Is Ritz the most versatile US distance runner ever?

He has a championship medal.. he got third at World XC junior championship.

And a world half marathon championship medal. Surely that's a championship medal?

Versatile, I don't know. I still think Webb might be the most versatile with his 800-10k range. Is Ritz the best American runner ever? Or on his way to becoming it? I think so. Obviously others have been more decorated with international championship medals and such but world competition was not what it is today. Based on pr's Ritz is one of the best ever Americans. Kennedy, Lagat, Meb, Webb, Tegenkamp are some others that would be considered the best ever distance runners based on PR's.

lkjkljl wrote:

Versatile, I don't know. I still think Webb might be the most versatile with his 800-10k range. Is Ritz the best American runner ever? Or on his way to becoming it? I think so. Obviously others have been more decorated with international championship medals and such but world competition was not what it is today. Based on pr's Ritz is one of the best ever Americans. Kennedy, Lagat, Meb, Webb, Tegenkamp are some others that would be considered the best ever distance runners based on PR's.

If you're talking about only track performances, then I would agree that Ritz is pretty far down on the list. I'm talking about best (ie "most versatile") all around distance runner- track, cross, and roads. Webb and Lagat are only tracksters. Kennedy was solid in his few road races but was a beast in cross and track. Culpepper was also very good on all three surfaces (but I think lacks Ritz's credentials).

Meb maybe? NYC win, Olympic medal, multiple Olympian, 10k AR, stud at 15k on the roads. Has he ever won an xc title?

Francis L wrote:

Meb maybe? NYC win, Olympic medal, multiple Olympian, 10k AR, stud at 15k on the roads. Has he ever won an xc title?

Um, do you remember last year?

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Not webbs eveeeeeeeeeeent

Riiiitz suuuuuuuuuucks

Adam R. wrote:

Francis L wrote:

Meb maybe? NYC win, Olympic medal, multiple Olympian, 10k AR, stud at 15k on the roads. Has he ever won an xc title?

Um, do you remember last year?

Oh, my bad. Didn't really follow the xc results from last year. I guess that answers the question then- Meb's got the title for now.

If you include roads, then yes I would agree with you.

Ritz is a beast in XC and road racing. Remember that road 10K where he destroyed Mottram? He's way faster now.

I think Ritz would win any American road race from 5K to half marathon these days.

While Ritz is crushing competitors and events lately I have to agree that others rate a little higher for your question of versatility. While runners like Teg, Lagat, and Webb do not concentrate on cross they would certainly be equal, if not better than, Ritz at many of these events. I am in no way knocking what Ritz is doing, I just thing there is more talent in some other runners, namely Lagat and Webb.

Also, a question for Flagpole. How long do you think it will be until Ritz burns his tank and no longer has that huge base to build off of? He is throwing great races and times together but he can't balance the speed in forever and at some point he will be on a downward trend regarding mileage base and then what? Case in point look at Webb. He spent 2005-2006 building this great foundation for 2007 and ran phenomenal races and times only to succumb to thinking more=better and likely burning his base mileage for more intervals at higher intensity. we saw where that has landed him. I think Ritz will ultimately be in the same boat unless he is verrryyy careful

betterbutter wrote:

Also, a question for Flagpole. How long do you think it will be until Ritz burns his tank and no longer has that huge base to build off of? He is throwing great races and times together but he can't balance the speed in forever and at some point he will be on a downward trend regarding mileage base and then what? Case in point look at Webb. He spent 2005-2006 building this great foundation for 2007 and ran phenomenal races and times only to succumb to thinking more=better and likely burning his base mileage for more intervals at higher intensity. we saw where that has landed him. I think Ritz will ultimately be in the same boat unless he is verrryyy careful

I'm not Flagpole, but what makes you think he is neglecting his base? Because he just won a cross country race? That makes no sense.

You can bet the farm that the speed training he did to get ready for his track season last summer was different than what he did to get ready for the half marathon WCs and what he's doing for cross country. I'm sure he's been maintaining a healthy does of mileage/longer tempo stuff throughout the winter.

