Might American-born Cerake Geberkidane be the US's next great distance runner?

Is this thread an attempt to distract from the racist omission of Ed Cheserek from a thread on great freshman X-country runners?

watch the last 100m of the 26:17

Haile Bekele[/quote]

Geb and Bekele aren't fast. They're good at jogging around a track for 12.5 to 25 laps, but they couldn't break 12 in a 100.[/quote]

I appreciate the response. I don't think the person I was thinking of was Gardner or Osman, but it was great to (re)read about both of them.

wow. wrote:

Andrew Gardiner. 9:01 frosh, I think 4th at footlocker as a sophomore, never finished better at footlocker but did run like a 8:54 senior year. Now goes to Army, Navy, Air force, one of those schools.

What about Sophomore Austin Tamagno. After his 4:08 1600 freshmen year, he has a chance to break 15 for 5k on a true 5k course.

god cat wrote:

were gonna have to find a new term other than American born to describe the runners we cheer for.

You mean like, "white person"

Realism wrote:

dartmoth graduate wrote:

Anyone who disagrees with the FACT that genes are the deciding factor in distance running success is an idiot.

this. Letsrun needs to get a grip and realize the white dudes have no chance against the Africans regardless of how they train.

I have a PR in the 5,000m of 14:21. I will move to 7000' altitude somewhere in Colorado, get me an East African bride, and start making babies like bunnies.

I hope to hit the genetic lottery and produce a dozen Olympic "A" standard athletes and maybe one Bob Kennedy

Dewey, Cheatham, & Howe wrote:

Realism wrote:

this. Letsrun needs to get a grip and realize the white dudes have no chance against the Africans regardless of how they train.

I have a PR in the 5,000m of 14:21. I will move to 7000' altitude somewhere in Colorado, get me an East African bride, and start making babies like bunnies.

I hope to hit the genetic lottery and produce a dozen Olympic "A" standard athletes and maybe one Bob Kennedy

Which type of distance runner will your bride be? 8/15/5/10/13.1/26.2? Do they have ultras in africa

He is 6'3" with an incredible stride length. He weighs 150 lbs. The guy was built for speed and endurance.

I don't think he has really shown elite track speed yet and, if he's going to be a true star with a lasting career, he's going to have to show he can do it on the track.

Track is a very cruel sport in the precision of its demands for efficiency. Same for marathoning, the only other path to a running career. Being cross country strong isn't enough.

Some reports have him as tall as 6'5" and there aren't a whole lot of 6'5" distance medalists or major marathon winners. Ethnic stereotyping aside, he is the furthest thing from a Meb K.

Any elite success he achieves will be more a credit to his hard work than to his having been handed an "ideal" genetic package.

There's a picture of him standing next to Rupp at NXN, so I used that to gauge his height. Rupp is 5'11 and Cerake is not a whole head taller so I'd say he's 6'3 maybe 6'4.

I have raced Gebrkidane multiple times, including his 14:46 performance, and, while his times are lightning-fast, he noticeably fades over the last mile in XC. At NXR, he had a lead of almost 30 seconds at points but ended up finishing with a lead of just 5. He certainly is going on to great things, but keep in mind that his times earlier on in high school were more in-line with "normal" ones. He ran 16:28 as his PR in the 5k as a soph. He ran a 4:29 outdoor 1600m PR. 800m times of 2:10 and 2:00. I raced him in the Freddie Houston Meet of Champions where he ran 4:11 for 1500m and I finished in 4:22 in second. After talking to him, he attributed his increased success this year to high mileage training over the summer, something he had never done before.

From the small amount of high mileage training that he has done, I think he will do very well, very fast on the NCAA stage. With loads of natural talent and experience at altitude he will perform well as a freshman if he goes to the right program. Just look at Ben Saarel. Tall/strong guy with a big altitude base + great coaching = 8th at NCAA's. I think Geberkidane could be in the high 20's at Nationals in 2014. And i definitely think he is more inclined towards cross than track. From what i've seen, Colorado and NAU would be great Colleges for him, that happen to be in his area. But if OSU snagged him, they could be dominant again.

dartmoth graduate wrote:

Anyone who disagrees with the FACT that genes are the deciding factor in distance running success is an idiot.

That's why millions of dollars are spent breeding horses.

Goleta Runnings wrote:

From the small amount of high mileage training that he has done, I think he will do very well, very fast on the NCAA stage. With loads of natural talent and experience at altitude he will perform well as a freshman if he goes to the right program. Just look at Ben Saarel. Tall/strong guy with a big altitude base + great coaching = 8th at NCAA's. I think Geberkidane could be in the high 20's at Nationals in 2014. And i definitely think he is more inclined towards cross than track. From what i've seen, Colorado and NAU would be great Colleges for him, that happen to be in his area. But if OSU snagged him, they could be dominant again.

This. He has only has one summer of serious endurance training under his belt. I have four, and after each one, I still see noticeable increases in my aerobic strength, which carry over to races. His fading in races can be attributed to this, if he went to a program like colorado, this kid would be a beast at xc. However, going to colorado may not be the best decision for his long term, professional track career, since they are so focussed on xc. He would also do well at a program such as OSU.

Cerake isn't even looking at CU... See link

http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/251256-Indoor-Track-and-Field-2014-on-Flotrack/article/23943-2014-Distance-Class-Recruiting-Report