HIGH SCHOOL DREAM TEAM

If this is high school you might want to add John Zishka and bump Sanchez, his big breakthrough wasn't for another year.

I thought Sanchez was the 5k high school record holder.

Close but one year off. He is the U.S. Junior record holder. High school list goes like-Lindgren 13:44, Ritz 13:44, Pre 13:52, Zishka 13:55, and Virgin 13:58.

As for the original question, as with Ryun/Webb comparisons, I'll give Lindgren the edge. What would he have done with the same fitness if he was let into the 2001 U.S. Nationals 5000 on modern tracks pulled along in Hayward Field?

there is no doubt that Gerry was tough and probably still is. However, watching Pre and Lindgren go at it for 12-1/2 would be something to behold. I know they did race once at N's in 69'. I heard that was one heck of a cross race. The initial report was a tie I believe.

I ran at Oregon with Johnny Z and if not for Track & Field News we would never have know he was one of the greatest HS runners ever. He was a very humble, friendly and supportive TEAM player and I will never take for granted the unique opportunity to be around such a great runner.

McG

I'm not saying Zishka would necessarily win, but remember his 13:55 came alone (2nd was 14:15) and with a 4:20 final mile. Also, you cannot leave Virgin off such a list.

Don Sage ran 8:42 for 3,200 meters, and 4:00 for the mile. If you saw him crank 55 on the last 400 at the Illinois State Meet on the way to that 8:42, you would not hesitate for a moment to put him on this list.

What was Sage's high school 5000 best? That is the premise of this thread.

Oh my bad. You're right I am sure he couldn't run a 5k to save his life. Dude the guy ran 8:42 and 4 minutes. Look at any conversion chart that you would like...those times will convert to a hell of a 5k. Let's not keep him off the list because he chose to run 4 minutes at Pre instead of running the 5k.

ND Fan, Great logic! I saw that Michael Johnson move up from the 200 to the 400 and set a world record so he could obviously compete with and probably beat Kipketer, Coe, & Cruz in the 800. Except one thing: HE DIDN'T!!!!!!! Sage DID NOT run a single 5000 on the track in his high school career that I am aware of, but you are ready to list him with Lingren, Pre, Virgin, Zishka, & Ritz? Do you think the guys on the list didn't run fast at shorter distances as well? Wow! You could give Ms. Cleo a run in the psychic department. The thread is WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! Not, what might you be capable of doing? T

You got me a gain. You're right Sage didn't run a 5k in high school, along with 99% of the other runners in high school. Why don't you clowns list this thread as High School 5k Dream Team? Instead you list it as high school dream team.

I think this thread is stupid but ND fan got you guys on that last one. He makes a good point.

Well thank you. Someone with some logic. It is nice when someone state the obvious. The comparison of Michael Johnson running an 800 and Don Sage running a 5000 doesn't make any sense at all. Let's remember that Don Sage was proven over 5,000 meters in high school...remember XC!

Oh, my bad, that probably doesn't count on this high school dream team that is comprised of only those that ran 5,000m on the track in high school at post-season meets composed of non-high school athletes in races that were paced by rabbits!!!

The originally poster is clueless as well. Sanchez is not the high school record holder. He ran the US Jr. Record at Stanford...oh and I happened to be there!

Fire away, but I'll be so bold as to put Webb on this list. His mile time is well documented, but he also ran a 3200 time of 8:45, and that was during indoor track season! Seeing how he won the Big Ten CC season as a freshman and even ran a very decent 10,000, I have to believe that in high school he could have blitzed a very good non-CC 5,000 time as well.

I agree that Sanchez shouldn't be anywhere near this list.

Of course Webb should be on any high school dream team. He did run 3:53. It shouldn't matter if he ran the 5k or not--since when did that become the measuring stick for high school dream teams?

ND Fan, I will not repond after this post. Start a thread that deals with what interests you, but this thread clearly said 5000 meters on the track. You are obviously young since you have no sense of history as to when/where marks were achieved by the group listed. You are correct that Sage among others would have probably run well, but the question was concerning who did run well, not who may have. The fact that you did not quite 'get' the Michael Johnson sarcasm again shows your experience, or lack of experience. Does anyone know if Virgin's best 5K was a solo effort, like Zishka's?

Observer-

You are as clueless as you sound. First the post doesn't say only 5,000m runners. Second, your sense of history is obviously out of whack. Two of the four runners listed on the original post were Ritz and Sanchez, both of whom just finished high school eligibility in the last couple of years. As we all know, Sanchez didn't even run his time in high school. Furthermore, I am not young, and have a lot more knowledge that you do. I think that many of the posters would agree when they look back at your posts. For such an authority on the history of the sport, I am suprised that you don't know if Virgins 5k was a solo effort. Come on Champ! Give me a history lesson.

IL does not run the 5k race during HS so it is not fair to take Don Sage to task for not having run one. What he did run was a 4.00.29 mile, a 4.04 1600, an 8.42 3200 and a 14.03 3 mile run at IL state when he got boxed in for about 400m before he freed himself. And he absolutely burned his 3200m at IL state- he ran solid laps and then broke a 58 sec last lap to run 8.42... and then came back less than 2 hrs later to run 4.08 in the 1600, with another 55 sec final lap. I have the tapes and they are awesome. Add to that his 1.50.1 relay split in the 4x800 in HS, and he is an all around runner.

But Don would be the last person to wish to be included in this list. He'd give props to Pre, Lindgren, Ritz (who did beat him at Foot Locker), etc.