German Fernandez is a Serious Threat to Win NCAA Cross Country Nationals

How is he more injury prone? And time trialer? I sometimes think Rupp posts about himself on all these threads.

We miss you Pre wrote:

To beat Rupp would require German to drop 5 VDOTs, which experts believe to be impossible in such a short amount of time for such an advanced runner. To put this in perspective, realize that Dr. Jack Daniels states in his masterpiee that even a young and rapidly improving runner should never expect to advance a full VDOT level any sooner than 6 weeks at a time. A better question might be "Can German be a serious threat to win top 5 Cross Country?" Better luck next time...

The best runners in the world don't give a sh*t about VDOT's.

I don't know if that VDOT stuff applies to high school kids who are still growing and finishing puberty and such. Some men don't finish maturing until they're 22, 23, even 25. Given that Rupp looks like he's 16, perhaps he has a bit more to go too.

Rupp is very likely to improve on last year's performance. So in that case, I wouldn't put my money on Fernandez just yet. I've read interviews with Fernandez, Derrick, Puskedra and others, and they all sound like really grounded, humble kids. I'm rooting for them all. I just hope they're not TOO humble. According to both documentaries on Pre, that guy had some issues! Sometimes you need to be a little crazy to want to win more badly than others.

Fastnbulbous wrote:

I've read interviews with Fernandez, Derrick, Puskedra and others, and they all sound like really grounded, humble kids. I'm rooting for them all. I just hope they're not TOO humble.

Not to crawl up your ass, but who the F cares if these guys are humble or not?

Seriously... these guys represent the newest crop of distance runners, and instead of hoping they all do well, some of you decide to pick and choose who you support over your opinions of published interviews?

I am wondering how German's training is compared to last year. I am not sure German is the same runner so far this year. Tell you what, there is one guy who is on a HOLY FREAKIN MISSION to beat GERMAN. DERRICK. This kid feels he must beat German to prove some things. German was sick as crap at FOOTLOCKER last year. Good luck German.

TrackCoach wrote:

Rupp could make the U.S. world cross senior team; he is not going to lose to an NCAA freshmam. What Kennedy did as a freshman is more difficult to accomplish today. Finishing top 5 is certainly possible, but top 10 is more likely.

Withrow not only made the US World XC team, he finished as the first American, ahead of Ritz, who had won one of the Cup XC events that year. And, he was not running well enough in the fall to make the UW Xc team..... (he came around that winter, actually.

Kobe was on a mission to win the NBA Finals.

Every top runner works their ass off. Derrick is good, but I'm not sure he's blessed with the talent German has. Maybe I'm wrong, though.

osjkljs wrote:

KornheisersCartel wrote:

I apologize... that may be assuming too much. I was simply comparing him and his talent against Galen Rupp's at the same stage. Rupp ran 28:15 in the spring of his freshman season. Fernandez was better than Rupp as a high school senior, and projecting similar improvement one might expect he'll be able to run around 28:00 flat. It's inexact, but if he ends up in 13:18 shape this spring, I'd expect him to be able to run that time if not better. But who knows when you're stepping up in distance.

Compare Fernandez's Footlocker results with Rupp's, slower time, lower place. That means he is even more of a time trialer than Rupp. He is more injury prone than even Ritz.

Ritz didn't start getting injured until after high school, and Fernandez still ran two miles ten seconds faster than Ritz did.

Fernandez did not deliver at Footlocker, true. But how can you say he's a "time trialer" based on one race? Besides, he won the US junior cross-country race, which included some NCAA All-Americans. Not a time trial.

And will LetsRunners ever learn that you can't directly compare times on different courses, and often even the same course on different days? (Oh, wait: the answer is no.)

if chelanga isn't in a different class from the field, there is no one else that fernandez couldn't beat if he improves like he should and has a good run. rupp will crack in a face off between the two.

Really? It's obvious? Oh, hmmm. Yeah, actually it is obvious. Why didn't I understand earlier? It's so obvious, that you didn't feel the need to warrant anything you said, at all.

At all.

the kid wears an ipod, no wonder he can't break 24.

Derrick ran 13:55 in April, the kid has more talent than just about any other high schooler EVER. Obviously some people have more talent than others, but the most talented runner may not always be the best in college.

the rocket wrote:

On a course that his been the site of the California State Meet for over 25 years now, and has been run countless other times holding major competitions, this is proof that German Fernandez is quite possibly the greatest High School Cross Country runner ever!

He didn\\\'t even win footlocker?

Fernandez won his race today at PreNats, but Chelanga crushed his and ran the best time. Unless Chelanga is peaking too early, it's his race to lose.

a german wont win.

a kenyan will win.

the only real american in the top 10 will be Schwabb.

nah wrote:

the kid wears an ipod, no wonder he can't break 24.

Yea too bad, that 23:34 he ran today didn't really break 24.

Reading through this thread, more then 80% of the posts either make no sense or are staight up retarded.

astounding amounts o stupidity wrote:

Reading through this thread, more then 80% of the posts either make no sense or are staight up retarded.

Well no shit! Where the hell have you been. God Damit!

astounding amounts o stupidity wrote:

Reading through this thread, more then 80% of the posts either make no sense or are staight up retarded.

Oh really? Enlighten us.