Jonathan Gault wrote:
I'd guess somewhere in the 6-10 range as a team.
I think Goucher would contend for the win. Against this year's field, he'd probably be the favorite (unless Kiptoo turns out to be an absolute monster). The track season following his NCAA victory, Goucher ran 3:54/7:43/13:11, won USAs in the 5k, and made the World Championship final.
I came here to post this. Outkicked Bob Kennedy to win USAs.
Teams certainly weren't as deep back then, as the level of runners coming out of high school was not the same. I actually had been thinking about a similar question earlier in the week: "Has Colorado / Whetmore lost their advantage now that the majority of teams in the country have dropped the lower mileage, higher intensity training that predominated during the 90's?