Fernandez vs Verzbicas

Frightening that GF is already a senior. Bummer that his college career has turned out the way that it has.

You mean as an American Junior Record holder, a World Junior Record holder, an NCAA champ in the 1500 and a top 10 cross placer? Yeah, what a lousy career that was. It's not even over yet to boot. Has two seasons of track left too should he want to compete.

Fernandez may not have met the expectations you nimrods have heaped on him or the promise shown by his stellar freshman year, but his career has been a marvelous one by any stretch of the imagination. Fraught with injury and disappointment too, yes, but brilliant anyway. Hopefully he will sort out whatever issues are holding him back, but to call the way his college career has developed a "bummer" is... well, it's simply asinine.

Fernandez is a beast bro

There's no point talking about him like he's really 18. It's obvious that Lukas is in his middle twenties. These people just come in here from these third world countries and who's to say they're not the age they claim to be. He's from a former Soviet country too. They were the original cheaters at sports. I don't even want to think about the doping that must have gone on when he was back there.

GF is still running for OSU, right? That should answer your question.

asdfkasjfk wrote:

You mean as an American Junior Record holder, a World Junior Record holder, an NCAA champ in the 1500 and a top 10 cross placer? Yeah, what a lousy career that was. It's not even over yet to boot. Has two seasons of track left too should he want to compete.

Fernandez may not have met the expectations you nimrods have heaped on him or the promise shown by his stellar freshman year, but his career has been a marvelous one by any stretch of the imagination. Fraught with injury and disappointment too, yes, but brilliant anyway. Hopefully he will sort out whatever issues are holding him back, but to call the way his college career has developed a "bummer" is... well, it's simply asinine.

So after his freshman year in college, you expected that this is how his career would progress?

I don't think there's any question it has been a bummer. Not saying it is his fault -- he has had a lot of bad luck with injuries -- but I'm sure he is frustrated with his last couple years.

You are definitely correct. Most of the great races the other poster listed all happened his frosh year. His senior year in HS and his frosh year in college showed that he had the potential to be as good or better than Solinsky, Rupp, Ritz, any of those guys at their best. Yet the last few years have not shown that, and it is too bad. Most likely it is mainly due to injury, but it would be a shame if he is unable to live up to his unbelievable potential.

On the other hand, no need to count him out yet. Look at Teg. After a great HS career and coming in 5th in world jr x-c as a frosh, his college career was up and down, and he did not suggest he would by a sub 13:00 guy and nearly a bronze medalist in the world champs. And while Ritz had an excellent college career, it was also filled with injuries (ok, still is, but I think German would be happy to run 12:56 some day and win a bronze in the world 1/2 marathon champs). And we all know Webb's ups and downs before his 3:46. etc. etc...

People have their down periods. But I do think German has to pull it together soon, or it might never happen.

Verzbicas: What say we settle this on the runway... Fernadez-Solo?

Fernandez: Are you challenging me to a walk-off... VerzBoo-Lander?

No such thing as a World Junior Indoor record. To make things worse, OSU even lists this false claim on his profile on their site--shamefully inaccurate promotion on their part.

asdfkasjfk wrote:

You mean as an American Junior Record holder, a World Junior Record holder, =

i just got off the phone with germans trainer and she said he is ready for the X-games for extreme skipping. And lukas is my best friend and he actually gave up running and started a new extreme sport of flying kites. Both of them have a lot of talent and im excited to see a great year of trolling on letsrun. they should call it LETSTROLL.com. "im over it"

My take on it wrote:

Derrick and Puskedra both were top 5 as freshman, and Lukas is clearly better than they were.

In fairness, Derrick still holds the Illinois HS XC record of 13:51. Lukas went for it last year and missed it by 3 seconds.

deg wrote:

My take on it wrote:

Derrick and Puskedra both were top 5 as freshman, and Lukas is clearly better than they were.

In fairness, Derrick still holds the Illinois HS XC record of 13:51. Lukas went for it last year and missed it by 3 seconds.

Nope Craig Virgin has the Illinois HS XC record of 13:50.

Koneko wrote:

The funny part is that Verzbicas is older than German.

Did You Know?

On August 1, 2008, US distance prodigy German Fernandez had finished high school and was about to enter his first year of college. He was 17 years and 272 days old on that date.

His PRs at the time were 4:00.29 for 1,600 and 8:34.40 for 2 miles.

On August 1, 2010, US distance prodigy (although he may still be a Lithuanian citizen) Lukas Verzbicas has finished his sophomore year of high school and is about to enter his junior year of high school. He was 17 years and 207 days old on August 1st.

His current PRs are 4:04.38 for the mile (= 4:02.92 for 1,600) and 8:53.98 for 2 miles.

From the week that was in 2010.

It's pretty obvious that German is more talented (I myself would say the most talented ever, save possibly Jim Ryun). The difference is that he is injured so often/has had subpar coaching that he isn't fulfilling his potential. Lukas on the other hand is less talented, but has had superior coaching his entire life.

Where did you find these facts/statements from?

bohobroj wrote:

Koneko wrote:

The funny part is that Verzbicas is older than German.

Did You Know?

On August 1, 2008, US distance prodigy German Fernandez had finished high school and was about to enter his first year of college. He was 17 years and 272 days old on that date.

His PRs at the time were 4:00.29 for 1,600 and 8:34.40 for 2 miles.

On August 1, 2010, US distance prodigy (although he may still be a Lithuanian citizen) Lukas Verzbicas has finished his sophomore year of high school and is about to enter his junior year of high school. He was 17 years and 207 days old on August 1st.

His current PRs are 4:04.38 for the mile (= 4:02.92 for 1,600) and 8:53.98 for 2 miles.

From the week that was in 2010.

it is misleading to include "about to enter his junior year of high school" when, in reality, it was his senior year...he graduated in three. So, on August 1st, 2011 (about two months ago) he was, what, 18 years and 207 days old? Not any older than many high school seniors. A very typical age, within the normal range of ages for an average high school senior.

Not old.

German was, of course, quite young.

But, as a HIGH SCHOOLER, at a normal age for a high schooler, LV ran 3:59 and 8:29.

He wasn't any older than 50% of the other high schoolers throughout time.

Koneko wrote:

some crazy runner guy wrote:

That is not at all true. I love how people just post random stuff they made up to prove a point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Fernandezhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lukas_Verzbicas

I love how you people slam Koech, Aman, and Cheserek for being age cheats (they are), but turn a blind eye to Verzbicas. I'm sure the color of his skin has nothing to do with it.

With LV there was a bias when comparing CLASS records (e.g,. freshmen), but his transitioning after three years basically neutralized that. What you should do is re-label his years as SO, JR, SR, rather than FR, SO, ?.

My take on it wrote:

It's pretty obvious that German is more talented (I myself would say the most talented ever, save possibly Jim Ryun). The difference is that he is injured so often/has had subpar coaching that he isn't fulfilling his potential. Lukas on the other hand is less talented, but has had superior coaching his entire life.

Part of talent, or "the right stuff" as Mark Wetmore says, is durability. I'd say the most talented ever is still Lindgren

InWyo wrote:

My take on it wrote:

It's pretty obvious that German is more talented (I myself would say the most talented ever, save possibly Jim Ryun). The difference is that he is injured so often/has had subpar coaching that he isn't fulfilling his potential. Lukas on the other hand is less talented, but has had superior coaching his entire life.

Part of talent, or "the right stuff" as Mark Wetmore says, is durability. I'd say the most talented ever is still Lindgren

many overlook lindgrens olympic marathon performance. I think if he kept at the marathon he could have been pretty dominant at that distance