Who Is the GREATEST American Distance Runner of All Time? Submit your 64 nominees now for our tournament

in deak we trust wrote:

This list is woefully incomplete without Ryan Deak.

If only we had a thumbs up. You'd get one. You made me laugh.

gray is not a distance runner.

lagat is not american.

shorter hands down. winner.

2 olympic golds, for a start...

a million wins cross country and roads

10k world rank.

shorter.

First this is not a knock on the guy or Americans not born here - but to be the greatest American Distance Runner I think you should only include what was done while American... So for sure Lagat belongs as would Chelimo or Lomong if they are deemed to be in the mix but I vote against Khannouchi being in this list

He became a Naturalized citizen in May of 2000 His resume from that point on is as follows:

2000

Chicago Marathon, winner in a new American record (2:07:01)

2002

London Marathon, winner in world record time (2:05:38)

Chicago Marathon, winner (2:05:56), becoming the first man in history to break 2:06 twice in one year

Ranked as the number #1 marathoner in the world by Track & Field News and their American Athlete of the Year.

2004

Chicago Marathon, fifth place (2:08:44)

2006

London Marathon, 4th place (2:07:04), coming back from a long period of injury.

2007

London Marathon, did not finish.

United States Olympic Marathon Trials in New York City, 4th place (2:12:34)[1]

SO an amazing and epic 2002 - but is that enough?

I assume you have this thought out already. My recommendations are that you provide bios, videos, and pictures for each runner. I recommend that you not provide criteria. I recommend that you include all reasonable submissions rather than limit it to 32 rather than suffer the backlash of the submitters.

Clayton MF Murphy should be at least on the shortlist. What a legend - 1:42, Olympic medalist. Yes it was his only good race ever, but what a race it was.

800

Brazier

Gray

Krummenacher

Webb

Ryun

1500

Centro Jr

Webb

Ryun

Brazier

Wheating

Lagat

Krummenacker

3k Steeple

Jager

Lincoln

Famiglietti

Davis

Malmo

5k

Lagat

Ritz

Kennedy

Teg

Solinsky

Rupp

10k

Rupp

Solinsky

Webb

Ritz

Meb

1/2 Mary

Ritz

Hall

Rupp

Thon

Rupp

Khannouchi

Shorter

Meb

Abdi

All that and I forgot Nick Symmonds! Also added Granville because his high school record is legendary. It’s on Webb/Ryun High School Level.

Rodgers

Benoit

Jenny Simpson

Frank Shorter

Matt Cenrowitz

Jim Ryun

It's clear that Ryun's best years were '65, '66, '67. He was not the same level of athlete in '68, even though he was still great.

Ryun cleaned Kip Keino's clock each time they raced in '66 (2 miles) and '67 (1500m, mile). Great as Kip was over '66 - '68, I give Ryun the edge.

Kip was the greater career athlete in medal races, but he simply could not touch Ryun in his prime. NOT EVEN CLOSE!

YEAH, I am an old fart Jim Ryun fan. Look, I'm a socialist, the political opposite of Ryun, but I love the man!

Agreed here - I would put Ryun against anyone in the 1500/Mile It would be interesting to see just a Miler bracket and who would come out. if I could pick 8 it would probably be

Ryun, Liquori, Webb, Centro, Lagat, Maree, Scott, Sheppard, and it would be a serious toss up for the last spot

Spivey

Santee

Manzano

Falcon

Holman

You could I guess put Brazier or Murphy in the mix but for me they are 800 guys that did a couple of over distance races.

Agree on Wes Santee. That guy could have beaten Landy and Bannister to the 4-minute barrier if the AAU at the time didn't mismanage him so poorly.

What were Adam Goucher's accomploshments? I don't know much about him at all.

Tom Farrell ran for Oklahoma State for a while, was like their 3 or 4 runner, right? I assme either he did big things after college or I'm thinking of a different guy

rojo wrote:

PS. Please note that the Alysia Montaño rule will be in effect. We will start the contest with 32 men and 32 women.

/

Despite the Alysia Montano rule I already know this contest will be ruled by men, and won by a man due to the audience and nature of the voting. Make them separate contests.

help help fwiw wrote:

This thread just shows the none of you consider foreign born athletes as Americans. No Lagat, No Sydney Marie.

Lagat is by far our best. Longevity, accolades, records.

You are clueless. Actually try reading the thread, as both of those names have been mentioned. Also, you could have simply suggested them instead of writing a tear-filled diatribe.

Ok7272 wrote:

Agree on Wes Santee. That guy could have beaten Landy and Bannister to the 4-minute barrier if the AAU at the time didn't mismanage him so poorly.

What were Adam Goucher's accomploshments? I don't know much about him at all.

Tom Farrell ran for Oklahoma State for a while, was like their 3 or 4 runner, right? I assme either he did big things after college or I'm thinking of a different guy

This thread will be awesome, it is an opportunity to educate Gen Z on the runners of yesteryear. Not saying you're a Gen Z, I just mean in general. I'd love to see people write some stories on here to plead their cases.

Can't say I have them all memorized, but Goucher ran 13:10, but more importantly during a time when US distance running wasn't so great, he was a lot of fun to watch. He raced the US Championships on a broken shin to win I believe in 2000 I think over one of the Hauser twins (Stanford). He was just a gutsy guy to watch, and made a comeback later in his career to finish 6th in world XC and a small PR in the 5k. He was a tenacious collegiate runner, you should read Running with the Buffaloes.

Tom Farrell was British, right? Were you thinking of Ryan Vail, Colby Lowe, or another white guy coming out of OK State around that time? Farrell was a little younger I believe.

rhojo wrote:

rojo wrote:

PS. Please note that the Alysia Montaño rule will be in effect. We will start the contest with 32 men and 32 women.

/

Despite the Alysia Montano rule I already know this contest will be ruled by men, and won by a man due to the audience and nature of the voting. Make them separate contests.

No, they should pit them against eachother. I'd love to see someone try to argue why Ryan Hill is better than Jenny Simpson or Emma Coburn.

westsouthrunner wrote:

Rocket2 wrote:

Thank God no one said Bernard Lagat! Not an American.....just another mercenary athlete. Please keep them out of the picture, or create a separate category for them.

At this point he has been an American for like 15 years. So you can stop hating smh. Only true Americans are the native Americans by your standard

Lagat is an American. But I'm a 'true American' since I'm a native American. F off with that romantic Indian BS. They're no more 'true' American than is Bernard Lagat.

Here are some more names, I'm sure most are already listed. I also know a few aren't top 64 worthy, but worth mentioning as great US athletes - take 'em or leave 'em.

Alan Culpepper

Rod DeHaven

Todd Williams

Bob Kempainen

Steve Holman

Brian Diemer

Steve Spence

Doug Padilla

Ed Eyestone

Mark Everett

Den Browne

Tim Broe

KD Robinson

Daniel Lincoln (what could have been...)

Pat Porter

Pete Pftizinger

Matt Centrowitz SR (another what could have been)

Rick Wohlhunter

Julie Brown

Joan Benoit

Lynn Jennings

Patti Sue Plummer

Cathy O'Brien

Shayne Culpepper

Jen Rhines

Marla Runyan

Tom Farrell is a different guy ran for St Johns in NYC. as a 19 year old placed 5th in the Olympics in 64 behind Snell - Bronze Medal in 68 Mexico City