German Fernandez 5k Big 12 Championships

This kid is DONE. He ran a better 5k than this when he was 13, he actually finished it.

I have no idea why I keep my hopes up for this kid. He had an amazing freshman year and I'm glad I got to see him race a few times before....this.

No doubt he'll go pro, but i doubt he'll amount to much of anything.

this is the exact problem with Track and Field. Why must we guess, why can't the results and by lines of the meet include notes on the highprofile athetes. It's like waking up and asking did the Cubs win and no one knows. I'm not saying we need to send Oprah to cover track meets but someone should report on this.

deraylicious wrote:

4 pages and still not one person has said WHY he dropped out? WHY THE HELL DID HE DROP? Anyone at the race? Not being in scoring contention is not a good reason, but was that it? Was he injured? more shoe BS?

Not to be a lurk, but his latest facebook status after the meet was "Coming back from injuries is always difficult... But I have to put that behind me" or something to that effect. It's pretty clear that he probably hurt himself after XC or recently or was just injured this season and thus dropped out of the race due to injury.

toast wrote:

this is the exact problem with Track and Field. Why must we guess, why can't the results and by lines of the meet include notes on the highprofile athetes. It's like waking up and asking did the Cubs win and no one knows. I'm not saying we need to send Oprah to cover track meets but someone should report on this.

I actually don't think it's anything like that. Did the cubs win? No. Was it close? No, they got killed 9-0. Did German win? No. Was it close? No, he didn't even finish.

toast wrote:

this is the exact problem with Track and Field. Why must we guess, why can't the results and by lines of the meet include notes on the highprofile athetes. It's like waking up and asking did the Cubs win and no one knows. I'm not saying we need to send Oprah to cover track meets but someone should report on this.

Probably because Dave Smith is covering up whatever it is.

It should not be covered up, but that's what he's doing.

Just a guess but I reckon he was not suffering injury in the race but dropped out because he was not happy with his fitness/ race position. Otherwise you would have heard pulled out achilles tightening up or whatever

That can be a bad habit if that is the case as whenever it gets tough in a race there is a way out

Still I'm probably way off and you don't become a bad runner overnight - especially when you are still a kid

Yeah, I think that scenario is more likely. He probably got hurt sometime between XC and now which is why his racing/fitness has been a little subpar for him. If that's the case the explanation is clear as to why he is having difficulties this season and once he gets fit again he'll be tearing it up in no time. That is still a possibility by NCAA's or USA's this season.

He should've accepted the $250K from Nike/Brooks.

ukathleticscoach wrote:

I'll go with Farrell:

13:26 for a 20 yr old

Well he did the 1500 instead:

Big 12 Outdoor Championships External Results

Norman OK, USA

1st 3:43.95 Thomas Farrell DOB 23.03.91

speedstar wrote:

Yeah, I think that scenario is more likely. He probably got hurt sometime between XC and now which is why his racing/fitness has been a little subpar for him. If that's the case the explanation is clear as to why he is having difficulties this season and once he gets fit again he'll be tearing it up in no time. That is still a possibility by NCAA's or USA's this season.

GF has not been GF since the summer of 2009. Two years since we're really seen him.

Hope we see him again.

I agree that the coach should be looking for answers.

The non responsiveness kind of indicates that he doesn't care, or that the problem doesn't exist.

By keeping the issues in house, covered up, the same things keep perpetuating over and over.

Since 2009, he has been getting slower on the track. I am not writing him off, but the further he gets away from his fitness in 2009, the longer it will take to come back.

I hate to see anyone leave college early, but I think he needs a change. Nike can probably give him the support he needs and find out what is going on physically and at a minimum, get him to the point of where he can train more.

I'm gonna say its a severe case of Vag-in-itus!!!

Yuppers wrote:

I'm gonna say its a severe case of Vag-in-itus!!!

So, stupidity is your strong suit? OK, got it.

Of course his coach cares. Who wants to take the blame for ruining one of our most promising talents? Unfortunately, no matter who's coaching him, German seems to be one of those injury prone runners like Ritz. This in no way means he's "done for." FFS. It must be hugely frustrating for Ritz to be injured almost every year, but he just keeps at it, and occasionally gets some great performances, like his World Championships 10k and 5K American record.

Like Ritz, Fernandez has too much talent to give up. He'll keep at it, and we'll see more brilliant performances from him in the future.