To be fair though eyestone has said before that he felt he didn’t reach his potential in the marathon and that he was certain he was in low 2:06 shape- for sure once, maybe a couple times throughout his career
Well Ed would have had to be in world record shape then, and so I would take that with a grain of salt. I doubt that Ed was in world record shape, but who knows? People can think what they want.
Being in world record shape and actually executing it are two very different things, especially in the marathon. Eyestone had multiple opportunities to prove he was a 2:06 guy or even 2:08 guy, pre-super shoes. He had the 10,000 chops to be there, even though it’s just much harder for taller guys to run that fast in the marathon.
That said, Steve Jones’ Chicago Marathon in 1985 was one of the most impressive runs I’ve ever seen. Out halfway in 1:01:42 solo and then the late, breezy chilly miles alone. With better pacing and company, he runs at least low 2:06 on that day. Pre-super shoes. So it’s believable. That particular run was a 2:04-something in today’s shoes.
I joined the team when he had been the coach for a year and wasn't training competitively. However, he would occasionally join runs and workouts and beat all but the top guys. Dude was an absolute beast. I also really respect how he's updated his training and continued to produce. Lots of coaches don't evolve and he's done a tremendous job.
Well Ed would have had to be in world record shape then, and so I would take that with a grain of salt. I doubt that Ed was in world record shape, but who knows? People can think what they want.
Being in world record shape and actually executing it are two very different things, especially in the marathon. Eyestone had multiple opportunities to prove he was a 2:06 guy or even 2:08 guy, pre-super shoes. He had the 10,000 chops to be there, even though it’s just much harder for taller guys to run that fast in the marathon.
That said, Steve Jones’ Chicago Marathon in 1985 was one of the most impressive runs I’ve ever seen. Out halfway in 1:01:42 solo and then the late, breezy chilly miles alone. With better pacing and company, he runs at least low 2:06 on that day. Pre-super shoes. So it’s believable. That particular run was a 2:04-something in today’s shoes.
Ed Eyestone was no Steve Jones though. Ed was likely never in 2:06 shape, that is just something any 2:10 marathoner could say I guess. As far as height, Ed was probably about 1.5 inches taller than Kelvin Kiptum, so I am not sure that being around 6 feet tall is a real detriment from being one of the best.
Top 10 All-Time BYU Marathoners (updated) 1. Conner Mantz - 2:04.43 2. Rory Linkletter - 2:07.02 3. Clayton Young - 2:07.04 4. Ethan Shuley - 2:07.14 5. Casey Clinger - 2:08.43 6. Jared Ward - 2:09.25 7. Nico Montanez - 2:09.55 8. Christian Allen - 2:09.57 9. Aidan Troutner - 2:10.23 10. Ed Eyestone - 2:10.59
other notables:
11. Paul Cummings — 2:11:31 12. Conner McMillan — 2:12:07 13. Jake Heslington Heslington – 2:13:51 / 1:04:22 ( I think training in Flagstaff) 14. Jaquavious Harris - 2:13:52 (trains with the Provo people, coached by Isaac Woods I think) 15. Conner Weaver – 2:13:56 16. Josh Rohatinsky — 2:15:22 / 1:01:55 half 17. Habtamu (Habtu) Cheney — 2:15:43 / 1:03:19 half (trains with the Provo people, I think coached by Isaac Wood) 18. Adam Wood — 2:16:59 19. Conner Peloquin – 2:17:02 20. Michael Ottesen — 2:18:55 / 1:03:47 half 21. Danny Carney – 2:22:22 / 1:03:41 half
The Thompons (Creed/Davin) may be on this list at some time. Miss anyone?
Going that far back in times you are missing lots of times for guys like Dustin bybee, Iain Hunter, etc. (And several winners of the St. George Marathon).
