greatest hs xc runners -male

How is Spivey heads above the others? He did not win an Illinois state cross country championship as he was beaten by Tom Graves. His accomplishments on the track are a different story . . .

for NC

Matt Debole, Sandy Roberts Bradsher Wilkins for XC

girls-Shea sisters

on a side note, as I was looking up results from NC, i noticed that Bobby Mack, (NC State) was incredibly unlucky

he got 11th at nationals his senior year, and I don't think he ever even won a county title in his career, as he was behind Matt Debole (#5 at nationals)

has that ever happened? two qualifiers from different teams in the same county?

I got to see Broe in that race, which was pretty cool. At the time, XC was new to me so I did not quite grasp the significance of that win. I think the reason Graves and Merrick are often not listed is that there are before everyone's time- it is why you see a groundswell for Derrick- no question, a great runner- but less for those two. Sage and Torres was always fun to see- I got to see both all 4 years they ran.

Anyway, these are all great runners, agreed.

[quote]Jabs wrote:

C'mon greenliner and other Illinois folk--are we basing this solely on time? Think about who DOMINATED during their years.

1)Virgin (two sub 14:00s; destroyed everyone when ran 13:50)

2)Graves (sub 14:00; 14:18 as soph; 2X champion)

3)Torres (2-1-1-1)14:00

4)Derrick(*course record); longer course--20 sec victory

5)Broe (absolutely DOMINTATED--no one ever challenged him)

6)Sage (too bad he was Torres' bridesmaid for so long)14:03

7)Spivey (14:00 for 2nd---2nd to Graves twice)

8)Maddux (Blew everyone away in small school race; 2X A champ)

9)Merrick(dominant before Virgin)

10)Sitko (Made people believe Virgin's record could go down)

That's a good list, Jabs. I agree with much of it. Might switch Merrick and Broe. Broe might have been competing when the competition was not the best. Merrick pretty much put Illinois HS cross-country on the map. Virgin was the 13th best male cross-country runner in the USA his senior year; it's extremely doubtful Derrick would have been in the top 40 at last year's national race. Just my opinion.

You forgot:

-Tom Greenless

-Todd Mobley

-Paul Schoensee

Thanks for this list, it brings back some pretty good memories. like Clint Verran running a snowy, freezing cold state final with just a singlet and shorts. Everyone else was bundled up and being a puss puss.

Or how about Chris Catton throwing a shit fit during the 800 at the state finals in 2003, tossing his number on the track and losing a championship that should've been his.

How about Dathan running a 14:10 at the state finals? With Tim Moore and Chris Toloff dying to hang on but still running roughly 15:09, which was was one of the fastest times in recent history....but they still lost by 59 seconds...

Anyone else have any good Michigan memories? I'm sick of hearing about Chris Derrick. I will add however, that most of you are basing his status more on what he could've done rather than what he did. 13:55 is no joke, however.

By the way I'm pretty sure nobody has even come within 40 seconds of Dathan's state record in XC.

He ran a 14:10 or so his senior year, right? 14:12 maybe?

Either way, I really with Ritz has stuck with XC. That guy was born to run off roads.

Satch ran 2 years of xc in hs on Long Island but I do not wish to gave my name.

Could Stephen Pifer at least be named with the IL guys?

What about some other states? MO, AL, FL?

Just some names -

MO - Matt Tegenkamp, Ian Dobson, Adam Perkins, Eric Fernandez, Adam MacDowell...

AL - Quincy Googe (only 4 time state champ)

FL - ? Curious.

He ran 14:10, then went on to run 14:35 at footlocker.

It was an incredible race, that state finals, he just took command going out in 4:2x

Most of you letsrunners probably weren't born but I noticed nobody mentioned Prefontaine, which is hard to believe.

It seems most names mentioned have come up are in the days since Foot Locker came along.

A couple of others which show my northwest bias:

Randy James (Ferris, Spokane WA) won two state titles in 1968 and 1969. The first was a 14:03 3M which won by :36. He went on to run on Oregon championship teams in 71 and 73.

Matt Davis (Mead, Spokane, WA) won three state consecutive titles in 1991-93 in times of 14:49, 14:40 and 14:09 for 3M (Washington went to 5k in 1997). He ran for Oregon as well.

You're still not funny.

Bill Huntington wrote:

Most of you letsrunners probably weren't born but I noticed nobody mentioned Prefontaine, which is hard to believe.

It seems most names mentioned have come up are in the days since Foot Locker came along.

A couple of others which show my northwest bias:

Randy James (Ferris, Spokane WA) won two state titles in 1968 and 1969. The first was a 14:03 3M which won by :36. He went on to run on Oregon championship teams in 71 and 73.

Matt Davis (Mead, Spokane, WA) won three state consecutive titles in 1991-93 in times of 14:49, 14:40 and 14:09 for 3M (Washington went to 5k in 1997). He ran for Oregon as well.

I agree. In our defense, I think Pre would be a likely candidate for all-time high school star. The reason his name never came up was simply because no one mentioned Oregon. That's all.

I agree with the earlier post that Ritz should have stuck to XC. He's just so incredible at it. 14:10?! 14:29 at footlocker his JUNIOR year.

I agree with the earlier post that Ritz should have stuck to XC. He's just so incredible at it. 14:10?! 14:29 at footlocker his JUNIOR year.

Dammit I got sick of my old handle and decided to switch. That sure backfired. But I will say that my point is still good.

Who could've run 14:10 on a cross country course in high school? Chris Derrick could only run 15 seconds faster.....on a TRACK!

LetsRun is a gay

Rueben Reina and Alan Culpepper had good HSXC careers in Tejas.

chickenjayhawk wrote:

Kansas = Ryun, no other names need be mentioned.

CA--Fernandez, other pretty obvious one (state record in CC, 16, and 32)

IL--Virgin followed by J. Torres (4x FL is sick) followed by D. Sage then Derrick (only IF he hadnt got mono he would likely be 1)

ut--rohat (more title than puks)

as for nc, ky, and tx I thought the only hs sport was football.

who the hell cares about utah? nobody but polygamists live there anyway