Mr Hand wrote:
Rupp seems unstoppable, but there has to be a limit to his abilities, and the 1500 is the one event of the three that he wouldn't have been favored in running fresh. With 21.5k of racing behind him, I doubt he would have run too great in the 1500 final.
Plus you would have to imagine that Fernandez would have made their task impossible (not to mention Heath and others). It's not like all those 1500 guys are big piles of chopped liver, ready to cooperate good-naturedly with the fulfillment of some Oregon fantasy.
Rupp is probably a sub-13, sub-27 runner right now, and winning the 10k and 5k seemed like workouts for him. Also take into acount that Rupp is probably Oregon's (which is why he was on anchor for 4Xmile record) and the NCAA's top miler. He may have lost to Centro because at conference and regionals, but Centro was fresh and Rupp wasn't, and beating Rupp before nationals is very different thing than at NCAAs. German pulled off the victory over Heath, but Centro and Rupp both spanked him at conference and regionals.
West Regionals:
Centro 3:38.30
Rupp 3:39.14
Heath 3:41.22
I have to give props to German for pulling off the race that Webb failed to do when he tried to win it as a frosh.