Top 10 All-Time BYU Marathoners (updated) 1. Conner Mantz - 2:04.43 2. Rory Linkletter - 2:07.02 3. Clayton Young - 2:07.04 4. Ethan Shuley - 2:07.14 5. Casey Clinger - 2:08.43 6. Jared Ward - 2:09.25 7. Nico Montanez - 2:09.55 8. Christian Allen - 2:09.57 9. Aidan Troutner - 2:10.23 10. Ed Eyestone - 2:10.59
I think even crazier is Jared Ward, 6th place at the Olympics, is only 6th on his school's list. Can any US universities compare to this depth at the marathon?
1 Conner Mantz 2:04:43 Chicago 10/12/2025 BYU 2 Ryan Hall 2:04:58 Boston 04/18/2011 Stanford 3 Khalid Khannouchi 2:05:38 London 04/14/2002 N/A 4 Zouhair Talbi 2:05:45 Houston 01/11/2026 Ok City 5 Galen Rupp 2:06:07 Prague 05/06/2018 Oregon 6 Biya Simbassa 2:06:53 Valencia 12/01/2024 Oklahoma 7 Clayton Young 2:07:04 Boston 04/21/2025 BYU 8 Ethan Shuley 2:07:14 Osaka 02/22/2026 BYU 9 Dathan Ritzenhein 2:07:47 Chicago 10/07/2012 Colorado 10 Leonard Korir 2:07:56 Amsterdam 10/20/2019 Iona 11 Ryan Ford 2:08:00 Boston 04/21/2025 UT Martin 12 Mbarak Hussein 2:08:10 Seoul 03/14/2004 Lubbock Christian 13 CJ Albertson 2:08:17 Chicago 10/13/2024 Arizona State 14 Daniel Mesfun 2:08:24 Sevilla 02/15/2026 N/A 15 Alex Maier 2:08:33 Düsseldorf 04/27/2025 Oklahoma State 16 Meb Keflezighi 2:08:37 Boston 04/21/2014 UCLA 17 Casey Clinger 2:08:43 Tokyo 03/01/2026 BYU 18 Sam Chelanga 2:08:50 Chicago 10/08/2023 Liberty 19 Alberto Salazar 2:08:52 Boston 04/19/1982 Oregon 20 Scott Fauble 2:08:52 Boston 04/18/2022 Portland 21 Dick Beardsley 2:08:54 Boston 04/19/1982 South Dakota State 22 Wesley Kiptoo 2:08:54 Boston 04/21/2025 IowaState 23 Abdi Abdirahman 2:08:56 Chicago 10/22/2006 Arizona 24 Martin Hehir 2:08:59 Chandler 12/20/2020 Syracuse 25 Greg Meyer 2:09:00 Boston 04/18/1983 Michigan 26 Elkanah Kibet 2:09:07 Boston 04/18/2022 Auburn 27 Noah Droddy 2:09:09 Chandler 12/20/2020 DePauw 28 Zach Panning 2:09:16 Chicago 10/13/2024 Grand Valley State 29 JP Flavin 2:09:18 Chandler 12/20/2025 NC State 30 Jared Ward 2:09:25 Boston 04/15/2019 BYU 31 Bill Rodgers 2:09:27 Boston 04/16/1979 Wesleyan 32 Turner Wiley 2:09:27 Chandler 12/20/2025 Seattle Pacific 33 Colin Bennie 2:09:38 Boston 04/21/2025 Syracuse 34 Futsum Zienasellassie 2:09:40 Rotterdam 04/16/2023 NAU 35 Alan Culpepper 2:09:41 Chicago 10/13/2002 Colorado 36 Brian Shrader 2:09:46 Chicago 10/08/2023 NAU 37 Ben Rosa 2:09:47 Chandler 12/20/2025 Harvard 38 Matt McDonald 2:09:49 Chicago 10/09/2022 Princeton 39 Frank Lara 2:09:53 Rotterdam 04/13/2025 Furman 40 Nicolas Montanez 2:09:55 Chicago 10/09/2022 BYU 41 Joel Reichow 2:09:56 NewYork 11/02/2025 South Dakota State 42 Christian Allen 2:09:58 Boston 04/21/2025 BYU 43 Charles Hicks 2:09:59 NewYork 11/02/2025 Stanford 44 Teshome Mekonen 2:10:16 Berlin 09/24/2023 N/A 45 Aidan Troutner 2:10:23 Chicago 10/12/2025 BYU 46 Nathan Martin 2:10:45 Grandma's 06/17/2023 Spring Arbor 47 Reed Fischer 2:10:54 Boston 04/18/2022 Drake 48 Andrew Colley 2:11:22 Chicago 10/8/2023 NC State 49 Josh Izewski 2:11:26 Gold Coast 7/2/2023 Florida 50 Kevin Salvano 2:11:26 Chicago 10/8/2023 Notre Dame
You think it's 'super shoes' but it's they're all part of the most competitive era of american distance running. We're not getting our doors blown off in every indoor/outdoor/road race. When I was growing up any track race or road race was east africans, a massive gap, and then some other people. Now there are Americans in the mix, winning medals, even gold medals.
