Regardless of what has happened the last few years, if you know much about Ritz over the last 10 years it is plain as day. He won outdoor Nationals in the 2 mile as a sophomore (9:01y) in a year when Cabada was the only faster boy in his grade (8:55m).
As a junior he won FL over Don Sage and Tegenkamp and Dobson. That spring he ran 8:41.1m and 1:54/4:05.9 some of the fastest set of PRs a junior has ever had. He backed that up with several more sub-9 races. He also had a 14:10 track 5k that was planned to be faster.
Then as a senior he won FL again over Webb and Hall and continued into winter with an 8:48 time trial (in a 4x800 relay no less) before taking 2nd to Teg (who was in college) at the WCC Trials and then 3rd overall at WJCCC. He ran a few good 3200s but his main focus was the AHSR in the 5k and he ran 13:52 at Penn and then 13:44.X (missing the record) at USATF. He won NON 2 mile again for the third straight.
then he went 13:27 at MtSAC as a college frosh and 4th in the NCAA XC race. That year he mainly lost to Alistair Cragg, Torres and Kimani. 13:27 is still the fastest 5k ever run by an American-born collegian during the school year. He also was on the Senior Long Course team for WCCC this year, placing 24th in the senior race. Had he been born two days later, he could have run the Junior race. Many people forget this race.
Junior year, After coming back from his first serious injury he won NCAA XC off limited training, then in spring he ran the 27:38 AmCR (since beaten - and right behind BK in his debut).
If you aren't noticing something about his record (3 national 2mile titles, 2 FL titles, beaten by almost nobody in HS, and only by the best in college; nearly the fastest in the 3200 each year; 13:44 in HS and 13:27 right away in college) then nobody can help you see it.
He has been showing the same kind of talent that Lindgren, Pre, Virgin, Salazar, McChesney and Kennedy all showed from age 15-25 ... but out of all those great runners nearly every one of them had been chort-circuited somehow, either by death, or their health, or something else.
Out of those listed Virgin came closest to being able to reach his talent potential, but his kidney problems made it difficult.
So my point is that many over the years (like those pot-smokers at TaFNews) have argued that Ritz was not the BEST talent. "Dave Merrick was better" they would say, or "Virgin was the best! He started every XC race with a 4:19 mile!" ... or "Lindgren ran WRs or near them in HS!"
It doesn't matter. You can't compare eras that directly. Tracks, the lack of a 2mile, shoes, weather in the midwest vs. the sunbelt. All those things made it difficult to compare.
What was certain in my mind was that Ritz was right among the greatest talents the US had ever seen for the HS 2mile and what Olympic event would that ability translate to best as an adult?
Ritz has always been maligned by detractors as "too slow" to break 13:00. Well, he ran a 4:05.9 1600 when he was just 17... now 10 years later he ran the first 1600 in about 4:07 and the last one in 4:06.0.
So all of those who doubted him can suck it.