If the Past 10 Men's NCAA XC Champs Raced...

1) Lawi Lalang

2) Ritz

3) Rupp

4) Chelanga

5) Bairu

6) Boaz

7) Torres

8) Rohatinsky

9) McDougal

10) Kelly

I think....

1. Sam Chelanga (27:08 between his two titles!)

2. Galen Rupp

3. Dathan Ritzenhein

4. Simon Bairu

5. Lawi Lalang

6. Jorge Torres

7. Boaz Cheboiywo

8. Keith Kelly

9. Josh McDougal

10. Josh Rohatinsky

Best runner up....maybe Ryan Hall, but he was never amazing at XC. Richard Kiplagat, Stephen Sambu were both in great shape. I guess we will see in track just how fit Chris Derrick is now.

Here is my list

1. Chelanga- His 2009 performance was better than 2010

2. Rupp- Perhaps Rupp of 2008 would have beat Chelanga of '09

3. Lalang- can't see him beat the first two

4. McDougal- set several XC records until Chelanga broke them

5. Cheboiywo- peaked in '01, never got any faster

6. Torres- always better XC runner than Ritz in college

7. Bairu- he won twice, weak field?

8. Ritz- barely ahead of Kelly. battled injuries that season

9. Kelly- he was a 1500/miler, I think?

10. Rohantinsky- weakest winner of the decade. Solinsky choked in '06.

Best runner-up, Chris Derrick. Chelanga of '08 2nd best runner-up.

You are way overestimating Ritz of '03. He was not peak shape that day. Torres of '02 and '01 and Boaz of '01 would have beat him by tons.

1. Chelanga

2. Rupp

3. Torres

4. Lalang

5. Ritz

6. Bairu

7. McDougal

8. Boaz

9. Kelly

10. Rohatinsky

Bairu is superior than all in XC.

1. Rupp - He developed that nasty kick his senior year. Was pretty unstoppable.

2. Chelenga - While he did run 27:08, if Rupp paced off him then he'd get outkicked.

3. Lalang - One of the only other guys that might have been able to try and hang with Chelenga.

4. Bairu - Had two titles. Was much better at the collegiate level than professionally.

5. Torres - Great cross runner.

6. Ritz - Also great cross runner, but Torres was a tad better.

7. Cheboiywo - Another kenyan.

8. McDougal - Beat Rupp, then a year later Rupp got insanely better.

9. Rohatinsky - From BYU. Was probably like 27 years old when he won.

10. Kelly - Honestly I know nothing about this guy. Could be higher?

here ya go wrote:

7. Cheboiywo - Another kenyan.

That's seriously all you can say about him? GTFO

1. Chelanga

2. Bairu

3. Rupp

4. Ritz

5. Torres

6. McDougal

7. Lelang

8. Boaz

9. Rohat

10. Kelly

Best runner-up who never won? CD all the way. He is so consistent that if you put him in the race with these 10 past champs, he'd probably beat more than half of them. Especially because some of these guys would push each other so hard, some would bonk out.

I think most of you are underestimating how good Boaz was in 2001. 5 wins and course records every where he ran. I would put him only behind Rupp and Chelanga,

28:47. Beat Torres and Cragg by 20-25 seconds.

People underestimate how good a cross country runner Bairu is. Look how he finished at W XC and how that compares to anyone here except Rtiz, who is underestimated (although the injury issue is one I do not know much about).

Dang, kind of makes me feel old. I was a slow sophmore in high school at the start of the list, worked me way through college and became a decent almost all amercian by the mid points having some of the best times of my life along the way, and have slowly fizzled out after college. Live it up folks in college, life does not get better, may not get worse, but for most it certainly does not get any better, it will be over in a blink of an eye.

As to the question originaly posted, I'd have to go with Chelanga.

The 1976 champ would have defeated them all.

Bairu - Most unappreciated NCAA xc runner ever.

Rupp - Man he was dominant his senior year.

Chelanga- Just toyed with the field.

LaLang- Similar to chelanga..one notch down

Boaz

Torres

Ritz

McDougal

Kelly- Would out-kick Rohat.

Rohatinsky

Rupp would probably out-kick Bairu but I'm picking Bairu because no one else will.

Ritz won NCAA off like 6 weeks of real training. He won every race he ran that year. I think he only raced Pre-nats, regionals and NCAAs.

He's an XC beast. Look at his high school career. However, if we abide by the rules of the thread, Ritz was not in great shape when he outkicked Ryan Hall that year. Chances are in peak shape he probably could have contended for the win.

whodat wrote:

The 1976 champ would have defeated them all.

I agree. I believe Craig Virgin said he ran 28:27 and was 3rd. The winner ran 28:06.6

By the way that winner set 4 WR'S in 1978

Chelenga

Rupp

Boaz

Lalang

Bairu

Ritz

Torres

McDougal

Kelly

Rohatinsky

Sammy's the best. Two wins, one runner-up, course record in Terre Haute, NCAA 10k record? Come on, there's no contest here.