Willis Vs. Ritz !!!

There's no way Willis could run that fast in the 5k or the 10k...and i don't think Ritz could run that fast in 800 or maybe the 1500(he would need the perfect race)!

Obviously, Ritz has beaten him already. At the NCAA's Ritz beat Willis and everyone else. Head to head at the middle distance for both of them (the 3K), it would come down to who is the freshest. The 3k would be a good race to watch though. Anything farther, Ritz wins. Anything shorter, Willis wins.

swoosh2 wrote:

Obviously, Ritz has beaten him already. At the NCAA's Ritz beat Willis and everyone else. Head to head at the middle distance for both of them (the 3K), it would come down to who is the freshest. The 3k would be a good race to watch though. Anything farther, Ritz wins. Anything shorter, Willis wins.

Agree 100% with that.

Regarding the one comment that Ritz couldn't run 3:39, I say he definitely can. I mean, he ran 3:42 two years ago and has hardly even raced that distance. I'm thinking he could do 3:36 even, and even there faster would not surprise me with this guy.

ritz ran a ~1:51 and ~4:02 ... in high school. don't hate on his speed. he looked pretty good out kicking Hall.

Ritz would be closer to willis over the shorter stuff than willis be to ritz over the longer stuff. Ritz is the most amazing runner i have ever seen, if he went after it he could take willis down in the 1500m, 3000m and above.

Ritz ran 1:54 and 4:06 in high school!

You guys are sad. Willis has the fastest indoor 3k time of any NCAA athlete. Ever. Period. So we know that Willis is the best at 3000m and below, and presumably Ritz is the best at 5k and above.

lova wrote:

Ritz would be closer to willis over the shorter stuff than willis be to ritz over the longer stuff. Ritz is the most amazing runner i have ever seen, if he went after it he could take willis down in the 1500m, 3000m and above.

this is one of the more ridiculous posts ever.

closer in the shorter stuff? of course! i'd be closer to michael johnson in a 100 than i would be in a 200 or a 400. but i'd kill mj in a marathon.

what does that prove? nothing!

and if ritz is the most amazing runner you've ever seen then you might want to attend a real track meet sometime. footlocker and national scholastic don't count.

No, we don't 'know that.' Willis has been working on his speed training a hell of a lot more then dathan. If dathan converted some of his training typical to willis' training, dathon would have a new indoor NCAA record. You can't honestly say that Willis could take dathan down in a 3k. if it was a 400m race we could all hold hands and have a good cry, but please, willis can't touch ritz in a 3k.

2 cents.

brad_ofsaa@hotmail.com wrote:

No, we don't 'know that.' Willis has been working on his speed training a hell of a lot more then dathan. If dathan converted some of his training typical to willis' training, dathon would have a new indoor NCAA record. You can't honestly say that Willis could take dathan down in a 3k. if it was a 400m race we could all hold hands and have a good cry, but please, willis can't touch ritz in a 3k.

2 cents.

good god! its gets even worse!

willis ran the new NCAA record! do you realize what that means? no ncaa athlete has EVER run faster. so to say that willis couldn't touch ritz is more than ridiculous, its ri-cock-ulous.

willis finished right behind kevin sullivan who set a canadian record. the same kevin sullivan who finshed 5th at the olympics in 2000 and 5th in the world championship in '95, and has a mile pr of 3:50!

you chalk it up to converting speed training? what the hell are you smoking? can't you just say that willis is better over 3000? or at least has run faster?

sensible wrote:

ritz ran a ~1:51 and ~4:02 ... in high school. don't hate on his speed. he looked pretty good out kicking Hall.

Um...no he didn't. Not sure on the 800 time (although for sure slower than 1:51), but his 1600 time (not even a mile of course) was 4:08 or 4:09 - his state meet record time in the 1600 is 4:09.00. He never got close to 4:02.

Not Hating wrote:

Ritz ran 1:54 and 4:06 in high school!

I think you're right on the 1600 time, but didn't he only get to 4:08 or 4:09 in an OPEN 1600? I think he did run 4:06 or so in a relay.

Anyway, doesn't really matter I guess - except that of course he never ran 4:02 like that one dude said.

doped up,

As much as I think Ritz is going to be perhaps the greatest American distance runner ever, even I don't think that he could take Willis in a 3k - not now anyway. That Willis guy is wicked fast at those shorter distances. I agree with you there.

This is from the 2000 h.s. list

http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/lists/lists2000/prepfinalm.html

Mile

4:07.4+ ........... *Dathan Ritzenhein (Rockford, Mi)

(4:05.9 for 1600)

I thought I remembered 4:05 for some reason, I may have watched him run it, but can't remember where (he was a junior then). He did not run that fast when he was a senior, 4:10ish for a mile (1600m converted).

Mtn Dew wrote:

You guys are sad. Willis has the fastest indoor 3k time of any NCAA athlete. Ever. Period. So we know that Willis is the best at 3000m and below, and presumably Ritz is the best at 5k and above.

You know what this means, right? 4km showdown.

From what I can tell Ritz's body ha changed over the last 2 years. That is a good thing in regards to his speed. His growth spurt and extra muscle will aid his speed greatly. I wouldn't be surprised if he runs 3:39 and 1:49 this year and eventually, like Goucher, get's down to the 3:53ish range...

I've watched him run 4:05 for 1600 indoors (he was a HS junior then). His current 1500 PR is 3:42.99 I believe. 1:54 sounds right for the 800.

To say Ritz can beat Willis in a 3K is also stating he can beat Kevin Sullivan....as Willis is 1-1 against him at that distance, including the record.

I would bet on Willis for a 60:40 type chance to win.

As a note, we may see this match up, as Warhurst, in the Michigan Daily, stated a good chance that Willis would be competing in the 3K at indoor NCAA's.

Ritz ran 4:05 at his conf meet his senior season and also had a 1:53 carry as prep.