What year, in the '90s, was the worst for American Distance running in terms of Performances?

I think Bob's performances at 5000 kind of make up for that, but that's just me.

I think it was 92 where the US only sent one marathoner to the Olympics. That was one man and one woman. Pretty grim.

Bob and Todd carried US running for so many years. Outside of them, it was a dark period for US distance running.

Kempainen was pretty bad ass. Shannon Butler drank too much or he would have done more. Marc Davis has his flash of glory. Mark Croghan steeple was rugged and often overlooked. Mark Coogan was OK ... Pat Porter, sub 28:00 in 1994-95 I think.

1995 was the worst year. In 1995 the USATF standard for the 5k was 13:52 and we still couldn't fill the minimum field: only 13 qualified! And some of those were qualifiers from the previous year. That has to be the low point of the worst era in US running.

The 90s did have some bright spots, Kennedy, Williams, Croghan, Davis, Holman, Kenah, Kempainen etc, but there was no depth at all, and generally not competitive. I'd say the nadir was in the mid 90s, coinciding exactly when high school running was at its low point.

mcgato wrote:

I think it was 92 where the US only sent one marathoner to the Olympics. That was one man and one woman. Pretty grim.

In 1992, the US men's olympic marathon team was Spence, Eyestone and Kempainen (12th, 13th, 17th).

Women were Obrien, Larrieau, and Klecker (10th, 12th, 21st).

That's not really very bad.

High School milers and 2 milers update.

That was 2000 when the US only had 1 man and 1 woman in the Olympic marathon (Rod Dehaven and Christine Clark).