big potentials/short careers

Even though I'm a distance guy, how about mentioning *cringe* a sprinter? Obea Moore comes to mind. This guy was declared the successor to Michael Johnson, but he never ran in college, and i think (please correct) that he never made it through his senior year. According to usatf, he ran 45.99 as a 15/16 year old, and then ran 45.48 as a 17/18 year old. He also has a PR of 44.39 to go along with a 20-point 200m and a 1:49~ 800m. Hard to think of another athlete that disappeared from the sport after showing world-class times in high school.

Wow...I just read that Moore is making a comeback. He ran a meet in February and is looking to get back into track. Interesting...

Probably the best Canuck example. This was a high school 3000 meter time. Granted we go one more year but still impressive.

8:00.3, GREG ANDERSEN, 68, 1, HAMILTON, MAY 30 87

I totally agree with you about Davis. He was a stud who never scratched the surface. I guess he smoked too much weed up at Oregon, and I heard he always came back way too fast (i.e. 0 to 100 miles a week in like 15 days).

By the way, he was 45th as a senior. The only year he was not an All American (high 30s as a freshman, 10th in 1995 and 5th in 1998 at Kansas).

I'll have to disagree with Jennings, as he is still very young. I believe he is only 23. If he stops running in the next couple of years or fails to make the Olympic team again by 2008 (when he should be at his peak), then maybe we can evaluate from there.

You have to wonder about Falcon. However, when you look at the record of the guys who went to Arkansas (especially compared to their college success), it isn't entirely surprising. McDonnell is great about getting them to run to their potential while in college, but he may burn them out in the process.

A lot of runners that do really well in HS do so because they are extremely talented and have good coaching. However, they may not have that burning desire to succeed on the national/world level. They keep running until they stop improving for a year or two. However, when they look at the effort it would take to move onto the next level (when they've haven't had to work all that hard beforehand), they figure it isn't worth it and move on with their life.

One name I do know about is Brian Grosso. Brian built up mileage his entire HS career very gradually and dedicated his whole life to the sport. He did two a days in the late 80's (when low mileage was fashionable) and still managed to get 9-10 hours sleep a night (he took easy classes for electives at school to reduce his homework). He went to Arizona and was told by the coach while he was being recruited that they would red-shirt him at different points in his career so he could take five years to go to school. The first year, they had the chance to win PAC-10, so he ran. The second year was Marc Davis' senior year and they had a great chance to do well again, so he ran and I believe was an All-American in cross and ran low 14's for 5K on the track. The next year, Marin Keino came in and the coach told Brian that he was going to run him four years straight through. Brian started off that cross season running low 24's for 8K and then started to slide. He finished close to last at NCAA's and then went home for Thanksgiving. While there, he called the coach and said he wasn't coming back. From there, he worked junk jobs for a couple of years and took some classes while training on and off. Basically, he was burned out from all the discipline and pressure. However, he was having fun and being a goof off for the first time in years and loving it. Eventually, he moved back out west and got into cycling.

(I know Marc Davis posts on this message board, so please correct any incorrect statements I made; I heard the information second hand)

This post is a good reminder to people that even though these kids have tons of potential, just let them be kids and the ones that have the gut-burning desire it takes will find a way to get to the top.

1. Jose Parilla

2. Mastalirs and B. Dameworth

3. Louis Quintana

4. Franklyn Sanchez (jury still out?)

5. Brandon Rock

have crap HS coaches that burn them out and most of them fade away and do little at the college level. Most HS kids run 200s and 400s in every practice and never work at VO2max or Lactate Threshold pace. Their aerobic systems are under-developed. Then you have a place like York HS, Newton is considered a great HS coach, but the 90+ mile weeks tend to burn them out before their college career is over.

Obea Moore never broke 45. Believe he ran about 45.09 as a junior, then had hamstring problems senior year. Was set to go to USC, but never could pass the SAT. Has not approached those times since.

I agree, I had huge potential and a terribly short career. I ran 4:07 and 1:50 in High School, and 3:41.70 as a frosh in college - which was the 5th fastest American Junior of all time. But I had a great collegiate career. Maybe not what people expected, but it went OK. I ran 1:46, 3:40, 7:58, 13:53 (solo at big east), and finished top 20 3 times in cross - 4th in'92. I had a buttload of injuries, and ran through every one of them (which is why my career was short-lived) In '95, I had the beginnings of what would later be diagnosed as compartment syndrome. I had to cut my mileage to 15 miles per week and still managed to run 4:00 indoors and qualify for the 800m run outdoors with a 1:48. I've since had surgeries on both shins and an achilles to boot. Every coach I've ever had said my biggest weakness was racing well above my fitness level - which would mean I would train through injuries or would train too hard based on a false sense of fitness. I've attempted numerous comebacks (and not because I can't let go) - but simply because I love to run and compete - maybe too much so. I ran 23:10 on the roads a few years back, but it has been real tough to stay healthy for one reason or another. So, currently I'm in great shape and may jump into a race or two, but my main focus is on coaching - which I'm doing at Arizona State. I have a lot of knowledge on distance running and have definitely imparted some of my wisdom on the pitfalls of collegiate track and field.

