Or maybe there are more good athletes now than 15 years ago. I'll assume in 10 more years there will be multiple 19 year olds running under 3:55 every year.
Or maybe there are more good athletes now than 15 years ago. I'll assume in 10 more years there will be multiple 19 year olds running under 3:55 every year.
Could be, but German's pre super shoe performance is more impressive than this current record.
I remember that guy always trying so hard and giving it his all. He was always grinding and then he was always, always, always injured. Most runners know how frustrating injuries can be.
Perhaps the Brojos or Gault can track him down for an interview. Would be super interesting.
I met him about two years ago at the SJS masters meet. He was very kind, got a picture with him, although he appears to be a rather quiet and reserved guy. Didn't want to bother him too much.
I think he'll likely be at that same meet again, given he has a younger sister named Giselle who is currently a junior. She did make it to the state meet last year for 1600m
He barely ran XC and Track until later in HS too. Imagine if he trained all 4 years. What we saw of him was hardly scratching the surface
He's definitely in the talent category of Gerry Lindgren and Jim Ryun. I'd argue he's #1 based upon his results with his relatively late start and inconsistency due to injuries.
For anyone curious, the video below shows German's record run. No pacers, no super spikes, and no BU track. Just German and his absurd sense of pace going out and ripping. I'm also of the belief that German had a special level of talent. His engine and mechanics are things you just can't teach someone. If he had had that last piece of the talent puzzle to stay healthy, I think he could have been a Jakob level runner for the US and been an international force at 1500/5000. Also when German set this record, he had just turned 18 the previous November, so he was the age of most high school seniors.
What a talent. Imagine if he lived in this day and age......dude would have run 3:50 for the mile as a 19 year old.
I think German was one of the greatest talents to ever run distance events in the US. I know that sounds like an extreme exaggeration when the medalists from last years Olympics exist but I truly believe he would have been up there had he not gotten into a cycle of injury.
I usually don't get into the super shoe/super track debate but the fact that his record has lasted for so long is pretty insane. Honestly, he was ahead of his time, and many of his high school achievements still have no parallel.
14:24 on woodward on a hot, humid day, also the only person to break 15 on the course that day
1:55/4:05/8:45 in two hours at SJS masters
4:10 on day one, 4:00/8:34 on day two over two hours at the state meet, no pacers, nothing
Jeff Nelson was another So Cal mega talent who didn’t do much in college and vanished. He held the Mt SAC cross country course record for 20 years. Get him and German for the new Let’s Run “Where they now” series. Obviously Lukas and Withrow should figure as well.
A Letsrun “where are they now” would be awesome. Selfishly from CA, some of the late 90s / 2000s California runners were legendary. Stanford 2000(?) cross country team comes to mind. Don Sage etc.
Jeff Nelson was always this enigma on the all-time Woodward list.
Jeff Nelson was another So Cal mega talent who didn’t do much in college and vanished. He held the Mt SAC cross country course record for 20 years. Get him and German for the new Let’s Run “Where they now” series. Obviously Lukas and Withrow should figure as well.
It's not great history for the HS 2 mile records in the last 50ish years. German had the most success as he actually won NCAA championships and made it to the pro ranks. Jeff went to a stacked Oregon squad with Salazar and Rudy Chapa but left after a year with injuries. He ran at Glendale CC back home and was doing better but then I've heard he had a daughter so priorities changed. Then you've got Lukas who also left Oregon but was pursuing triathlon before getting into horrible bike crash. Back about 10 years ago Flotrack documented his comeback from the major spine surgery after the crash and I remember seeing he ran some races, like a 5k in 15 minutes. But that was it. I'd love to hear a retrospective of these guys in their own words. I know Jeff has an invitational named after him in Burbank and German has a track meet named after him. Last I saw, German was working in law enforcement up in Santa Cruz area and it sounds like he still makes it out to meets to watch his sister.
A Letsrun “where are they now” would be awesome. Selfishly from CA, some of the late 90s / 2000s California runners were legendary. Stanford 2000(?) cross country team comes to mind. Don Sage etc.
Jeff Nelson was always this enigma on the all-time Woodward list.
Did Jeff run at Woodward? He was about a decade too early for the CA state meet but I also think he was too early for Kinney regionals at Woodward too. I've always seen that his season ended at CIF SS finals at Mt SAC and it's his Mt SAC record of 14:32 (not broken until Ryan Hall ran on a refurbished course) that was his enduring record. If Jeff did run at Woodward, I'd love to know what he ran!
