How good does the avg. Foot Locker Finalist become?

You do realize, of course, that there can only be a very limited number of Olympians and American Records Holders. Failing to meet that hurdle hardly qualifies you as a post-Footlocker failure. Indeed, two of the top three names on that list (Lauren Fleshman and Sara Bei) are running at a national level ten years later. Others no doubt had successful college careers, if not at the national champsinoship level. Erin Sullivan, for example, won a Pac-10 title in the 10K.I think you people don't realize that one can have a solid and successful running career without making the Olympics or setting an American Record. Those are incredibly high standards, and there is no guarantee that anyone from a particular high school class will ever reach that level. But that doesn't mean that these finalists didn't have good careers -- many have and some still are.I'm sure sure that the people on this board realize how difficult it is to reach these levels. We sit around all day and criticize runners who fail to take that next step (say from a 3:55 mile to sub-3:50) and fail to fully appreciate how impressive it is to be anywhere near that level.

They killed Kinney! wrote:

There are a few familiar names on this list from 1998

http://footlockercc.com/history/1998girls.htm

but it's ten years later and you don't see too many Olympians or American Record Holders.

Whatever happened to two-time FL Champion Erin Sullivan from Vermont?

http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/sullivan_erin00.html

2nd and 8th placers Athony Famiglietti and Darren Shearer trained in Flagstaff part of this 2004 living with LetsRun.com co-founder Weldon Johnson.

Men 3000 Meter Steeplechase

================================================================

World: W 7:53.17 8/16/2002 Brahim Boulami, MAR

American: A 8:09.17 8/28/1985 Henry Marsh, Athletics West

Stadium: 8:15.77 7/20/2000 Pascal Dobert, Nike

Name Year Team Finals

================================================================

Finals

1 Daniel Lincoln Nike 8:15.02

2 Anthony Famiglietti adidas 8:17.91

3 Robert Gary adidas 8:19.46

4 Isaiah Festa Wisconsin Ru 8:20.66

5 Steve Slattery Nike 8:23.60

6 Jordan Desilets Eastern Michigan 8:24.62

7 John Mortimer Boston AA 8:24.92

8 Darin Shearer Unattached 8:26.54

9 Raymond Hughes Nike 8:28.64

10 Kevin Barra Unattached 8:30.37

11 David Cullum Nike Farm Team 8:35.16

12 Jacques Sallberg Unattached 8:39.19

13 Jared Cordes Wisconsin Ru 8:42.75

-- Sandu Rebenciuc U.S. Army DNF

hey, that post reminded me of Isaiah Festa. He was like the Rasheed Wallace of college running for four years. If you could motivate them, he was the best out there. If you couldn't, he was beaten easily. Schu could motivate him, and he was a total badass.

Not sure if its the guy I am thinking of, but he was from the North Shore of Massachusetts (Hamilton-Wenham), and made the steeple final at the 2004 trials amongst other honors. I do not know if I would put him up there with the other names listed, but I guess making a trials final is more than a number of Footlocker guys ever do.

RunningArt2004, Hit it on the nose!

0/10 wrote:

You do realize, of course, that there can only be a very limited number of Olympians and American Records Holders. Failing to meet that hurdle hardly qualifies you as a post-Footlocker failure. Indeed, two of the top three names on that list (Lauren Fleshman and Sara Bei) are running at a national level ten years later. Others no doubt had successful college careers, if not at the national champsinoship level. Erin Sullivan, for example, won a Pac-10 title in the 10K.

In addition to Bei and Fleshman, Christin Wurth (now Wurth-Thomas) is on that list, as well as Donohue.

I would say a pretty decent amount of those girls went on to become national class runners.

I ran against Festa in high school and it was very frustrating. He was a star from his freshman year. By his senior year though many of us had closed in on him and he wasn't invincible. He had so much potential and as was pointed out occasionally rose to it. It was obvious he could run at a high level long after high school, but not consistently. Running at an elite level is a whole different mental commitment and excercise.

Letsrun.com favorite AJ Acosta kicks ass himself.

What I usually find with this argument or discussion is that with many kids over 30 year period making foot lockers it is easy to take a sliver of an era or several kids to bolser an opinion on either side. I feel that it is important to look at the big picture. How is big picture defined? I'm not sure but look at the World Champs XC qualifiers, Olympic Qualifiers and top 20 fastest distance times the last 15 years and how many were Foot Locker guys and how many weren't. This could be a barometer of what Foot Locker guys can become.

Success in high school distance running can be achieved either through training or through talent. You don't actually need both. When you get to college, you need both.

