Whatever Happened To Abdul Alzindani (1995 FL Champ)?

NC State, don't you know anything?

As mentioned above, NC State. He was good enough to be named one of the top 50 or so XC runners in ACC history:

Abdul Alzindani, NC State (1996-1999)

All-American in 1999 ... Member of the USA Cross Country team in 1997 ... All-ACC in 1997, 98 and 99 ... Two-time member of the Dean's List ... Three-time member of the ACC Honor Roll.

http://www.theacc.com/sports/c-xc/spec-rel/073002aaa.html

Hilltopper as in the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers?

He followed the trend of most Footlocker finalists and did not do much after college (read: most. Ritz, Sara Bei are exceptions).

I actually ran into Abdul a couple years after college. He grew up in Dearborn, Michigan and last I knew, that's where he resides. What you may not know is that he grew up extremely poor and his family relies on him for income. While he has not "done much" since college, he did manage to become an engineer and take care of pretty much his entire family. Abdul simply used sports like it should be used; to pay for college, get an education and take care of real responsibilities. He happens to be a pretty nice guy too.

I guess Foot Locker champs Bob Kennedy and Jorge Torres and Melody Fairchild and Reuben Reina and Matt Giusto are also "exceptions"

There are quite a lot of "exceptions," aren't there?

Marc Davis and Chris Solinsky and Cathy Schiro (O'Brien) would also be "exceptions"

That's all fine and good, but that is NOT the way sports should be used. I'm not saying it was improper for him to do so, in fact I commend him, but sports were made to be enjoyed, not used as a means to a goal.

troll alert - how tolerant and thoughtful.

I was on my own at age 17 - my mother was unemployed and my father had no interest in my life.

I was an excellent student, but a local college would have been my only option as opposed to the top 25 school I attended on track scholarship.

A 4:08 miler in high school, I held up my end of the bargain, although I have regrets about not doing better in track.

But I really focused on my grades and went thereafter to one of the nation's better grad schools, and did very well there - statistically as well as I did in track.

I owe a lot to track, and while I wish I could have run for enjoyment, it wasn't in the cards for me. I am not sure you would have done any different.

Well who are you to decide what sports are to be used for? It's a job just like any other job. If you hate your job, does that mean you shouldn't do it just because other people find it "fun"?

troll alert wrote:

That's all fine and good, but that is NOT the way sports should be used. I'm not saying it was improper for him to do so, in fact I commend him, but sports were made to be enjoyed, not used as a means to a goal.

That's easy to say when you've led a privileged life.

Although enough people already pointed it out you are wrong. For those of us that grew up with no extra money and the only way to get into a college was a scholarship, sport was the only way in.Although I enjoyed my time running in college a big reason I did it was because my parents couldn't afford to help at all with college and I had to take out a number of loans so the scholarship money I got was a huge help.I didn't have it as bad as many so I am sure others relied on it even more.

troll alert wrote:

That's all fine and good, but that is NOT the way sports should be used. I'm not saying it was improper for him to do so, in fact I commend him, but sports were made to be enjoyed, not used as a means to a goal.

The Real Truth is he got Hurt One Day At Nc doing a run and didnt take off a day and hurt his hamstring so he tried to get back to the way he was but could never come back and this was his junior year in College

"What ever"

Um, not compared with the total number of finalists in the past 30 years. Remind us again of Fairchild's post-collegiate competitive resume?

Tiresome wrote:

I guess Foot Locker champs Bob Kennedy and Jorge Torres and Melody Fairchild and Reuben Reina and Matt Giusto are also "exceptions"

There are quite a lot of "exceptions," aren't there?

This is my jam wrote:

He followed the trend of most Footlocker finalists and did not do much after college (read: most. Ritz, Sara Bei are exceptions).

What the hell has Sara Bei ever done? In college or out?

Yes, those are some amazing international performances...

------------------------------ wrote:

Yes, those are some amazing international performances...

Since FL is the American High School champs, which normally if you win probably puts you somewhere in the top 50 to maybe 20th best in the world in your age group, why would a win there equal a high expectation for significant success in Interntational competition.

Seems to me statistically FL winners do just about a well as you would expect them to.

I like how people keep changing the criteria to fit their preferences on this thread.

1) It's FL finalists, not just the champs.

2) It's their record after college (though most of them are flops on the collegiate level, too).

FL is a great system for identifying talent. NCAA is a horrible system for developing it to achieve international success. There's a disconnect in there.