USA XC All Time Team

Haha, actually Fam was there, he just got his ass handed to him - whoops!

Have a look at the national xc results from the 70's and 80's. Everybody was there. It was also held in Nov. There are many advantages to doing it then. It was a natural progression that the top collegiates ran NCAA's and then headed to xc nationals Thanksgiving weekend, a week later. The top collegiates would then mix it up with the top open runners. Also many advantages to doing it the way we do now. But the meets no longer compare as far as excitment and competition.

To the poster who put doris Brown and Lynn Jennings on the list. Excellent. I thought of doing the same thing, but have been crucified in the past for those actions.

In 1986 John Easker finished 10th at the World Cross Country Championships, beating Bickford, Eyestone, and Virgin. Brantly dropped out.

Easker also won the World Trials race the next year. I would put him on any list ahead of Brantly. You might as well put George Nicholas on the team, his cross country accomplishments were basically the same as Brantly's.

Herb Lindsay

nepoks wrote:

Regarding Galen Rupp, you guys are idiots.

How many World XC placings did Salazar, Virgin, Shorter, etc. have while in college? Exactly.

Rupp will have his time. 2010 will be his first year, post-collegiate, and is prepared to begin work on his international resume.

Let's also keep things in context, guys. Pat Porter did not have to race Bekele and Tergat and their 12+ other clones, including those from Qatar and Bahrain and Uganda, etc.

How about if we wait until Rupp actually runs the races before you annoint him? He will likely do it but that doesn't mean you put him in now.

Pat Porter may not have raced the same caliber guys but the fact that was winning US Nationals every year certainly counts for quite a bit.

If you are lokking at "All-Time" - what about Buddy Edelen?

Nice group:

Virgin

Porter

Shorter

Salazar

Kennedy

Prefontaine

Ritzenheim

Also:

Lagat - (does he run xcountry? I would think he could.)

Tegenkamp - did well as junior, has run great 5k's as senior.

Lindgren - crazy enough that if was the thing to do, he might just do it.

Of course, Kenya and Ethiopia would hand our a$$es$ to us, but that's it. I think we're third. Yes? Great Britain might be next.

Average runnerrr wrote:

German Fernandez 14:24 5k at State Meet his senoir year duh!

this

a few from the past...

Bruce Bickford

Dan Dillon

Aaron Ramirez

Matt Giusto

John Easker

Tim Hacker

Dathan Ritzenhein IS cross country. He's dominated the best the U.S. has had to offer since high school. He loves cross country. He would dominate those hippies from the 70's and 80's.

idk, there you go... that's the best list I have seen.

Realistically you have 5 guys who stand out.

Porter, Virgin, Rogers, Salazar, Ritz... I'm not sure how anyone can dispute that those 5 need to be on the team.

After those 5, you gotta consider:

Kennedy, Eyestone, Pre, and Goucher for 2 of the other 4.

Goucher was a beast (didn't he finish top 10 on more then one occasion?). I think he is as strong a contender as the rest when in his prime.

Next year how sick would this team be:

Teg, Ritz, Solinsky, Hall, Webb, Rupp, Torres/Fernandez/Meb/Abdi/etc

You have to think that team would be duking it out with the Africans...

Anyone who doesn't put Pat Porter on their dream team is a f***ing idiot.

I agree that Pat Porter was one of the very best US Cross Country runners. Since there have been questions about the USA AAU Cross Country Championships and some posters are listing names I will add my two cents concerning cross country in the 1960s. In those days the AAU Championships were held on Thanksgiving Day and runners from other countries sometimes took part. I ran in the 1961 Championships in Kentucky on Thanksgiving Thursday and was back at work in Toronto the next day. My teammate Bruce Kidd won the 1961 race and then won again in 1963. Other two time winners from those days were John Macy in '57 and '58, Al Lawerence in '59 and '60 and Ron Larrieu in '65 and '66. By the way, Kenny Moore won the USA AAU Cross Country Championship in 1967.

Mike Ryan (of the US Air Force) beat Prefontaine in the 1969 NCAA cross country championship (so did Gerry Lindgren).

John Easker beat Pat Porter in the US team world cross country championship trials in 1987.

OrvilleAtkins wrote:

I agree that Pat Porter was one of the very best US Cross Country runners. Since there have been questions about the USA AAU Cross Country Championships and some posters are listing names I will add my two cents concerning cross country in the 1960s. In those days the AAU Championships were held on Thanksgiving Day and runners from other countries sometimes took part. I ran in the 1961 Championships in Kentucky on Thanksgiving Thursday and was back at work in Toronto the next day. My teammate Bruce Kidd won the 1961 race and then won again in 1963. Other two time winners from those days were John Macy in '57 and '58, Al Lawerence in '59 and '60 and Ron Larrieu in '65 and '66. By the way, Kenny Moore won the USA AAU Cross Country Championship in 1967.

Ahhhh, finally someone with a sense of history and a voice of reason. Good to hear from you again Orville.

Off the Grid wrote:

Don Lash

- won 7 straight AAU XC Champs, a record that stood until Porter broke it in '89

- Lash had WR @ 2miles and AR @ 10k

- doubled 5/10 @ '36 Olympics.

Good call. Add Fred Wilt, 3 US AAU cross championships in his day & Sullivan Award in '50. Toss in 2 time Olympian.

Conto wrote:

Next year how sick would this team be:

Teg, Ritz, Solinsky, Hall, Webb, Rupp, Torres/Fernandez/Meb/Abdi/etc

You have to think that team would be duking it out with the Africans...

Africans...B-teamers, that is. I laugh at your ignorance.

uh, LYNN JENNINGS!?!?

what's with no love for the women?

Cross Country- Road Racing-Track. All very different things. track and road translate decently well. Track times translate to road pretty well and road times usually translate alright to track. Cross Country is an entirely different animal. Good track and road times do not translate into good cross country times.