Ryan Hall Is Gonna Win Nats

flagpole,

I respectfully disagree with you, brother. first of all, 12:50 for 5000 meters equals 61.6 seconds per 400 meters, equals 4:06.4 per 1600 meters, as i wrote before. check your math, brother. i never mentioned the word mile anywhere.

And no, I don't think mentioning Hall in the same breath as ritz shows disrespect, brother. hall ran like a demon in high school and certainly had loads of talent. he's finally started to piece it together. now, i don't think he'll challenge during cross, but it's gonna be interesting to see what he can do during track, brother.

you see, flagpole, not everyone's progression is predictable and linear, brother. hall's got a load of talent. why isn't the sky the limit for him, too, brother?

finally, bk probably had more talent than ritz, and it took him years to get down to 12:58. i agree with the other poster that ritz should move up earlier. nevertheless, for the sake of argument, say ritz does focus on the 5. he's gonna need to run just a touch slower than he did last year for 1500 meters, for another 3500. he's gonna have to stay healthy, and yes, he's gonna need to get a little faster. no 4 minute guy is gonna run 12:50.

whenever ritz hangs em up, i'll come back on here and gloat how he never ran 12:50.

trackhead wrote:

Hall could maybe get into the 49s. In high school he was a solid 50.5 runner, but asking much more than 49s is pushing it. Which is fine for a 5000m runner.

Please. With his added strength, he's probably capable of 48's out of the blocks. People that lack in speed always try to play down what others might have in that area.

PKane wrote:

In reply to the comment about international competition

People continuously forget Ritz's bronze that he had at World Cross, and then his 24th place showing at the men's 12k the year after. My friends, just the other day, the great Bob Kennedy said that for someone to finish in the top 10 of that race is huge, and Ritz finished 24th, as a 19 year old, I believe. Now, that's not the same as a 19 year old Bekele winning, but regardless, that is huge. As for not racing great runners from East Africa? Let me list some names that he raced against, with some times:

2001 World Junior

Bekele Kenenisa ETH 25:04

Lebo Duncan KEN 25:37 0:33

Ritzenhein Dathan USA 25:46 0:42

Kemboi Nicholas KEN 25:52 0:48

Recognize anyone up on the top of that list?

Yeah, but do you really think the guys ahead of Ritz at the time were really juniors? Doubtful. It's likely that Bekele is a strong responder to EPO or other drugs, not necessarily the most talented of the Ethiopians. The rampant use of drugs makes it silly to compare Ritz with most of these cheats.

Dutra wrote:

Speed doesn't help you if your 15 secs down.

Yeah, but if you lack speed, your potential is very limited, heheehe. Ritz is limited when it comes to leg turnover.

to the guy who said ritz should go marathon, marathion, marathon:

yea, it's prob his best shot, but its not a sexy event. who wants to race 26 miles at age 22?

Ritz may be able to enjoy a year or so more of being better than Hall at the 5k. That's about it. Hall has good potential and is much speedier than what that Lydiard fanatic wrote. Ritz will probably finish ahead of Hall at this year's champs, and maybe next year, given the length of the races. But on the track, Hall is probably going to end up much faster. LIke the other guy wrote, you can't hide from speed. Come to think of it, that's what Coe said also. He was right.

but, it seems that Hall always has the potential to blow up at any time. You never know what you're going to get there. Ritz has never and will never do that. The most consistent runner I have seen in quite a while. Ritz will take Hall this year, but hopefully Hall will get better and better with age.

btw- there is no way on God's green earth that Ryan Hall can spin a 48 second quarter.

Chango wrote:

Dutra wrote:

Speed doesn't help you if your 15 secs down.

Yeah, but if you lack speed, your potential is very limited, heheehe. Ritz is limited when it comes to leg turnover.

you really think he lacks turnover? you think his potential is limited? he's still developing into a man. he's finally running in close to a grown man's body. he was running 13:44 in high school in a kid's body. he ran 3:42 and 13:27 almost 2 years ago in a very young, still developing body. he's nowhere near his potential right now, having only been training the last couple months, and has a very good chance to not only win nationals in cross but crush the field. if he puts together 2 or 3 years of consistent training, we may see something pretty special. sub 12:50 may seem a little carried away, but i don't think you can doubt or put limits on this kid.

While Kennedy should have run more 10,000s, he would not necessarily have been a good marathon runner. Some people just don't like the marathon or aren't good at it. Just being a good distance runner doesn't mean you can head up to the marathon and clean up. Khannouchi beat Gebreselassie at London.

