If the Past 10 Men's NCAA XC Champs Raced...

areusure? wrote:

Pre (If he ran)

Chelenga

Boaz

Rupp

Lalang

Bairu

Ritz

Torres

McDougal

Kelly

Rohatinsky

Pre would get his ass handed to him by many of the runners listed.

I think it's time to get over the fact that Pre was a good runner in the 1970s-80s, because the runners today are running a hell of a lot faster than they EVER were.

In fact, Chelanga's 10000m PR while still competing in the NCAAs was faster than the WORLD RECORD during the time Pre was running.

Seyta wrote:

areusure? wrote:

Pre (If he ran)

Chelenga

Boaz

Rupp

Lalang

Bairu

Ritz

Torres

McDougal

Kelly

Rohatinsky

Pre would get his ass handed to him by many of the runners listed.

I think it's time to get over the fact that Pre was a good runner in the 1970s-80s, because the runners today are running a hell of a lot faster than they EVER were.

In fact, Chelanga's 10000m PR while still competing in the NCAAs was faster than the WORLD RECORD during the time Pre was running.

ttc wrote:

Boaz, Chelanga, Torres (underrated), Rupp, Bairu, Ritz (not top form when gutted win)...

Boaz in 2001 was like Lalang this year. A total out of the blue Kenyan that burst on the scene and it was over as soon as you heard of the guy's first meet.

Remember when Rupp owned Chelanga? He sat on him. The next year Chelnanga was even better. Rupp (senior year), Boaz, Chelanga, and Lalang are the ones at the top. The rest, including Ritz in college, wouldn't have had a chance against these guys at their prime NCAA fitness.

Verzbikas would win.

Pre would take 2nd.

By the time Rupp finshed Verzbikas would have finished swimming and been on his bike.

3rd place would be Donn Cabral

4th rupp,

Chelanga and LAwi DNF. They went out in 7:48 for the first 3000m and died.

ttc wrote:

Boaz, Chelanga, Torres (underrated), Rupp, Bairu, Ritz (not top form when gutted win)...

Someone caught me: I forgot to include Lalang. I have him a close 2nd behind Boaz.

Excuse me, but here is the important point:

his margin of 20 seconds...was achieved before the 5k. I remember him and Kimani and that guy from TCU hitting the mile at 4:24,then the other two dropping out and Boaz looking like he was jogging alone for five miles.

It was honestly boring.

If we are taking the competitors in the shape they were on the day, it's hard for me to argue against that guy. Having watched Bairu and Chelanga win at Indiana State, I think they would be his toughest competition. But Boaz was a pro for many years and he was never even on the same level that he was that season. He was in that Muhammad Ali, cannot-be-beaten zone.

I mean, Webb was in amazing cross shape that season (don't laugh, he really was), and he got absolutely buried by nearly a minute. By a guy who was jogging.

Can't say between Boaz, Chelanga, Lalang and Rupp, but those 3 clearly stand alone in my mind. However, I am pretty certain if we considered Henry Rono, he would definitely be the best.

To me, Torres' season is vastly underrated. He was breaking course records while holding back (his word). An example of his insane fitness was making the WC 5K final that running year. With his "speed", the WC 5K final??!!

areusure? wrote:

Pre (If he ran)

Chelenga

Boaz

Rupp

Lalang

Bairu

Ritz

Torres

McDougal

Kelly

Rohatinsky

Buncha maniacs on this thread, but I agree with the main top 4 guys.

1. Chelanga

2. Boaz

3. Rupp

4. Lalang

5. Kelly

6. Bairu

7. Torres

8. McDougal

9. Ritz

10. Rohatinsky

Not that anyone on this list isn't a phenom in their own right, but a lot of people are forgetting just how good Simon Bairu was on the cross country course. Put these guys on the track in their college primes and he's probably damn near last, but the kid was something special on grass. Too lazy to look it up, but I vaguely remember him running somewhere in the 8:25-8:30 range for his last 3k in 2005 (maybe a 14:55=14:15 negative split or so?). He could win in any conditions, in any type of race. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that we were able to run the race 100 times in all varieties of conditions with (presumably) different tactics being deployed each time, I'd say the average finish would probably be.

