Anyone on the German Fan Train a little less of a fan with him ducking NCAA's?

Not at all. It's so nice that a good runner actually wants to run with the best juniors in the world instead of getting an NCAA title I'm sure he'll replicate several times before he graduates.

world>>>ncaa....end of story...more of a fan now

This is what I have been hoping for! Morons talking sh#t about German. He gets very pissed and takes it out on the track. So keep your bullshbit flying, then maybe even Salazar won't be able to save Rupp.

I don't care whether he gets motivated or not over criticism. It's ridiculous to be on a team and then skip the ncaa championships. Ridiculous.

I'm just as big of a fan. His coach gave him a choice, NCAA or Worlds, and he chose worlds. Less visible in the US, but a bigger event overall.

Every race he has done lately has been very high quality, putting him in too many high end races in too short a period is a bad plan. He made a good choice in my mind.

German wanted to do both, thank god he has a coach who understands that to best develop his talent for the long run he should do one and getting in the buzzsaw that will be World XC will be a much better learning experience for him. It's the f***ing indoor championships, who gives a f***. Rupp skipped them last year.

i think it is great that he is willing to race the best at world cross country.

i have been disappointed in some american runners who should have have run world xc, but made excuses like i had to run a 5 mile road run in new york or a 15k in florida instead.

and i am disappointed that we (the usa) rarely have 3/5/10k runners in the golden league meets, i know they probably wont win, but at least show up and do the best they can.

by him running world xc it shows he wants to test himself against the best, i dont know him at all, but my guess is after college he will be running in meets like oslo, zurich, brussels etc, and doing well in those meets, unlike most american runners who focus on the usatf road circuit.

He's not "ducking" anybody. Holy Christ, some of you people......

I just want to know why he doubled at the Big XII meet. I mean, it's not like OSU was in contention for any title. Why didn't he run the mile at conference, then the 3000 at the NCAA meet, then world xc after that? Same number of races in six weeks.

If the NCAA is as big a joke as everyone seems to think it is, why is he even racing college meets at all?

he obviously doubled for a fitness test.

hard mile then a bit later a hard 3k. its like rupps sub 4, then 3*miles.

with all the idiots saying he is "ducking" you are just making the pressure to perform on the world cross stage that much more intense.

i do hope he crushes some 23+ african juniors, shuts you guys up, comes out and smashes a sub 13:20 5k debut.

one thing i am worried about is that smith holds him back at worlds. with his sub 4 and 3k double, i say he takes off in the lead pack and goes for it. if he stays back and "moves" up he will get no better than 6! let him take his talent to the worlds best and see what happens.

say it bombs, and he fades to 10th....or he is KB style, and 800m or so starts putting down the hammer with his mile confidence and wins.

imagine if he wins, his confidence will be leaps and bounds above anyone in the NCAA, you think he will fear anyone if he wins? also if he wins im calling he goes pro after outdoor nationals.

Yanqui wrote:

He's not "ducking" anybody.

Sure he is. He's ducking the best AMERICAN collegians in favor of competing against the best Juniors in the WORLD. *rolls eyes*

This is classic letsrun peanut gallery stuff. This kid decides to tee it up against the best runners in the world and somehow someone finds that worthy of criticism.

Fascinating.

Sometimes when I read these things, I feel like I'm a zoologist or anthropologist deep in some remote jungle studying a newly discovered, never-before-seen species.

If the two meets were the same weekend, then yes, by all means, he should do world xc without a second thought.

But they're not. There's a gap. There's more than enough time to recover from a 3000. In fact, if he hadn't done his "fitness check" at Big XII then he'd be even more fresh today.

Everyone's praising his coach for looking at the "big picture" and saving him for the big meets. Then why did he run Big XII? Why run the UW meet? Let me guess...fitness checks? Why not a 3000 fitness check two weeks out from world xc?

Yanqui wrote:

He's not "ducking" anybody. Holy Christ, some of you people......

What do you mean, you people?

I suspect he actually overraced a bit earlier in the Indoor season, got physically tired, and now the OSU coach has to hold him out of the NCAA's to get him ready for World Cross.

A Mistake? Yup, but he is only a Freshman so both himself and the coach are finding out how much he can do. And they raced him too much as it turns out.

Would this have happened with Lannana?

No, he has more experience with phenom young runners and would have peaked him differently.

If Rupp was doing this the howls would echo across the boards...

Of course he's ducking. If he's running for OSU, then he should compete in this meet, barring any physical problems. We have become so cynical, etc. that this is even up for debate. If he wants to skip the college championships, then he should not be on a college team.

peter lorre wrote:

If Rupp was doing this the howls would echo across the boards...

Thank you! The blatant hypocrisy is entertaining, to say the least.

jkjoregon wrote:

Would this have happened with Lannana?

No, he has more experience with phenom young runners and would have peaked him differently.

I'm sorry, but putting German in the category of any other Americans is underestimating German's talent. Lananna has had phenoms, yes, but never a high school record holder who's trained less than 5000 miles in his life.

Added perspective wrote:

peter lorre wrote:

If Rupp was doing this the howls would echo across the boards...

Thank you! The blatant hypocrisy is entertaining, to say the least.

um... Rupp skipped all of indoors last year in preparation for his summer season without so much as one complaint from the boards.

The fact of the matter is that both Salazar/Rupp and Smith/Fernandez know how to better prepare themselves for their goals better than anyone on this thread or message board.

This shouldn't even be an issue.