Not in the marathon.
For the most part, we are getting absolutely blown out in the marathon. Let's be honest.
Mantz was 4th in chicago. He ran the 22nd fastest time of the year.
In 1999, David Morris shocked US fans with a 4th place in Chicago (2:09:32). Admittedly, he was only 38th fastest guy in the year then.
To be fair though eyestone has said before that he felt he didn’t reach his potential in the marathon and that he was certain he was in low 2:06 shape- for sure once, maybe a couple times throughout his career
I know Ed and there is no way in hell he ever said he was in 2:06 shape multiple times in his career, particularly back when the world record was about 2:06. He considered himself more competitive in cross country and on the roads at shorter distances and he raced almost every opportunity he had and was generally the top American on the roads. He also said he ran the marathon as a hedge to make the Olympic team as the marathon trials were far enough out from the track trials that he could have two chances to make the team. I have heard him say he felt like he should have run faster given he was a 27:41 10k guy and ran excellent cross country but there is no way he said 2:06. He was once asked what he would have run in super shoes…that is maybe where you heard him say 2:06 as he said they are worth at least 2-4 minutes depending on the individual, relative to the old school shoes.
Interesting. Name one common element (with the exception of Eyestone and, maybe Ward) that links all these times?
You think it's 'super shoes' but it's they're all part of the most competitive era of american distance running. We're not getting our doors blown off in every indoor/outdoor/road race. When I was growing up any track race or road race was east africans, a massive gap, and then some other people. Now there are Americans in the mix, winning medals, even gold medals.
yet very few of these times were relatively competitive in any major comp
It is awesome! Great that they have developed a culture and that all of these guys keep running after college.
They do have some advantages. BYU has super cheap tuition so limited college debt, the guys are a little older so marathoning is a more natural transition. Most are from Utah and stick around post college creating the training groups.
Hopefully we can get some other pockets of guys doing the same thing. I don’t think it is too crazy. Let’s get some more people running hard!
How convenient that the “most competitive era of american distance running” coincides perfectly with the introduction of bouncy shoe mania. Oh well, hope I didn’t ruin your day.
It started before that. I'd say roughly 2011/2012 was the front edge of it with Rupp and Centrowitz, then Evan Jager in 2016. No bouncy shoes for those medals. Not much was going well for Americans in the 1990's and first decade of the 2000's. Hall looked like a freak because he was the only one doing much of anything, and yet what he was doing isn't any better than what multiple people have done in the past several years. We've got 4 different men finish in the top 9 of the olympics from 2016-2024 (3 olympic games). From 1980-2012 (a whopping 9 olympic games) only two men did it, Meb and Ritz. In 2000 only one american was even qualified, and that was back when the qualifying standard was pathetic.