What ever happened to Steve Fein from Oregon?

Joe Falcon was spiked at the next meet by a Moroccan runner at the starting line right after he won the Bislett mile in 3:49 in around 1990. His Achilles tendon was torn and he was never the same after that. He became a cop in Ark.

Shannon Butler was as good as or better than Todd Williams and Bob Kennedy. Butler was the 1990 5K, NCAA cross runner-up, 1991 NCAA 10K champ (28:08), and ran 27:59 in Hengelo a week out of college at the age of 22. Too much hard partying did him in or he could have broken 27 minutes. He now lives in Boulder and works for a company as a facilities maintainence manager for full-time plus hours, is totally off the sauce, and runs in the early morning and does local road races.

Vicky Huber never recovered emotionally from being married to Shannon Butler, a rocky one for both parties. She ran an 8:37! 3,000 at Nova, a still-standing NCAA record, and a 15:14 at Carlsbad 5,000. Could have been a 14:30 5K runner without the interruptions.

Adam Goucher is starting to flicker off the radar screen a bit, but let's hope he can get healthy and fulfill his potential. He is possibly hurt again. At least he's represented the US a number of times. But he owned Lagat, Meb, Culpepper, Abdi in college. His 7:46.03 3,000-meter indoor NCAA record may be around for awhile.

Jay Marden, an ex-Cal runner, ran 28:00 at Mt. SAC in 1988 and a 13:38 that year. He also ran an 8:55 3,200-meter race as a high school SOPHOMORE at Mission High in Fremont, Calif. in 1979 or 1980. This guy should have been better than Salazar and his sophomore time is faster than Ritz's and may be a record for a 15 y/o. Now teaches grade school in Carmel, Calif.

I always thought Mark Coogan (coaches high school in New England) and Matt Guisto raising a family in the Bay Area) had a better 10,000-meter pr in them, sub-28s, but it didn't happen. They did represent, however. Coogan in particular was an enigma, the 5K and the marathon, but missed his top end in the 10K.

Whatever happened to Jasmin Jones, the Tennessee miler who was just behind Suzy FH at NCAAs for a couple of years? And speaking of female 1,500-meter runners, Kelly Smith of Colorado is done too (by choice--she lives in Santa Monica).

Maybe not all are the biggest names to drop off the map, but some folks to think about for sure.

I agree that Brantley is an odd choice for this category. I don't know how close came to reaching his potential, but he had a very solid, and remarkably long, career as an elite runner.

Sprinter -- Houston McTear.

Louie - Good to see that you are now able to impart your knowledge onto the next generation of college distance runners! I really enjoyed watching you compete throughout your high school and college career. You were a big motivating factor to me. Best of luck in all of your future endeavors.

Amazing how some can come to a conclusion on how fast someone should have run. At least two mentions of sub 27????

Only 8 humans have accomplished this and the nitwits on this board are going to tell us who 'should' have done it?

Nice to see a comment from Louie Q on his career. Seems that he's pretty comfortable with his accomplishments. He didn't even blame his coach for 'burning him out'.

Maybe some of the Letsrun 'experts' can learn from this.

Improvement is not always linear.

As a Big East contemporary of Quintana's, I want to second how impressive he was back in the day. His 13:53 at Big East was unbelievable. It was about a 90+ degree day and he beat a field with guys like Mahon, Downin, and Spoonire in it by at least 30 seconds. He took off almost from the gun and never looked back. Everyone else suffered in the heat and watched in awe. I can't imagine what that effort would have been worth under better conditions.

ru4real

"probably could have" is not the same as "should have". I dont know if Falcon "should" have gone under 27: 00 but I think he had the best chance of any American.

Louie

Glad to hear everything is well. I meant no slight by my post, I did know you were injured often. You certainly had a stellar college career.

Best of luck, Louie. Go Nova!

Brent Tubb ... Cal State mile champ 70, 71

21.? 220

46.5 440r

3:01r 1320y r as soph

1:50.1 880y

4:09.2 Mile jr

all on those fast dirt tracks

440/880 and a 4:09.6 mile within a month after extended bouts with walking pnuemonia