Impressive run by Fernandez, but brilliant run by Derrick

How is Derrick losing to an injured Fernandez more impressive than Fernandezs finish?

I, too, was impressed with Derrick. I think Derrick will be around for a while. Fernandez will more than likely sign a contract in a year or two, have a few great races, then sputter out like that Webb character.

8:00 Miler wrote:

11th place is a tremendous result for German, especially when you consider his young age, but even more impressive was Derrick's result at just seconds behind German in 15th !

How old do you think the winner was? Here he is:

He looks about 24, which seems to be the (true) actual average age of most of the junior winners for about the last 15 years at least.

I'll be 33 next month and he looks older than me. Crazy! I'm not saying he is old, but shit, he doesn't look a damn thing like the same age as German, Derrick, Puskedra.

How old do you think the winner was? Here he is:

http://iaaf.org/mm/photo/competitions/competition/04/99/70/49970%5ffull-prt.jpg

Retired Steepler wrote:

I'll be 33 next month and he looks older than me. Crazy! I'm not saying he is old, but shit, he doesn't look a damn thing like the same age as German, Derrick, Puskedra.

How old do you think the winner was? Here he is:

http://iaaf.org/mm/photo/competitions/competition/04/99/70/49970%5ffull-prt.jpg

Possibly because he is a different race than you?!

Guess his age and Win wrote:

8:00 Miler wrote:

11th place is a tremendous result for German, especially when you consider his young age, but even more impressive was Derrick's result at just seconds behind German in 15th !

How old do you think the winner was? Here he is:

http://iaaf.org/mm/photo/competitions/competition/04/99/70/49970%5ffull-prt.jpg

He looks about 24, which seems to be the (true) actual average age of most of the junior winners for about the last 15 years at least.

Stop rationalizing the US consistently getting their ass whooped by all the African nations.

hmmmmmm wrote:

Guess his age and Win wrote:

How old do you think the winner was? Here he is:

http://iaaf.org/mm/photo/competitions/competition/04/99/70/49970%5ffull-prt.jpg

He looks about 24, which seems to be the (true) actual average age of most of the junior winners for about the last 15 years at least.

Stop rationalizing the US consistently getting their ass whooped by all the African nations.

He probably is overage. Renato Canova admits that a lot of African "juniors" are.

That doesn't change the fact that there is no one in the US of any age who would have won that race.

You think that is bad...how old do you think this "junior" is?

http://tinyurl.com/c7wbd3

If I had to guess I would say 18 almost 19 since he has a legit birth certificate

8:00 Miler wrote:

11th place is a tremendous result for German, especially when you consider his young age, but even more impressive was Derrick's result at just seconds behind German in 15th !

I agree that Derrick's race was pretty awesome, and maybe more impressive than German's relative to the expectations for him. But the statement you made is worded so illogically, I'm just gonna assume you're a troll, in which case 4 for effort.

As to why faked birthdates might matter some, we should consider the findings concerning the birthdates of Canadian Junior and NHL hockey players in Malcolm Gladwell's book The Outliers. Statistics show that you are significantly more likely to make it as a hockey player if you are born earlier in the year. The reasoning is that because youth leagues are grouped by ages, the older kids are bigger, faster, and stronger, and thus get better opportunities to play - and thus continue improving their skills. You can see some charts and a bit of analysis on this page (yes, I know it is a blog - not particularly scientifically reliable):

http://www.behindthenet.ca/blog/2008/12/malcolm-gladwells-outliers-and-making.html

I'm not saying the situation between hockey and running are at all the same, but there are probably some benefits to being older and running against younger competition.

I skipped a grade when I was young, and thus when I was in high school I was aged 13-17 - and I only turned 17 a few weeks before I graduated. As a senior, I ran 16:20 5k, 10:10 3200, and 4:32 1600. Not great, but ok for a senior - but I was actually a junior age-wise. I ended up running at a really fantastic D3 school, and based on workouts that year I think I was probably in 15:30ish shape before I got a stress fracture and spent most of that year on the sidelines. I had a hard time keeping up with the training, my schoolwork, and getting enough sleep to stay healthy.

But if I had popped a 15:30 as a senior, I probably would have been able to get a scholarship and gone to a school where I would have focused more of my energies on running than on school, and who knows what would have happened to my running then?

Not the best example, I realize, especially because I don't think my talent would have gone much further - but with other athletes conditions might make a difference.

Just think about what everyone would be saying if German decided to go to some small liberal arts college with a yokel of a coach, and where he would spend most of his time and focus trying to keep up with classes.

Could it be beneficial for a 21-23 y/o to have the opportunity to go to the national XC training camps and then go run against international competition - even if it is junior competition - when they almost certainly wouldn't have had that opportunity if they were trying to qualify for the senior squad?

Possibly. I don't know.

And obviously, if our country had more kids interested in running than in playing football/basketball/baseball/soccer/anything else, and if some of the money that our country puts into those sports went into doing things like having national squads that train together, ect, then perhaps we would have a better shot at competing with the African teams.

Retired Steepler wrote:

I'll be 33 next month and he looks older than me. Crazy! I'm not saying he is old, but shit, he doesn't look a damn thing like the same age as German, Derrick, Puskedra.

How old do you think the winner was? Here he is:

http://iaaf.org/mm/photo/competitions/competition/04/99/70/49970%5ffull-prt.jpg

I've got nearly 15 years on Greg Oden and he looks way older than I do.

How many people thought Greg Oden was 16 years old when he was in h.s.?

the outliers wrote:

And obviously, if our country had more kids interested in running than in playing football/basketball/baseball/soccer/anything else, and if some of the money that our country puts into those sports went into doing things like having national squads that train together, ect, then perhaps we would have a better shot at competing with the African teams.

Yeah if only these guys had gone out for cross country.

Retired Steepler wrote:

I'll be 33 next month and he looks older than me. Crazy! I'm not saying he is old, but shit, he doesn't look a damn thing like the same age as German, Derrick, Puskedra.

possibly because he's from a third world country? tougher life, poorer nutrition, leads to much rapider aging.

Saying someone looks old means nothing:

http://touts.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/greg-oden-17.jpg

Do we not remember Webb started balding in grade school?

http://filthology.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/webb.jpg

Am I the only one that thinks that, in high school, Derrick was German's equal(or close to it) up until he got mono? I'd say that he is much closer to German's ability than most people on here give him credit for. He's just behind a couple months from that mono.

I am proud of the whole team, especially the three freshmen.

All three are warriors....but Derrick is showing a lot of class considering he is always with in seconds of German in races, times, and competition, but never complains of all the press going to German and is stand up guy. He is always really to run, compete, and show he belongs has one of the best Freshmen of all time. Just so happens German maybe the very best of all time. It is a exciting time for college running and I cant wait for the next 3 and half years. German mybe better but not by much......and Luke is right there to.

Ware those uniforms with pride!...I would....they don't come easy.

Derrick is a great runner, and a good guy it seems, but he isn't as good as Fernandez. Remember, he is a pure 5k/10k guy while German is a 15/5k guy. And German is better than Derrick over 8k. While Derrick may run under 13:30 this year, I wouldn't be surprised, he'll probably never run 3:55i in his life, while German could best everything Derrick does in every distance. However, if Derrick can train at a more consistent level than German, I can see Derrick having the better career. He seems to be a Galen Rupp type talent.