1 Conner Mantz 2:04:43 Chicago 10/12/2025 BYU 2 Ryan Hall 2:04:58 Boston 04/18/2011 Stanford 3 Khalid Khannouchi 2:05:38 London 04/14/2002 N/A 4 Zouhair Talbi 2:05:45 Houston 01/11/2026 Ok City 5 Galen Rupp 2:06:07 Prague 05/06/2018 Oregon 6 Biya Simbassa 2:06:53 Valencia 12/01/2024 Oklahoma 7 Clayton Young 2:07:04 Boston 04/21/2025 BYU 8 Ethan Shuley 2:07:14 Osaka 02/22/2026 BYU 9 Dathan Ritzenhein 2:07:47 Chicago 10/07/2012 Colorado 10 Leonard Korir 2:07:56 Amsterdam 10/20/2019 Iona 11 Ryan Ford 2:08:00 Boston 04/21/2025 UT Martin 12 Mbarak Hussein 2:08:10 Seoul 03/14/2004 Lubbock Christian 13 CJ Albertson 2:08:17 Chicago 10/13/2024 Arizona State 14 Daniel Mesfun 2:08:24 Sevilla 02/15/2026 N/A 15 Alex Maier 2:08:33 Düsseldorf 04/27/2025 Oklahoma State 16 Meb Keflezighi 2:08:37 Boston 04/21/2014 UCLA 17 Casey Clinger 2:08:43 Tokyo 03/01/2026 BYU 18 Sam Chelanga 2:08:50 Chicago 10/08/2023 Liberty 19 Alberto Salazar 2:08:52 Boston 04/19/1982 Oregon 20 Scott Fauble 2:08:52 Boston 04/18/2022 Portland 21 Dick Beardsley 2:08:54 Boston 04/19/1982 South Dakota State 22 Wesley Kiptoo 2:08:54 Boston 04/21/2025 IowaState 23 Abdi Abdirahman 2:08:56 Chicago 10/22/2006 Arizona 24 Martin Hehir 2:08:59 Chandler 12/20/2020 Syracuse 25 Greg Meyer 2:09:00 Boston 04/18/1983 Michigan 26 Elkanah Kibet 2:09:07 Boston 04/18/2022 Auburn 27 Noah Droddy 2:09:09 Chandler 12/20/2020 DePauw 28 Zach Panning 2:09:16 Chicago 10/13/2024 Grand Valley State 29 JP Flavin 2:09:18 Chandler 12/20/2025 NC State 30 Jared Ward 2:09:25 Boston 04/15/2019 BYU 31 Bill Rodgers 2:09:27 Boston 04/16/1979 Wesleyan 32 Turner Wiley 2:09:27 Chandler 12/20/2025 Seattle Pacific 33 Colin Bennie 2:09:38 Boston 04/21/2025 Syracuse 34 Futsum Zienasellassie 2:09:40 Rotterdam 04/16/2023 NAU 35 Alan Culpepper 2:09:41 Chicago 10/13/2002 Colorado 36 Brian Shrader 2:09:46 Chicago 10/08/2023 NAU 37 Ben Rosa 2:09:47 Chandler 12/20/2025 Harvard 38 Matt McDonald 2:09:49 Chicago 10/09/2022 Princeton 39 Frank Lara 2:09:53 Rotterdam 04/13/2025 Furman 40 Nicolas Montanez 2:09:55 Chicago 10/09/2022 BYU 41 Joel Reichow 2:09:56 NewYork 11/02/2025 South Dakota State 42 Christian Allen 2:09:58 Boston 04/21/2025 BYU 43 Charles Hicks 2:09:59 NewYork 11/02/2025 Stanford 44 Teshome Mekonen 2:10:16 Berlin 09/24/2023 N/A 45 Aidan Troutner 2:10:23 Chicago 10/12/2025 BYU 46 Nathan Martin 2:10:45 Grandma's 06/17/2023 Spring Arbor 47 Reed Fischer 2:10:54 Boston 04/18/2022 Drake 48 Andrew Colley 2:11:22 Chicago 10/8/2023 NC State 49 Josh Izewski 2:11:26 Gold Coast 7/2/2023 Florida 50 Kevin Salvano 2:11:26 Chicago 10/8/2023 Notre Dame
F.Shorter 2:10:30 .. DO BETTER. How many others have been left off this list?
