I completely agree with this statement:
We may not have the depth, but at the top end... the outliers in America can compete with the outliers from Africa or elsewhere. An outlier is an outlier... and Rupp, Solinsky, Ritz, Fernandez, Wheating, Webb are all outliers and can compete with the world's best.[/quote]
The fact of the matter is that north america has an incredible amount of young talent, the only problem is that very few of these guys continue on to the professional level. I've been told point blank by members of kenya's olympic team that you don't fully mature as a distance runner until around 26 (let's not get into an argument about age-cheating, but most of those guys really are in their mid twenties). America's amateur system is designed in a such a way that at 21 your on own if you can't scoop a pro contract. And let's be real, in track and field pro contracts are hard to come by and unless you score a top level one, you could probably make more managing a McDonald's.
The reason I bring this up is because guys like levins, derrick, or any of these all-american's could very well grow into the type of runner we have seen Rupp become. I'm not trying to take away from anything that rupp has a accomplished, he's an incredible talent, but the fact of the matter is that only our outliers, the guys who have completely crushed the college competition, are even given the chance to take their talents to the next level. Right now the economy of sport in this country crushes the our chances of ever having depth at the elite level, its akin to having an NFL draft that stops after the first round. We would never see the tom brady's come about if this system existed football, but it does in America's track and field. If we had another 4 year amateur program (which they do have in Iten, Kenya) after college I bet my life that this country would be as dominant in the distances as east africa, its just unfortunate that this is unlikely to ever be implemented.
So yea, given the opportunities Rupp has had, Cam could very well grow into that type of runner. My point is that it doesn't have to stop with just these two.