Old school rules wrote:
While not the fastest, this is the best cross country race I have ever heard of a high schooler running. If Fernandez hadn't gotten injured (I understand that he did) he wins FL Nationals in under 14:40 that year on a muddy course.
cali boy wrote:
Fernandez's 14:24 for a true 5k at the 2007 CIF state meet is up there. Fastest time of that day by 50 seconds, won his race by over a minute, and set a record that nobody's going to be touching in a very long time. The course isn't fast either.
Solinsky's 14:41 on the San Diego FL course should also be in consideration. It's probably comparable to Ritz's 14:29 on the Orlando course--maybe even slightly better. Absolutely astounding run.
My team competes in the same league as Fernandez did. He was not injured going into FLN. His coach told me he had a cold.
None of us have had the opportunity to see almost any of the races we're talking about, but since I got to see German run on a regular basis, my vote puts him up at the top.
Going into the 2007 state meet. German had announced his plans to go for Marc Davis's course record of 14:38. I and a couple of my athletes drove down to see the meet and see if German could get the record. In a newspaper article that had come out prior to the meet, Davis said something to the effect of. I think he can get it, as long as he doesn't go out too hard. Davis had gone out in 4:36. German and his coach, Bruce Edwards, were both saying publicly that if he did get the record, it would likely be by only a few seconds. German proceeded to go out in 4:28 and beat the record by 14 ticks. The picture below was taken just past the 1 mile point, which is the green post with the timing clock in the background
https://www.modbee.com/sports/article3098087.htmlOne of the more impressive things about that race was the fact that it was the last one of the day. Usually the fastest times are set early in the day when it is cool and moisture from fog kind of tamps down the decomposed granite trails, making them faster. That day, by the time German ran, it was warm and sunny, probably pushing over 80 degrees. When Davis ran his time, it was a cool and foggy morning. I was at both meets. When Davis ran his time, it was Kinney Western Regionals (pre-foot locker) and I had run in the 11th grade race earlier in the day.
14:24 is not the fastest time ever run, but that course has seen some pretty big dogs race on it
Davis 14:38 -1987
Hall 14:50 - 2000
Meb 15:03 - 1993
Here is the all time course list
http://www.prepcaltrack.com/2018/01/08/woodward-park-all-time-lists/Perhaps even more impressive than German's time at Woodward that year was the race he ran at our league finals, 14:44 on our course at Legion Park, in Modesto. We've repeatedly measured that route and each time come up with something between 3.17 and 3.19 miles. About 800m into that race, he actually stopped, re tied his shoe, and got going again before anyone else in the field caught him. I was riding the lead bike for that race so I got a view of the whole thing.