Many successful HS distance runners were simply better trained than the more talented kids who came from high school teams which ran 20-30 miles a week and didn't do speed work. In college, everyone gets decent training and talent actually matters...

Tennessee Titan wrote:

Felicia Guliford is a perfect example.

She was three or four times a Foot Locker finalist, but look at all she accomplished in college.

http://www.directathletics.com/athletes/track/93184.html

Tremendous raw talent. Remember when she was going to win FL in 1999 and passed out (exercise induced asthma?) and was passed by Victoria Chang just a hundred meters from the finish line in Florida?

So, she picks a big college and runs average to mediocre times considering her pedigree and potential.

Did she not have it academically?

Or was the Coach to blame?

Or did she just tire of running and get burnt out?

You look at her and dozens of other shooting stars with "all the talent in the world" and yet they drift away from the sport.

half her talent wrote:

Tennessee Titan wrote:

Felicia Guliford is a perfect example.

She was three or four times a Foot Locker finalist, but look at all she accomplished in college.

http://www.directathletics.com/athletes/track/93184.html

Tremendous raw talent. Remember when she was going to win FL in 1999 and passed out (exercise induced asthma?) and was passed by Victoria Chang just a hundred meters from the finish line in Florida?

So, she picks a big college and runs average to mediocre times considering her pedigree and potential.

Did she not have it academically?

Or was the Coach to blame?

Or did she just tire of running and get burnt out?

You look at her and dozens of other shooting stars with "all the talent in the world" and yet they drift away from the sport.

i also wondered what happened to her...a quick google search shows that she was a top 9 finalist for ncaa woman of the year--so she must have had an overall successful college career:

Interesting that the sixth placer from 2000 was the first American finisher in the 2008 NCAA D1 10,000m.

1 Shadrack Songok SR A&M-CC 28:46.69 10

2 Shawn Forrest JR Arkansas 28:47.08 8

3 Tyson David JR Alabama 28:49.76 6

4 Jacob Korir SR Eastern Kentucky 28:49.92 5

5 Seth Pilkington SR Weber State 28:51.81 4

6 Sean Quigley SR La Salle 29:03.27 3

7 Jeremy Johnson SR New Mexico 29:06.13 2

8 Japheth Ng\'ojoy SR Texas-El Paso 29:07.08 1

9 James Strang JR Arkansas 29:10.73

10 Mat Ashton JR New Mexico 29:22.59

Interesting that Sean Quigley was the 2nd american and a 7 time all american.

He never made footlocker, 2:00/4:20/9:16 prep guy.

Quigley was 12 at the Foot Locker Regional which in accordance with some discussions on this list lends itself to success. While hard to say how good he would become it isn't a rags to riches story. He did improve greatly and should be applauded.

well said 4runner.

Maybe half of the runners in the 5000 tonight are former FL Finalists. For starters:

Jonathon Riley

Adam Goucher

Hassan Mead

Stephen Pifer

Matt Tegenkamp

Josh Rohatinsky

Chris Solinsky

Ian Dobson

Robert Curtis

Galen Rupp

James Strang

And a lot running other distances:

Slattery, Torres, Jennings, Hartman, Ritz, Dobson, Acosta, Webb, Sage, Hall, Curtis, Lomong, Bumbalough, See, Nelson, Eduardo Torres, Pilkington . . .

I think that Brent Vaughn never made Footlocker finals. As I recall he got sick at the regional as a senior. He is doing OK for himself now and if he brings it together for the 5k final he could be an Olympian.

This is a pretty interesting topic with a lot of good points. I was a foot looker finalist that never had good success in college. I struggled right from the start. A big part of it was that I had signed up with the wrong coach. I ran 14:56 for 3 miles in high school XC at altitude (about 4800 ft.)and was a 9:11 two miler. In college the best I did was 15:04 for 5k. In high school I had a very motivational and inspiring coach and a lot of confidence.

Not the case in college...I left what was initially my dream college after the 1st year and ended up bouncing around at a few other colleges before graduating (thankfully). Choosing a college that is right for what motivates you can be difficult (especially when you are still a teenager). There are a lot of different programs, some with great coaches and atmospheres and others with not so great coaches. I have always felt that I should have run a lot faster in college then I actually did, but the transition under the wrong coach can cripple a persons ability to reach their potential. Reaching your potential is success. I didn't do that and it was heartbreaking.

What I can say is that I worked very hard, in both high school and in college. I had great success in high school but very little progress in college (at least when it came to running). I still run and I still compete. I still have high ambitions and continue to work toward achieving more when it comes to running.