Where would Ritz place at NCAA nationals in 2024

Lol. If he was not chronically injured say for a program like NAU then he could cook all OK States 25 year old Kenyans.

To be clear I object to the age not the athletes from other countries.

The Kenyans dominated collegiate racing yesterday

considering ritz hasn’t been running much lately I’d be surprised if he could beat anyone

ritz ran 27:37 as a sophomore after over a year and half of being injured in an era where super shoes didn’t exist….

trust me he could still hold his own

high school ritz gets like 70th. ncaa ritz probably wins, top 5 lock. I don't think current ritz would get last.

HS senior Ritz dominated all but 1 Kenyan at world cross. He'd be up at the front with this generation of college runners.

Ritz was 3rd at world junior cross with the Africans? Pretty sure he’d be tough to beat, pick any year in ncaa history. He is in there.

Correct. Fighting for the win and probably have a longer career without stress fractures because he'd be able to train in supershoes.

Third at World junior xc, the year Bekele won the race and doubled back to finish second in the senior short course. I wouldn’t bet against Ritz winning any year of NCAA XC.

But everyone is getting better. People weren't running in the 22s at all in 8Ks back then

Frankly no one cares. He’s too busy getting his own athletes injured now

he still jumps into training with the women on OAC, Geordie said something a couple podcasts ago like he thought Ritz could easily still break 70 for a Half rn

he could run circles around those coffee club goof balls who show him no respect by constantly mimicking him

How many run a 13:20/27:40 even with the new shoes? Ritz might not win but he would be in that list of a half dozen contenders pretty much every year.

There is likely the shoes. Seeing as one of the 2 people able to beat him in his was Bekele I would say he could cook NCAA right now.

The human body hasn't changed that much since 2003.
He ran 22 8k pace in his half marathon PB...

He'd be getting better too.

I don't know where his ceiling is/was as an athlete, so I'll concede he might not have be a world-beater today, but it's hard to imagine some of the American's with faster pb's today (who aren't winning any meaningful races) would be better than him if he was in this era. It's almost impossible to me that Woody Kincaid in his prime could have beaten Ritz in his prime.

We'll never know. That's why winning medals is more special than times.

I think Dathan Ritzenhein in his prime would still place higher than 20th. He was incredibly strong, especially on tough courses, and had the ability to challenge the top guys. While today's depth is impressive, Ritzenhein’s grit and talent would likely put him closer to the top 10, if not within it. He might not be a team’s #1 anymore, but he'd still be a strong contributor at any powerhouse program like OK State or Alabama.

I feel like placing Dathan Ritzenhein around 20th might be a bit of an understatement given his incredible endurance and achievements during his NCAA career. Even with today's stacked fields, I believe he could still break into the top 10, if not higher. His talent and competitive edge were on another level, even compared to today's elite!

Theres no way he would get last. Anyone remember the video of OAC running a mile at altitude and he ran alongside the men and the women on the inner field in jeans?