Dathan Ritzenhein interview in RW

I agree, if your 45yrs old and you go from 22min 5k down to 16min it's GREAT improvement.

BUT, most freshman in HS, including myself, opened up and around 22-23m for 5k, and if they are serious like I was can work their way down to 15:04(my PR as soph in college).

My problem was that he turned a thread that was about Ritz into how great he was going to become. IT's plain annoying and not needed.

I always thought Blitzen was vastly underrated

Blitzen is a good guy. Very hard worker. He's not a suck up like Prancer and Rudolph. If we could just get Cupid off the team, what's up with that guy?

(by the way, that was hilarious Prancer)

Dathan,

Kill em' kill em all. Crush your ememies, see them driven before you, and listen to the lamentations of their women! And don't stop there. Nurture your career and gently take yourself to the next level. Drive on man!

I don't know about this "alot of good runners start out aound 22-23 minutes." I havn't known anyone like that. My first 5k in 8th grade was 17:04 and I've improved a good 3 minutes from that. I can't see any elite runner starting slower than 18:00.

I agree, I think I could have run 23 minutes in 2nd grade, thats slower than 7:30s. common people are born that fast

Why stop there?

Tear them to bloody shreds; cover the smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; drown the thunder of footsteps with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring God for the refuge of the grave and denied it. Blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet!

Whether it is cold or icy, or muddy or firm, or warm and sunny ..... IT DOESN"T MATTER.

Ritz won all kinds of races on the track the last five years. In XC he beat Sage at FL in a sprint (this was a 1:50/4:00.3 runner who closed an 8:48 with a 57-second last lap). Then the next year when everyone KNEW what he could do he dropped Webb (1:47) and Hall (3:43) by 20 seconds.

He would have run 13:20/27:40 last year if he hadn't stalled out. He may not run the 10k this year, but he is capable of that now.

Somebody said he will be the favorite for two more years unless some elite Kenyans run. Well, Kimani was a 13:10 runner. Boaz was rumored to be the same. Lord Ritz would dust the likes of them, just like Jorge did.

I say it will be Ritz by 12 seconds.

OK there are some people that dislike Webb, but can you find someone that dislikes Ritz?

I hate Ritz! Thinks he's sooooo fast and soooo smart.

He's about as bad as Tom Hanks.

I also hate the song "It's a wonderful world," puppies, and the smell of bread baking.

today in the back of church i will be selling dathan ritzenheim plaster figurines, all blessed by the pope. get yours before i get kicked out with the money changers.

Actually, Donald closed an 8.42 with a 57-second last lap. Don has an incredible kick. But Don has a great deal of respect for Dathan, not only because Dathan took him. With Standord so strong this year, and Don in his last year of eligibility and final collegiate xc race, I feel he may try to challenge Dathan for the top spot. What a race this could be. I just hope the weather is not a major factor- but both Don and Dathan have experience running in crappy conditions, since both are midwest runners. And if Cragg is healthy, that adds yet another factor, and then any of the Stanford guys are capable of busting one out. Going to be a superb race.

My Money is On Cragg - he has beaten all these guys before and they know it too - get down to the last mile and if cragg is still with them they will all know they can be beat.

Great attitude, great interview....yah, but i gotta go with Robison.

In another recent interview Jeff Spicoli was asked about his chances of winning the NCAAs and what he thought about Hall, Sage, Ritz, and Robison.

Here is a clip of the interview.

http://funwavs.com/wavfile.php?quote=4106&sound=324

Man, York High School people are annoying...

Actually, Donald closed an 8.42 with a 57-second last lap. Don has an incredible kick. But Don has a great deal of respect for Dathan, not only because Dathan took him. With Standord so strong this year, and Don in his last year of eligibility and final collegiate xc race, I feel he may try to challenge Dathan for the top spot. What a race this could be. I just hope the weather is not a major factor- but both Don and Dathan have experience running in crappy conditions, since both are midwest runners. And if Cragg is healthy, that adds yet another factor, and then any of the Stanford guys are capable of busting one out. Going to be a superb race.

Look at the RW interview today with Paul Morrison, the South Central Regional winner from Texas. He seems to think that Cragg, who finished second to him at the Regional, has a lot more in him and will be dangerous on Monday.

As much as I like Ritz, I'd have picked Cragg if he'd been healthy all summer/fall. Ritz is great, but Cragg just a tad better.

In the '04, they should both run 13:15-20.

And non-York IL runners are all jealous of York runners. 'Sides, I didn't go to York. Just correcting the record.