1 Conner Mantz 2:04:43 Chicago 10/12/2025 BYU 2 Ryan Hall 2:04:58 Boston 04/18/2011 Stanford 3 Khalid Khannouchi 2:05:38 London 04/14/2002 N/A 4 Zouhair Talbi 2:05:45 Houston 01/11/2026 Ok City 5 Galen Rupp 2:06:07 Prague 05/06/2018 Oregon 6 Biya Simbassa 2:06:53 Valencia 12/01/2024 Oklahoma 7 Clayton Young 2:07:04 Boston 04/21/2025 BYU 8 Ethan Shuley 2:07:14 Osaka 02/22/2026 BYU 9 Dathan Ritzenhein 2:07:47 Chicago 10/07/2012 Colorado 10 Leonard Korir 2:07:56 Amsterdam 10/20/2019 Iona 11 Ryan Ford 2:08:00 Boston 04/21/2025 UT Martin 12 Mbarak Hussein 2:08:10 Seoul 03/14/2004 Lubbock Christian 13 CJ Albertson 2:08:17 Chicago 10/13/2024 Arizona State 14 Daniel Mesfun 2:08:24 Sevilla 02/15/2026 N/A 15 Alex Maier 2:08:33 Düsseldorf 04/27/2025 Oklahoma State 16 Meb Keflezighi 2:08:37 Boston 04/21/2014 UCLA 17 Casey Clinger 2:08:43 Tokyo 03/01/2026 BYU 18 Sam Chelanga 2:08:50 Chicago 10/08/2023 Liberty 19 Alberto Salazar 2:08:52 Boston 04/19/1982 Oregon 20 Scott Fauble 2:08:52 Boston 04/18/2022 Portland 21 Dick Beardsley 2:08:54 Boston 04/19/1982 South Dakota State 22 Wesley Kiptoo 2:08:54 Boston 04/21/2025 IowaState 23 Abdi Abdirahman 2:08:56 Chicago 10/22/2006 Arizona 24 Martin Hehir 2:08:59 Chandler 12/20/2020 Syracuse 25 Greg Meyer 2:09:00 Boston 04/18/1983 Michigan 26 Elkanah Kibet 2:09:07 Boston 04/18/2022 Auburn 27 Noah Droddy 2:09:09 Chandler 12/20/2020 DePauw 28 Zach Panning 2:09:16 Chicago 10/13/2024 Grand Valley State 29 JP Flavin 2:09:18 Chandler 12/20/2025 NC State 30 Jared Ward 2:09:25 Boston 04/15/2019 BYU 31 Bill Rodgers 2:09:27 Boston 04/16/1979 Wesleyan 32 Turner Wiley 2:09:27 Chandler 12/20/2025 Seattle Pacific 33 Colin Bennie 2:09:38 Boston 04/21/2025 Syracuse 34 Futsum Zienasellassie 2:09:40 Rotterdam 04/16/2023 NAU 35 Alan Culpepper 2:09:41 Chicago 10/13/2002 Colorado 36 Brian Shrader 2:09:46 Chicago 10/08/2023 NAU 37 Ben Rosa 2:09:47 Chandler 12/20/2025 Harvard 38 Matt McDonald 2:09:49 Chicago 10/09/2022 Princeton 39 Frank Lara 2:09:53 Rotterdam 04/13/2025 Furman 40 Nicolas Montanez 2:09:55 Chicago 10/09/2022 BYU 41 Joel Reichow 2:09:56 NewYork 11/02/2025 South Dakota State 42 Christian Allen 2:09:58 Boston 04/21/2025 BYU 43 Charles Hicks 2:09:59 NewYork 11/02/2025 Stanford 44 Teshome Mekonen 2:10:16 Berlin 09/24/2023 N/A 45 Aidan Troutner 2:10:23 Chicago 10/12/2025 BYU 46 Nathan Martin 2:10:45 Grandma's 06/17/2023 Spring Arbor 47 Reed Fischer 2:10:54 Boston 04/18/2022 Drake 48 Andrew Colley 2:11:22 Chicago 10/8/2023 NC State 49 Josh Izewski 2:11:26 Gold Coast 7/2/2023 Florida 50 Kevin Salvano 2:11:26 Chicago 10/8/2023 Notre Dame
F.Shorter 2:10:30 .. DO BETTER. How many others have been left off this list?
