Probably a biased one since I am Spanish but Mariano García meets all the requisites of the OP.
Dude trains in his home town in a 300m triangular soil track, has as brilliant a kick as bad tactical game, and performs the motorbike before the races. Heck, he even interrupted his post WC winning interview to say he wanted to watch Moto GP.
Dude was D2 champ with a 3:44 1500m PR as a 5th yer senior in 1991 and 16 years later at age 40 in 2007 ran a 3:44 1500m US Master's record) along with US Master's records for the Mile (4:04) and 800m (1:50). In between in 1996 he placed 2nd at the USA Olympic Trials 1500m by .02 of a second. He had the "B" standard, but not the "A" standard and the USA sent 1st McMullen (RIP), 3rd Pyrah and 5th Hyde. 4th place went to Nedeau.
The race hot and humid as all get out on the track in Atlanta. Ironically at the time the qualifying system was that a country could send three people in an event, but they all had to have the "A" standard. But the could send one athlete as long as they had the "B" standard, but not both. So if Sorensen had won then he would have been the only going going to the Olympics.
So if you're a football (or soccer) fan like me, you know the term "streets won't forget" refers to those cultish figures who had moments of brilliance but not the kind that will be remembered in the record books or trophy cabinets. But the streets won't forget them! Guys like Adel Taarabt at QPR, Hatem Ben Arfa at Newcastle, etc. I was wondering, who are runners who have this kind of career? Some that came to mind were: 2010 Andrew Wheating, 2010 Chris Solinsky, Matt Tegenkamp (could be a few years but probably 2007), Lopez Lomong (multiple years and arguably too good to be on this list), XC Chris Derrick. Anybody else you can think of?
This is such a fun thread. I'm gonna give some HS legends from various generations that have been forgotten over the years:
Jim and Joe Rosa, Izaic Yorks, Bernie Montoya, Futsum Zienasellassie, Zavon Watkins, Andrew Springer, Ahmed Bile, Andres Arroyo, Jantzen Oshier, Cameron Cooper, Michael Slagowski, Trevor Dunbar, Austin Mudd, Myles Marshall, the Torpy twins, Ammar Moussa, Elias Gedyon, Mikey Brannigan, Jeremy Elkaim, Blake Haney, Elijah Greer, Drew Magaha, Chris Fitzsimons, Nick Ryan. I could keep going on and on lol.
When one thinks of Lindgren, they think of his distance running, i.e. 8:40 indoor two mile and 13:44 5000m. But he also just missed out on holding the HS mile record as well. Lindgren ran a 4:01.5 mile, just two months after Ryun ran his 3:59 mile record. The existing HS record at the time (1964) was 4:03.5 by Tom Sullivan set in 1961.
I'm not sure what this thread is about, but I do want to clarify that, although Sullivan ran 4:03.5 in 1961 while he was still in high school, that was in open competition, not high school competition. Ryun and Lindgren actually traded the official national high school one-mile record back and forth in May 1964, when Ryun broke Dennis Carr's national high school record in 4:06.4, and Lindgren immediately thereafter broke Ryun's record in 4:06.0. Of course, both Ryun and Lindgren finished off the season with much faster times in open races.
After graduating from high school, Lindgren had an exceptional collegiate career and, at the age of nineteen, tied Billy Mills for a new world record at six miles, in a time that, when converted, bettered Ron Clarke's then-existing 10,000m world record.
Taylor Gilland - nc high school legend. Injured a lot at UVA. Resurgence while working finance in nyc (featured in wsj for that)- broke 4 indoors, paced Galen rupp (i think to two mile American indoor record)