1. Bairu

2. Chelanga

3. Rupp

4. Lalang

5. Torres

6. Boaz

7. McDougal

8. Ritz

9. Rohatinsky

10. Kelly

Again, this assumes they were the same athlete they were on the days of their respective NCAA championships. Bairu might not win the most in our 100 race experiment, but he'd have the best average. I'm not sure Sammy or Lalang would have been great in the mud or cold, and I'm not sure the likes of Rohatinsky and Kelly would do much damage in good conditions.

Fast Action Jackson wrote:

We need winning times, and margins of victory

Times? Really? In cross country? How ignorant...

I am Galen Rupp wrote:

How in the world did rohatinsky win in 06???

Maybe they all bonk and Rohatinsky would win like he did in 06

Seriously! The guy sucked. Check out some of the no-name chumps he beat in that race:

4. Lopez Lomong

6. Galen Rupp

10. Robert Cheseret

16. Samuel Chelanga

18. Tim Nelson

24. Matt Withrow

27. Josh McDougal

56. Billy Nelson

73. Chris Solinsky

Rohat's win wasn't unexpected either. He was arguably the favorite and finished the season undefeated. He may not have been the fastest guy from the decade but he wasn't exactly a fluke.

Not repeat- but Torres broke a couple course records while HOLDING BACK- and DESTROYED champion Goucher's home course record. He also DESTROYED & practical toyed with the NCAA field. He'd of beaten anyone except a ready Boaz and maybe Lalang. Rupp was not breaking course records on restrained efforts.

Interesting topic. If you go back just a few years earlier, you would have to throw David Kimani's freshman win at Indiana in the top of that list. The guy was a freak and would have been a monster if he could have ever stayed healthy.

Yeah, I think most are leaving out the fast that since these guys are all phenominally talented, if it went out hard (which with a few of these guys, Im sure it would) some would end up breaking and the guys that are more conservative racers (example think how Rupp won his championship) would fair well. I think it would be a group charging late on a group that had run eachother into the ground. Maybe one or two from the lead group would hold on, but some would definately bonk out.

ttc wrote:

Not repeat- but Torres broke a couple course records while HOLDING BACK- and DESTROYED champion Goucher's home course record. He also DESTROYED & practical toyed with the NCAA field. He'd of beaten anyone except a ready Boaz and maybe Lalang. Rupp was not breaking course records on restrained efforts.

Torres was pushed very hard by Cragg that day. He didn't toy with the field at Terre Haute. So, you are wrong with that particular point. I agree that the Boaz of '01 would have beat Torres of '02 rather easily.

You can only be critical of others if you post your own opinion:

1. Sam Chelanga

2. Galen Rupp

3. Simon Bairu

4. Lawi Lalang

5. Boaz Cheboiywo

6. Jorge Torres

7. Dathan Ritzenhein

8. Josh Rohatinsky

9. Josh McDougal

10. Keith Kelly

The original poster also proposed another interesting debate. Ranking the 12 runners-up during this period(keeping in mind that there are 12 runners-up as compared to 10 winners due to repeat championships by Bairu & Chelanga):

2000 - Stephen Ondieki - Farleigh Dickenson

2001 - Jorge Torres - Colorado

2002 - Alistair Cragg - Arkansas

2003 - Ryan Hall - Stanford

2004 - Matt Gonzales - New Mexico

2005 - Richard Kiplagat - Iona

2006 - Nef Araia - Stanford

2007 - Galen Rupp - Oregon

2008 - Sam Chelanga - Liberty

2009 - David McNeill - Northern Arizona

2010 - Stephen Sambu - Arizona

2011 - Chris Derrick - Stanford

break it up wrote:

Pre would get his ass handed to him by many of the runners listed.

I think it's time to get over the fact that Pre was a good runner in the 1970s-80s, because the runners today are running a hell of a lot faster than they EVER were.

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Give me a break. He wouldn't be the favorite but he certainly wouldn't be totally outclassed by those guys. If Steve Prefontaine were to be magically transported to the present day to run for the University of Oregon, he would have a good shot at winning XC and the 5000 on the track.