So to tweak the OP's question, what will it take for Ritz to surpass Meb as the best all-around American distance runner?

No, there's Lagat, Meb, Barrios. Oh, by US distance runner you meant white boy?

Nope, Jenny Barringer is better.

You said ever. Meb in his prime could beat Ritz at all distances from 5K to marathon except maybe the 5k. So no, Ritz is not and will never be the most versatile ever.

Dance wrote:

You said ever. Meb in his prime could beat Ritz at all distances from 5K to marathon except maybe the 5k. So no, Ritz is not and will never be the most versatile ever.

When Ritz retires, I guarantee he will have a considerably faster 10K pr than Meb. That is a safe bet.

Dance wrote:

You said ever. Meb in his prime could beat Ritz at all distances from 5K to marathon except maybe the 5k. So no, Ritz is not and will never be the most versatile ever.

I'll pretty much guarantee Ritz retires with faster 10k and marathon PRs than Meb. But you're absolutely right- to date, Meb is the best.

Jackson Frank wrote:

When Ritz retires, I guarantee he will have a considerably faster 10K pr than Meb. That is a safe bet.

ANSWER THE QUESTION!

So the answer is no, Ritz is not the most versatile distance runner. Which is a good thing. How would it look if the most versatile US distance runner never won a major champ medal? World 1/2 does not count. There is a world mountain running championship. So should we count that?

Oh, and by the way, Meb has a US record, an Olypic silver, a Major marathon victory. Ritz has basically run a fast 5K, and all of a sudden we are calling him the most vesatile ever? I know letsrun gets excited over their white boys, but this discussion is rediculous.

I heard about this guy ... what was his name Frank ... Shorter, I heard that he did a few things.

http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sh/frank-shorter-1.html

Frank Shorter is the only U.S. athlete to have won two Olympic medals in the marathon. He started as a long distance track runner, winning the NCAA six miles for Yale in 1969. Shorter went on to win five AAU titles at six miles/10,000m; he also won the AAU outdoor three miles in 1970 and the indoor title in 1971. He won the 1971 Pan-American Games 10,000m event and, at the 1972 Olympics, he set a U.S. record in the 10,000m heats, which he further improved by taking fifth place in the final. Despite these track successes, Frank Shorter will be best remembered as a marathon runner. He made his marathon début when he placed second to Kenny Moore in the 1971 AAU Championships. In his second race he won the Pan-Am Games title, and he rounded off his first season as a road runner with the first of his record number of four victories in the Fukuoka Marathon. In winning this Japanese classic for the second time in 1972, Shorter set his career best of 2-10:30

Litz wrote:

So the answer is no, Ritz is not the most versatile distance runner. Which is a good thing. How would it look if the most versatile US distance runner never won a major champ medal? World 1/2 does not count. There is a world mountain running championship. So should we count that?

Oh, and by the way, Meb has a US record, an Olypic silver, a Major marathon victory. Ritz has basically run a fast 5K, and all of a sudden we are calling him the most vesatile ever? I know letsrun gets excited over their white boys, but this discussion is rediculous.

I think it's been established that meb is the most versatile as of right now. But come on- objectively comparing results, it isn't a complete stretch to start thinking that Ritz will have a shot to surpass meb's overall accomplishments. Does that mean Ritz will medal? Not at all. But I don't think he has to. Again, people are talking about most versatile, not best at whatever distance discipline.

Check the short list of Ritz's accomplishments in the first post. Ritz has run faster than meb over 2 miles, 5k, and half marathon. Ritz medalled at the half world championships. Ritz has run very well in some European xc races. Meb and ritz have both won 3 senior xc titles. Meb and ritz are both 2 time Olympians. Meb and Ritz each own a vaunted track AR. Ritz finished 9th at the Olympics and 6th at the track WCs.

But you're right- ff you're talking about who is a better road racer/marathoner, then yes obviously Meb dominates Ritz at this point.