
So three of the five had strong post-collegiate careers? I'd say that's pretty damn good. Compare it to the list of Footlocker winners, for example; I suspect that group is well below a 60% "success" rate.
Why is this surprising? Look at basketball, football, etc. Success in high school doesn't always (or even often) equate with success in college. Same goes if you compare college to pros. You simply can't predict who's going to be a pro all-star based on what they did in high school (any better than you could by flipping a coin). That's why all pro drafts are pretty much crap shoots, especially in baseball where they're drafting high schoolers. Ever compare a MLB draft from 5 or 10 years ago to current rosters. You look at the draft lists and get a lot of "who the hell is that guy(s)?"
Jayhawk wrote:
WTF? When did Wesley Paul run at South? I distinctly remember him running at Shawnee Mission West!
Well, that's what his Dad told me when I talked ran into him at Panera's and he talked about Naster, who later confirmed it. But I wasn't around then I guess. When were you at West?
moses masai of kenya has the world junior record for the marathon 21013 looked it up on tilastopaja.net he seems to have a promising career and his 2649 track 10k in brussels in getting outkicked by keninisa bekele shows he is not burning out. also geb ran 248 at age 14 at 7000 feet, mary decker ran 310 on a hilly course (palos verdes) at age 12, wesley paul ran 259 at age 9 at the new york marathon, cathy schiro ran 234 at age 16 and finished i think 4th at the womens marathon trials.
One other interesting thing about Mitch is that Dana Carvey was on his team. Sub 4:30 miler in high school. Mitch was a very normal guy, just too many miles early on. At that time a few of the high schools (San Carlos, Carlmont) in the area did mega miles and had a lot of very good runners. That high school (San Carlos) closed down in the 80's.