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

Yeah gotta agree here. Mal Whitfield v. Jim Walmsley would make no sense.

If you have competed for another country in a world championship / Olympic games then you are out. It has nothing to do with hate, it is just my opinion on what is fair. Lagat is Kenyan, end of story. Mo Farah on the other hand, is allowed to represent Great Britain as he never competed for Somalia. I don't care what anyone rules it to be. This is how it should be.

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.

LetsRun, when will you learn? You can't please the SJWs.

A bit more about the Farrell brothers

Tom Farrell - went to Archbishop Molloy HS with my father in NY (the same one I went to)

In 1961, Tom Farrell was the national high school indoor 1,000 yd. leader. He also anchored Molloy’s 2-mile team to his first Penn relay championships. Tom also set Molloy’s still standing record in the 880 yds. At the time of 1:54.3.

At St. John University Tom was a two time NCAA Champion. He set world records indoor at 660 yds. and 880 yds. at 1:49.8. In his Olympic career, Tom finished fifth in Tokyo and won the bronze medal at the 1968 games in Mexico City in 1:45.4.

Peter Farrell

Peter set the national interscholastic record for the 1000 yards in 1964. At Notre Dame, Peter was a two-time NCAA All-American. He won the 1C4A 1000Y championship and was ranked 5th in the nation and 14th in the world in 880 yards.

Peter had coached the Princeton Tigers woman’s track team since 1978 (retired only a few years ao) . During his 25+ years at the helm, the Tigers have captured the Ivy League Indoor championship six times (1981, ’82, ’83, ’89, ’97, ’98) and the Outdoor crown seven times (1979, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’89, ’98). The cross-country program has also enjoyed success under Farrell’s watch, winning three straight Ivy titles from 1979-1981. In 2003, the cross-country team won the ECAC Championship for the second time in four years and finished 9th at the NCAA Champs followed by successes through Liz Costello, Ashley Higginson, Cack Ferrel and NCAA 4th place finish in 2011.

AM Runner wrote:

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.]

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

I think you are undercutting it. He set AR in marathon in 2000, then in 2002 he set a world record, then ran another another sub-2:06 (#3 time all time), winning a major each time.

The dude won 3 majors and ran the #1 and #3 fastest times in history as an American. I think it can be argued that that surpasses what Meb did in his entire marathon career.

When you say Distance Runner, can we consider Ultra runners like Courtney Dauwalter?? Shes a beast.

or Camille Herron for taking the 100 mile American record

Thats fair, but we all have our own criteria

Not saying he wasnt great - but best of all time means a bit more for me - his greatness and an american was really only 3 races over 2 years - yes fast for sure but those are his only titles and nothing in a USA vest

Meb on the other hand has been a US Citizen since 1998

won 4 NCAA Championships

Multiple National Championships (10 K and Marathon)

4 Olympic Finals including a 2nd and a 4th place

2 World Champ Finals

Won Boston and NY

So I would put Meb over Khaild - I respect both as Americans but for me Meb wins easily

How are you not including Tegenkamp. Qualifying for two Olympics in the era of Ritzenheim, Hall, Lomong, Webb, Solinsky, Lagat, Rupp is very hard. When I think of Ritz, Hall, Webb, and Solinsky, I htink of Tegenkamp alongside those guys.

He was one of the first 3 or 4 Americans to break 13, he was the US champion a few times IIRC. I just looked up he's 7th on the all-time list ahead of Rupp in the 5K and he was 4th in the world championships in 2007.

As far as I remember, he

I remember a guy with that name overlapping w/Lowe and Fernandez in the early 10s. I was watching the NCAA championship in XC where Kennedy something of Texas Tech won, Lalang and Sambu were runners-up from Arizona and Anthony Rotich of UTEP was 4th. Paul Chelimo was 10th. Then I looked up the transcript and Farrell was in there somewhere for OKl State I think (or maybe it was Oklahoma?)

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.

I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean? I hope that it's a good thing. Please explain....

John Wesley Harding wrote:

stand firm wrote:

LetsRun, when will you learn? You can't please the SJWs.

Yikes. Take a deep breath, Phoebe. Know your real enemies.

The head of a running website which is known for being vile and inappropriate trolling elite USA female runners.

Classic LRC.

Here's another name that fits with WinnytheBish's list:

Mark Curp.

Held the American record for the half marathon for 22 years!

From his Wikipedia entry:

"Mark Curp (born January 5, 1959 in Chillicothe, Missouri) held the world record for the half marathon from 1985 until 1990. He continued holding the American record in the half marathon until a new record was set by Ryan Hall in 2007.

Curp attended Central Missouri State University, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1981 and a master's degree in 1982.

Curp broke the men's world record in the half marathon on September 15, 1985, clocking 1:00:55 at the Philadelphia Distance Run in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at an overall pace just under 4:39 per mile for the official 13.1094-mile distance. According to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, "in 1987 and 1988, Runner’s World magazine ranked him the number one road racer in the world."(Curp's best time in a marathon came at the 1987 Twin Cities Marathon, when he finished third with a time of 2:11:45.)

Curp's world record in the half marathon stood for five years, until September 16, 1990, when Dionicio Ceron broke Curp's time by nine seconds on the same Philadelphia course.

Curp's time of 1:00:55 stood as the American record until January 14, 2007, when Ryan Hall broke the record at the Aramco Houston Half-Marathon in Houston, Texas.

Thats a good call there! Solid time too on that course if I remember correctly

Most of you have either forgotten about, or are unaware of the great George Young, who was a four-time Olympian (60, 64, 68, 72) in three different events, the steeplechase, marathon and 5,000. He earned a bronze in Mexico City after leading in the last lap before being bested by two Kenyans. If it were a sea-level race, he may have earned a gold.

I wouldn't put him at the top of this list, but he belongs in the top 32.

He is listed currently in the top 32 I believe last time I checked the Google Sheet

Can you imagine a thread with 64 nominees for the best basketball player ever? There are people being listed that clearly are nowhere close to being the GREATEST American Distance Runner of All Time.

John Wesley Harding wrote:

stand firm wrote:

LetsRun, when will you learn? You can't please the SJWs.

https://twitter.com/phe800/status/1242149772837801987?s=21

Yikes. Take a deep breath, Phoebe. Know your real enemies.

The thing is, I don’t think the Brojos intended to be snide at all. I thought they were sincere. Misguided, maybe, but sincere nonetheless.