My other comment will surely get deleted, so i’ll try to respond seriously to one of the most unserious opinions i’ve ever come across.
Colin is a 3:56 miler who won a national championship in cross country while running 14:03 on grass, 14:26 at woodward, and 8:33 on the track.
Nico is a national champion, former nxn record holder, the fastest ever over 3000m, and formerly, fastest californian over 5000m
Leo is a 3:40 1500 runner who was the top non east african at world junior xc, and a 14:25 guy at woodward park.
And I’m not even mentioning the guy who took nicos nxn record or the 2nd fastest high school 5000m runner ever.
Please give me a coherent train of logic as to why one of these people wouldn’t be top 5, much less 3 or more of them. So far the only possibilities I can come up with are:
1. you bought hard into speed ratings/the notion that woodward is running 15-25 seconds faster.
2. you think the spikes are worth 3-4 seconds a mile.
3. you’re an old head who can’t admit the newer generation actually has talented individuals.
None of these are rational.
I love Meb. He’s one of my favorite runners of all time. His high school self is getting beat by probably all 5 of these guys at their best.