I was one of the ones who gave "the Americans" crap for not being in the 10k... and I stand by it. However, in my post, I was not referring to Solinsky or Teg... I was talking about Rupp and Curtis. Those 2 should be running the 10k at Pre, not this loaded 2 mile and nothing/Healthy Kidney.
Teg and Sol are 3:33-34 1500 guys when in top 5k shape... they are not focusing on the 10k this year (and perhaps not even next year) and so running a loaded 2M in prep for a season of 5ks makes sense.
Rupp is a 10k guy and needs opportunities to race some high level, international 10ks... of which there are fewer and fewer. If Rupp wants the AR in the 10k, here is his chance. In the 2M, he is going to get smoked in the last 1000. Curtis is clearly fit and this would be a great test for him to see if he can take some risks and get down into the 27:15 area.
For those discounting Teg, I wouldn't. I would guess he's in as good of shape as he was when he ran his AR. Wasn't he a 13:07 guy that year? I can't remember. I would guess he's probably in 13:0? shape right now. He's definitely better then he was when he ran in Australia months ago, he's clearly stronger then when he ran Cross Nationals, and I would guess he has started to add speed.
Don't be surprised if Teg by USATFs is ahead of Solinsky. This "kid" is one of our biggest talents. Beat Ritz in Jr Cross, Top 5 in Junior World Cross, 4th at WC 5K, 3:34/7:34/8:07/12:58/27:28 PRs, ranked 10th in the 5k in the world in 2007. Even last year, after a seriously long injury layoff, he still ran 3:36 and 13:25.
If Teg races well, I would bet he can be in the mix. Probably won't have the strength and speed to win at the end, but he should be close with 300 to go.
My call, the Americans surprise. Lagat, Sol and Teg finish 2nd, 4th, 6th all under the AR. Rupp at 8:11 (figure he should run about as fast as Ritz did).