I think the reason that the rupp vs. Bauhs argument always goes around and around in circles is that they both have one major fault in common: not enough fast-twitch muscle fibers to be Olympic contenders in the 5k or 10k. In the end, this is what limits both of them, and deep down all their respective fan groups know it.
Maybe one of these guys will get the American record. Which one of them I don't know. But the improvement will stop there. When people evaluate the middle-distance speed of 5k/10k guys, they say well Bauhs ran a 3:59 mile off of xc training, Solinsky closed the NCAA 5k in 4:01, and Bekele closed the 5k at the Olympics in 3:57, so all those guys are about the same. 3:46-3:50 speed is not necessary to be world-class.
Wrong! What you people have to understand is this: if we put Bekele on a track and asked him to run a workout consisting of 1 x 1600, 1 x 800, 1 x 400, 1 x 200, all with adequate recoveries but crammed into the space of one hour, the result would be sickenating! Through whatever combination of genetics and walking on uneven trails to school every day as a kid, Bekele has amazing ft fibers (when I say genetic, I don't mean that all Africans have ft fibers; I just mean that Bekele does).
When Solinsky ran a 4:01 closing mile, it was off an opening 3k of 9:00! When Bekele did it the starting pace was sub-8:00. If Bekele was in a race that went out in 9:00, he would probably close in somewhere around the American mile record.
Back to rupp and Bauhs, these guys should learn the lesson of two boys named ryan and Ian. ryan and Ian were both right around the 13:20/28:00 level, and both excelled in NCAA cross-country. They also did very well in some half-marathons at a young age, showing performances in the 61-63 minute range. But one of them decided to keep hacking away at the track, and the other made the step up to the marathon. Today, which one has more prospects as an Olympic contender?
Hopefully neither rupp nor Bauhs will go the route that Dobson did. It's a very good sign that Salazar recognized Kara Goucher's marathon potential despite her success in the 10k. Hopefully he will do the same with rupp.
It is also a good sign that Bauhs is going to train with the same guy who coaches Hall and Dobson. He's learned from success and failure the benefits of moving athletes up to the marathon.