Man Perkins is a name I immediately remembered. I can picture him. I recall both runner-ups being stunned that he was beating guys I thought had elite pro potential. I guess he was just a racer with a good kick. Good for him, I'm sure he has a good career in the AF too.
I'm not sure Nelson is a great example. She did make the semi's at the Oly Trials in 21' which is far more than many past champions have done. I might say Amy Lia of Washington - 06' NCAA 1500 champ. Similar to Degenero, last into the final on time, NCAA champ. Don't think she did much before or after.
Easy answer. Can’t believe it took that long to mention him. This was the year McGorty Yorks and Ches opted out of the mile so Wynne got a title being the 4th best guy
Crazy how Wynne managed to parlay 1 title into a pro career. Guy ended up running 3:50/51? Turns out he was pretty good, but not sure he would have gotten the chance had he not won the mile, especially considering the big 3 that year passed it up.
what is up with all the crime? Also boaz absolutely killed it as a ncaa xc champ but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was older. He didn’t do anything special after I thought. I thought I read somewhere he tried to run the marathon but couldn’t break 2:20.
Former Eastern Michigan University track star Boaz Cheboiywo was sentenced Wednesday for a drunken driving crash that killed 38-year-old mother, Christen Knight.
Easy answer. Can’t believe it took that long to mention him. This was the year McGorty Yorks and Ches opted out of the mile so Wynne got a title being the 4th best guy
4th best guy winning really isn't much of a shock. There has to be some guy who snuck in as like a 12th seed, won, and then did nothing.
The answer is Donald Sage. Here are his PRs, wouldn't even qualify for NCAAs with most of these marks:
1500 m 3:39.17 2001 1 Mile 3:58.7 2000 5000 m 14:04.94 2001 10000 m 28:40.12 2002
First guy I thought of. The NCAA final was literally the only race he won that year.
He was a 7 time all American. You really think he is close to the worst. Go look up the 1500m lists from 2002. He was right there with the top guys in the NCAAs...
The worst runner to win two titles in the same event would maybe be Mac Fleet. To win back to back NCAA 1500m titles and never go anywhere from that is quite rare
Easy answer. Can’t believe it took that long to mention him. This was the year McGorty Yorks and Ches opted out of the mile so Wynne got a title being the 4th best guy
4th best guy winning really isn't much of a shock. There has to be some guy who snuck in as like a 12th seed, won, and then did nothing.
Sure but at least that guy would have beat the 11 guys in front of him
I'd say you can include Geordie Beamish in the conversation. He won an indoor title, but has no other AA's on the track and only one other Nationals qualification. He AA'd twice in XC, but only by a couple places each time.
That is mostly due to injuries not ability. To me that's what makes his win even more impressive.
Rojo - I believe the killer Darryl Thomas Kemp is still alive, currently age 87.
I know California has done some whacky s$% when it comes to being soft on crime, but I don't know how this guy was ever paroled in 1978 after being a convicted serial rapist and murderer. WTF. It only took him 4 months to rape/murder again when he was set free. Then in 1983 he broke into a house and raped/choked 6 women in Austin, Texas and received a life sentence.
Not sure what he did to make money after parole in '78, but I did read that he was a carpenter at the time of Marjorie Hipperson's murder. Horrible story.
I wouldn't blame California entirely for this one. William O. Douglas threw out his conviction the first time. Then, after he was convicted again, the Supreme Court threw out California's death penalty law.
This post was edited 43 seconds after it was posted.
So who was the "worst" XC champion in the past 40 years? Mark Scrutton, David Kimani and , Keith Kelley are the ones that I don't think have multiple titles(including track) or other top 5 XC finishes. And I would have to Google some of them as I sure don't have all the results of past 40 years committed to memory. Those might be worst but man the worst XC champ is really good.
You can do the same thing of the 5/10k and very few are guys that you can say we're huge upsets. Make list of 5 names before the race and almost all of them would have been there