Was Ritz just a vastly overrated high school cross-country runner? His "great" 14:10 was made a mockery of today

3/10, you’ll get some responses

None of these guys, nor anyone, ever, has broken 14:10 on the course Ritz ran. Track PRs don't lie. The subjectivity and short courses (like today's) are eliminated from the analysis. What are their 5000 PRs and how does that stack up against his?

Capy short finger wrote:

The guy was decent but I think people made him out to be much better than he was. He was pretty good for way back in the 1990s but runners today are just that much faster. How many runners today beat his 14:10? It just wasn't that fast of a record. It is time to put his 14:10 in perspective. It was a quality time for way back then but it is nothing special today. The runners have just evolved to much better runners.

No, he ran 13:47 the next spring and was definitely one of the GOATs.

How many of those boys will go on to break 13 get a pro Nike contract make 3 Olympic teams run 60 flat and sub 2:08?

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Capy short finger wrote:

The guy was decent but I think people made him out to be much better than he was. He was pretty good for way back in the 1990s but runners today are just that much faster. How many runners today beat his 14:10? It just wasn't that fast of a record. It is time to put his 14:10 in perspective. It was a quality time for way back then but it is nothing special today. The runners have just evolved to much better runners.

No, he ran 13:47 the next spring and was definitely one of the GOATs.

It was 13:44.

Hopefully all of them

We can't just say "they'll never be as good as Rtiz"

We want 5 kids who are all the next Ritz

No, you all are missing one very important point, Dathan ran alone, the whole way!!!!! It makes a HUGE difference!!!! I was at 2 miles when he went by in 8:58 with no one in site, pushing hard all alone. There was no pack to suck off of, it was just him. Dathan time may not be faster but his 14:10 is worth more in my opinion.

birdbeard wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:

No, he ran 13:47 the next spring and was definitely one of the GOATs.

It was 13:44.

You're correct and that only buttresses him being called a GOAT. I'm pretty good at remembering times; maybe the 13:44 was his second attempt at the record? I didn't realize he came so close to Lindgren's record.

Is referring to him as "Nathan" an inside joke?

These kids are actually wearing Vaporfly to run XC. How many seconds are we talking about here that is artificially padded?

Who??

Michiganian13 wrote:

No, you all are missing one very important point, Dathan ran alone, the whole way!!!!! It makes a HUGE difference!!!! I was at 2 miles when he went by in 8:58 with no one in site, pushing hard all alone. There was no pack to suck off of, it was just him. Dathan time may not be faster but his 14:10 is worth more in my opinion.

THIS!!!!

I've never heard of Nathan Ritz and I can't find any times for him so I would say he's not overrated at all.

POTUS and his full diaper wrote:

Who??

I agree. I've never heard of this Nathan Ritzenhein, and based on his 14:10 5k time, it's probably because he sucks.

Michiganian13 wrote:

No, you all are missing one very important point, Dathan ran alone, the whole way!!!!! It makes a HUGE difference!!!! I was at 2 miles when he went by in 8:58 with no one in site, pushing hard all alone. There was no pack to suck off of, it was just him. Dathan time may not be faster but his 14:10 is worth more in my opinion.

It doesn't make any difference. The HS 2-mile records set by Pre, Virgin and Fernandez were all solo runs.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Michiganian13 wrote:

No, you all are missing one very important point, Dathan ran alone, the whole way!!!!! It makes a HUGE difference!!!! I was at 2 miles when he went by in 8:58 with no one in site, pushing hard all alone. There was no pack to suck off of, it was just him. Dathan time may not be faster but his 14:10 is worth more in my opinion.

It doesn't make any difference. The HS 2-mile records set by Pre, Virgin and Fernandez were all solo runs.

First of all, we aren't talking about running circles on a track 8 times, totally different animal.

We aren't comparing them to Pre, Virgin or Fernandez, all of whom may have been better as well , but...we are talking about Ritzenhein. Please stay on topic.

You are really fishing here by comparing Apples to Dirt!

It does matter over a 5k race, yes, it really does.

Lastly, to try to imply that the race that happened today in Alabama with all of those runners together feeding on each other, well past the 2 mile point, aka to the finish line, is the same as someone running solo from the gun is an argument not worth having.

To be honest, I'm more embarrassed for you than anything else. That's just so backwards and wrong that I'd have to question if you ever ran or even jogged in your life?

Wow, just wow!!!! This board and some of the posters never seize to amaze me.

Why all of the insults?

If the NP kids all run sub-8:40 next spring are still going to claim that Ritz's course record is superior to their efforts? Your claim that top distance runners need someone else to push them to their limits, makes me think you're one that has never run a distance race.

What is the difference between Pre, Virgin and Fernandez compared to Ritz? All 4 could push themselves to the limit.

Yeah, you must be so much smarter than them.

Actually a lot smarter old man, you're clueless as well.

Nathan Ritzenhein regretted that he only had 2 national high school cross country titles to give to his country.

But who is this Tod who was being mocked?