Also, when Kennedy ran 12:58, it was one of the best times in history. Why should he have changed events when he was one of the best runners ever at the event he was running?

shipalum wrote:

[quote]Chango wrote:

[quote]Dutra wrote:

... you think his potential is limited? he's still developing into a man. he's finally running in close to a grown man's body. he was running 13:44 in high school in a kid's body. he ran 3:42 and 13:27 almost 2 years ago in a very young, still developing body. he's nowhere near his potential right now, having only been training the last couple months, and has a very good chance to not only win nationals in cross but crush the field. if he puts together 2 or 3 years of consistent training, we may see something pretty special. sub 12:50 may seem a little carried away, but i don't think you can doubt or put limits on this kid.

Same could be said for Hall. He looked like a sophomore when he graduated HS. So why is everyone down on Hall? You'd think everyone would want to see both guys succeed.

Personally, I think the guys who talk about Hall's speed are correct. In the end, he's going to be faster at the 1500 by a good measure than Ritz. That'll probably carry over to the 5 - not that Ritz couldn't end up being superb at the 5k. None of will know until it all plays out. I think Ritz has more potential in the 10k, but he's built more for it. He's as scrawny as the E. Africans and Moroccans.

I agree with Root for both, they both have superb talent and extreme potential. Lets cheer them both on because runners like both of them dont come often. Ritz is obviously the more consistent one, but that is not to say that Hall isnt capable of achieving just as much as ritz in the years to come. Lets hope and see that both of them bring a resurgence in American Distance Running.

Like I said before, Hall is not in the same class as Ritz. You will see.

Don't mess with Riverside wrote:

I love to run my mouth, I just wish I could back it up.

Email me pussy.

thedisease wrote:

Email me pussy.

Why??? Are you gay?

You obviously have a problem with me since you are always trying to find a way to bring me up in every thread you post on. So if you want to keep on being a pussy and talking shit on me without posting you name there's nothing that anyone can do about that. However, if you want to show some integrity you can either start to leave you name when you run your mouth, or you can email me and we can settle this.

12:39.36 Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) '98 - 3:31 indoor 1500m

12:39.74 Daniel Komen (KEN) '97 - 3:46 mile

12:48.81 Stephen Cherono (KEN) '03

12:49.28 Brahim Lahlafi (MOR) '00

12:49.71 Mohammed Mourhit (BEL) '00 1:48 800, 3:36 1500, 7:26 3k

12:49.87 Paul Tergat (KEN) '97 - 7:28 3k

12:50.24 Hicham El Guerrouj (MOR) '03 - 3:44 mile

12:50.80 Salah Hissou (MOR) '96 - 3:51 mile

12:50.86 Ali Saidi-Sief (ALG) '00 - 3:48 mile

maybe someone else has numbers on cheronon and lahlafi.

damn those guys are fast.

Just say no,

Regarding your assertion that BK's NCAA CC win as a freshman shows he had more talent than Ritz (because Ritz finished 4th). I say 4th schmourth. BK didn't have anyone as talented as Boaz, Jorge and Cragg in that race. BK didn't run 13:44.70 as a high school senior. BK got better later as he got older - Ritz will too. Only Ritz will surpass Kennedy.

Root for both,

Ok, I'll root for both. What good does that do? I'd love to see Ryan Hall or any other American distance runner for that matter end up with an Olympic medal. It's just that right now when comparing Ryan Hall to Dathan Ritzenhein, it isn't even close. Ritz hasn't even had a long enough period of time of uninterrupted training right now to be destroying people the way he has been, and what times has Hall run which at all compare with the ones that have been thrown around for Ritz? Hall would beat Ritz in a 1500 probably (but not every time). Ritz though would just KILL him in a 5,000 or anything longer every time, every day, every way, when the sky is gray, he'd whip him at noon, later or soon, and on the moon. I can't wait until Monday. Someone might run out of their head that day and stay with him longer than expected, but Ritz is going to lay down a beating so badly that people's jaws will hit the floor. At least the Stanford guys will be able to say they were just "running for the team title". Look for a quote post-race from Alberto Salazar that says something to the effect that he was never as good as Ritz is right now.

I've got the crystal ball, and that's what it says.

Ryan Hall will be lucky to not get beaten by Billy Nelson.

Flagpole Willy wrote:

Just say no,

Regarding your assertion that BK's NCAA CC win as a freshman shows he had more talent than Ritz (because Ritz finished 4th). I say 4th schmourth. BK didn't have anyone as talented as Boaz, Jorge and Cragg in that race. BK didn't run 13:44.70 as a high school senior. BK got better later as he got older - Ritz will too. Only Ritz will surpass Kennedy.

BK ran 4:05 in high school running 35 miles a week. Then he won cross as a freshman. Now, the level of competition might not have rivalled what Ritz faced, but BK also never ran the miles (unlike Ritz, who cranked it up in high school to what, at least 70?) early in his career. That's why BK blossomed later after he started running 80+.

Ritz could never run 4:05 off so little work as Kennedy did.

The kid is good. But I think its either the 10k or marathon. He's a different animal than Kennedy was. More talented? I don't think so.