Gary Martin: Progressing Nicely!

Excellent analysis. His success may also help with recruiting at UVA. can UVA become a cross country powerhouse like they are in swimming?

This adds so much value, thanks!

Great year for Gary, more to come as he keeps working on his form and speed.

He was surprisingly good at ncaa cross last year too. Looking forward to '25 xc.

Possibly. Lananna being a very respected coach likely helps as well.

Good point about xc. Yes, Martin finished 13th last fall. That's also significantly better than what Strand did as a junior at the same age: 45th.

This raises two questions:

1. Is it possible that Martin is a bigger talent than Strand? That may seem crazy to suggest, but it's clear Martin is ahead of where Strand was as a junior aged 21. Martin also ran significantly faster than Strand as a sophomore: 3:35.77 compared to 3:38.13. And remember that Martin ran sub-4 in high school; Strand did not.
2. Considering that Martin has been faster than Strand at each age since at least 18, and Strand ran 3:30.25 this year, what might Martin be capable of running next year if he stays healthy? I think 3:30-3:31 is reasonable. Any chance he runs under 3:30?

It will be difficult. Virginia men's swimming just received an anonymous $2.2 million donation toward recruiting and boosting the program. Anonymous or maybe undisclosed.

Apparently some alum is tired of the men's team lagging so far behind the women, who are 5x defending national champions.

Virginia swimming has the terrific facility right there in central campus smack across from the football stadium. No doubt that aids recruiting. Show up on football game day and all the activity is right there at the swimming/fitness center. It's not exactly new but was designed very well and lent perfectly for renovation. Virginia has the top rated men's swimming recruiting class for entering freshmen.

I don't know enough about their cross country program other than Gary Martin seems like a class act. He was easily the most popular runner at ACC indoors and NCAA indoors. Countless fans were shouting his name. After he pulled out the ACC DMR he went into the stands and stayed a long time talking to family, friends and fans.

Regardless of comparative times at same age I think Ethan Strand is the more explosive/ sudden athlete.

I actually didn't realize he was a junior until recently and then I realized how impressive he is. 3:48 as a junior is insane!

I think Gary is ~2 years away from being competitive enough to make the team. First he needs to be in 3:29-30 shape which he might be able to get by next year, and then he needs to develop a consistent kick. For the 2028 Olympic Trials, a 3:29 might not make the team.

Jerking / Obviously you are just trolling, but, maybe you could try growing up

and behaving like a normal human being.

If this were my site, I’d ban you for life.

Martin, CS, rocky, Simon and a few other guys took very nice strides forward this year. The question is who can take that next step. we live in a world where you need to be a 3:30/12:50 guy to be Olympic contender.

GM doesn't pass the eye test to be a good pro. ES does. GM lumbers FAR too much and has no kick. Don't like the head-bobbing he has.

I think you could say the same about Nico in college, and he was able to greatly clean up the head-bobbing action. I don’t think it’s fair to say he has no kick, but he’s definitely lacking the top-end speed maybe needed to be a 1500 pro. But maybe he projects to be a slightly better Drew Hunter who could sneak on a 5,000 team? I see some parallels, as both are gamers with great range and a little bit of extra head action when kicking. Gary is already a better time-trialer it looks like.

I think his real event is the 5000m, don't think he'll ever have the kick to beat Green or Strand consistently in the 1500m. He would've been very competitive in the 5000m for the third spot, if he could develop his strength more. Green is one of the weakest new guys in the 5k, so he's one of those guys that's going to have to rely on either the 3k steeple or 1500m.

My most important eye tests are where an athlete finishes in a race and what’s on the clock. Martin looked pretty good to me running 3:32 low and finishing ahead of Ciattei and the Washington Huskies trio of NCAA champions!

🧐 🤩

Good point about Nico.

I hear the concerns about Martin’s kick/top-end speed, but I think he has good potential in the 1500m, and I project him to be much better than Hunter (he’s already faster than Hunter at 1500 and 3k). He ran 3:32.03 while running much of the race in lane 2 and the outside of lane 1, so it’s fair to say he’s already capable of running 3:31 at age 21. How many American milers have been as good as he is at that young age?

Yes, Martin is a bigger talent than Strand IMO, but both still lag behind Kessler.

Times aren’t irrelevant, but they’re not the be-all, end-all. Adam Spencer ran 3:31.8 at age 21, but nobody expects him to make a global final I don’t think. Ditto Sam Tanner (who ran faster). Drew Hunter has gotten 4th in back-to-back years, which shows he’s better than his PBs.

Garys had a lot of great chances to run fast in a blazing-fast era. All props to him for doing so, but that doesn’t mean his trajectory is that far ahead of everyone. There’s a ton of competition to make the US teams, so for me to think he’ll be “much better” than a guys who’s just missed out in back to back years is strong.