Mo Ahmed never won an NCAA championship.

That’s a really good college resume; I don’t think it’s a noteworthy surprise that he’s become the runner he is today given his college career. Mo worked his way up to the top in the NCAA and has been slowly but surely making his way into the top tier on the worlds stage.

cheesewiz wrote:

bigtool05 wrote:

Jerry also seems like a much better coach than Mick. Look at how far Wisco has fallen under Mick's coaching

To each their own. Wisconsin doesn’t have the talent it did. Imagine your whole top 7 being guys like McDonald and Hoare and that’s basically Schumachers team at Wisconsin

Recruiting is (a crucial) part of coaching.

NAU and BYU are able to assemble teams like that.

NJ fan wrote:

Mo's best finish at an NCAA championships was 3rd in a 10k. His 5k PR was only 13:28 and 3k was only 7:54. To put that in perspective, yesterday he hit 3k in 7:46 then closed in a sub 4 1600.

What the hell were his coaches doing in college?

Looks like they were doing a good job of coaching him.

What, do you expect him to start up at 12:47?

2011 XC Team Champion.

Wisco is team oriented, he was held back at times for the good of the team's results.

He probably would have won a few NCAA XC titles like Simon did if Jerry were coaching him then. Unfortunately, his career would have been shorter too.

I’m sure he had mediocre at best coaching and that’s why he “only” ran 7:54, but now that he’s in the right place with the right people he’s able to get everything out of his talent.

How many years of high level training can the average elite runner handle?

How the hell is him running slower better for the team?

Or how many athletes peak in college rather when running as a pro when it really counts in terms of making a living?

I see this in high school often where coaches push and push (I think especially in the girls) and they fry them. Some of running at the highest level is just surviving the poor coaching so many get where the coach is about winning HS titles and not about long-term development (or making sure kids enjoy running).

He did come 9th at the WC 10000m when he was in College (2013).

Ritz, Rupp and Abdi are the only Americans who did better than that at WC this century.

Not too bad for a College guy.

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

He was in the era of Ed Cheserek. Feels like it’s worth noting. He ran 27:35 while coached by Byrne. Losing to Cheserek and 24 year old Kipchirchir not too bad

fair

ches should go to btc

ghguhu wrote:

He did come 9th at the WC 10000m when he was in College (2013).

Ritz, Rupp and Abdi are the only Americans who did better than that at WC this century.

Not too bad for a College guy.

Uhhh Lomong did better just last year.

...forgot Lomong who came 7th last year (right behind Mo)

To be fair, Woody Kincaid ran 12:58 under Jerry and the best finish I could find for him in college was a 5th place in the outdoor 5k. I don't think he was ever a factor at the front of a major NCAA race, and he ran for Rob Conner. I think most people on this board would agree he's one of the 5-6 best distance coaches in the NCAA system.

Bonkers wrote:

To be fair, Woody Kincaid ran 12:58 under Jerry and the best finish I could find for him in college was a 5th place in the outdoor 5k. I don't think he was ever a factor at the front of a major NCAA race, and he ran for Rob Conner. I think most people on this board would agree he's one of the 5-6 best distance coaches in the NCAA system.

For woody my understanding is that he really did no running in HS, maybe 20-25mpw despite being elite, so it’s just been a natural progression for him adapting to training load.

birdbeard wrote:

Sapel wrote:

Ahmed didn't have to be great in college as he was surrounded by phenomenal talent. He still earned 10+ All-American honors. I think what separates him from his peers at Wisco is that he has stuck with it with his passion and dedication to the sport and craft, putting himself if world class races to learn and improve. He reminds me of another Somalian - Mo Farah, who wasn't "great" early in his career, but kept showing up at world championships, getting good positions, but then getting blasted those last 300m. Ahmed took a lot of inspiration from Farah, and it's paying dividends.

I hope Mo Ahmed didn’t make the jump by the same means that Mo Farah did.

You mean move the the USA to train with Nike in Portland?

That's exactly what he's done.

normal everyday guy wrote:

He probably would have won a few NCAA XC titles like Simon did if Jerry were coaching him then. Unfortunately, his career would have been shorter too.

I’m sure he had mediocre at best coaching and that’s why he “only” ran 7:54, but now that he’s in the right place with the right people he’s able to get everything out of his talent.

How many years of high level training can the average elite runner handle?

This is a good point. The training it takes to be among the best in the world seems to be something that few runners, even exceptionally talented ones, can handle year after year. Guys like Kipchoge, Lagat, and Lomong are exceptions rather than the rule. It's definitely possible that holding Mo back in college (whether it was done intentionally or unintentionally) prolonged his career and allowed him to reach the peaks he has today.

In college Mo's best event was 10k. In 2012 he ran 27:35 at Payton Jordan. But he had to compete against Cam Levins and who went 27:27 and ended up being top 10 at the olympic 10k that summer. Then he overlapped at the end with Ches who is the most decorated distance runner ever in the NCAA. Chelimo was also there in 2012 for the 5k with Cam Levins, and then Jenkins later on to go with Ches in the 5k. And then Shadrack coming around running 27:40's. It was just a tough time to be in the NCAA with multiple sub 13:205k/Sub 27:50 10k guys. And oh yeah, we're forgetting about Lawi Lalang who no one has mentioned, who was 13:18 at the NCAA championship 5k in roughly 2013 and was 13:0's at Paris Diamond League that summer. Multiple top 10 All-Time runners in the NCAA were competing during Mo's college years.

Lol at concern trolling his college coaching for not burning him out and allowinng Mo to improve as a pro.

Except now we are seeing that Ahmed is more talented than them by a WIDE margin.

Mo's times in college were bad. The coach had him running the wrong events. The coach never worked on speed. Mo closed his 5k faster than his college mile PR.

In fact, he damn near averaged his college 1500 PR pace for his entire 5k (3:49 in the 1500 in college). His 1k pace for his 5k is 2:33.44 and his 1k pace for his college 1500 is 2:33.04.