Given that Virgin is a healthy 68 years old and Hulst is dead, I'm putting my money of Virgin. However today, both of them get smoked by top Footlocker Nat'ls.-level HSers!
The '76 NCAA cross country meet was much more competitive than '73 and Hulst ran the D2 national meet ~48 hours earlier.
Rudy Chapa finished 9th as a freshman in 1976, and Thom Hunt was 13th.
And neither one had run a 10,000 meter race the Saturday before the Monday race. 1976 was Chapa's best finish at the NCAA cross country meet. Hunt improved to 3rd in 1978.
It always amazes me how few of those California studs did anything at all.
I ran against Hulst in 1974. I think he was a HS sophomore. He had more hair on his chest than I had on my entire body. My hair was down to my shoulders!
None of these guys could carry Virgin's water. There was no comparison. 1974 Junior XC Nationals 1. Bobby Thomas (Glendale CC) 24:25.4 2. John Roscoe (SWn Mich) 24:26 3. Roy Kissin (San Ramon HS) 24:29 4. Ralph Serna (Loara HS) 24:29 5. Eric Hulst (Laguna Beach HS) 24:30 6. James Buell (KY) 24:31 7. Cliff Morden (SF Valley TC) 24:36 8. Guy Arbogast (Wash St.) 24:38 9. Dan Fulton (Ore State) 24:43 10. Rick Whitaker (Spok CC) 24:59 11. Don Clary (Anchorage Alaska) 25:10 12. Paul Hansen (Ky) 25:11 13. Steve Lacy (Wisc) 25:14 15. Mitch Kingery (San Carlos, CA) 25:24
1974 Junior Track Nationals 10000 June 14 1. 30:19.6 Jim Buell, KY 2. 30:36.2 Eric Hulst, CA HS 3. 30:42.8 Guy Arbogast, CA HS 4. 31:04.2 George Malley, Penn State
800 June 14 1. 1:49.6 Tom Byers, Ohio State 2. 1:49.9 Mark Belger, NY HS 3. 1:50.5 Steve Gomez, Florida 4. 1:50.5 Craig Masback, Princeton
1500 June 15 1. 3:42.8 Tom Byers, OSU (Byers was the Senior AAU champion. He ran 3:37 twice!) 2. 3:43.5 Curtis Beck, UCLA 3. 3:44.7 Matt Centrowitz, Manhattan 4. 3:47.2 Steve Lacy, WI HS
3000 steeplechase June 15 1. 8:56.4 Tom McChesney, Oregon 2. 8:58.0 Bob Christensen, Wichita State 3. 9:06.4 George Malley, Penn State
5000 June 15 1. 14:16.2 Ralph Serna, CA HS 2. 14:22.0 Rich Kimball, CA HS 3. 14:27.6 Alex Kasich, West Virginia
Craig Virgin was self-coached for most of his career. One wonders how he would have done with a great coach. From talking to him multiple times, I know he would deny it, but I think a lot of talent was wasted there.
Decent metric to add into the equation. Both were so dominant.
Hulst was a pure hate, take no prisoners, runner.
"Hulst is well-remembered in the running community for his high-risk training regimen. At the age of 15, Hulst logged 100 miles per week of training, and would often get up at 5:00 AM to run between 10 and 13 miles before classes started at 8:30. His morning runs would start from Emerald Bay to Corona del Mar and back, and would frequently wear a 10-pound lead vest."
Craig Virgin was self-coached for most of his career. One wonders how he would have done with a great coach. From talking to him multiple times, I know he would deny it, but I think a lot of talent was wasted there.
He did have a great coach who knew what he needed exactly when he needed. Have you evervtrained with Craig? I have. The proof is in the pudding.
HS Lindgren crushes all in a 10k. See the 1964 US-USSR dual meet where he destroyed the heavily favored Russians in brutally hot and smoggy conditions, winning by over 100 yards in 29:17.
We've updated our BetterRunningShoes.com web site to make it easier to find good deals on the best shoes. To keep it great we need new shoe reviews from you.
Fill out a review to be entered into a drawing to win a free pair of shoes.