Cragg article on the front page

Actually, legendary and over-hyped sound like a perfect description of Pre, who was a great runner but certainly not the greatest.

I concur with the "legendary and over-hyped" part of it, but I also thought that Prefontaine did not compete in NCAA XC that year because of the Olympics.

I'm kind of skeptical that Prefontaine could not have beaten Neil Cusick, and I didn't understand the part about Cusick invariably having the measure of Prefontaine.

You can speculate all you want, would Pre have beaten Cusack? would Pre have beaten Cusack and Ritz? Would Ritz have beaten Pre Cusack and Webb?

Bottom line is Cusack toed the line and broke the tape. He was the champ and Pre was not.

As for the comments that Cusack invariably had the measure of Pre...does anyone have access to any XC results where they went head to head?

ive never even heard of the guy. prefontaine was the best runner ever. period. maybe his times werent as great as others but his guts and style of running were far better.

Typical dumb ass answer.

Pepsi-Twist wrote:

Typical dumb ass answer.

Exactly

Won the NCAA XC in 1972

Won Boston Marathon in 1974 in 2:13:39...the second fastest time in race history. Say what you want about Pre but he didn't have that kind of range.

Pre was a take of coulda woulda shoulda, Cusack was a tale of been there done that.

I should add that Cusack was still a full time student at East Tennessee State when he won Boston.

Cusack also competed in Munich in 1972 running 28:45 in the 10,000 to finish 10th.

Cusack kicked butt all cross season in '72 including the AAU meet. I'm thinking the muddy NC meet in Houston, '72, would've played out like the Rose/Pre duel in Spokane in '73. Cusack was running w/a ton of confidence as was Nick and would've made Pre try to beat him.

Pre won in Spokane... I know it is chic to dis Pre's accomplishments in hopes of not appearing like a DyeStat groupie, but show me any evidence that would indicate Pre would lose to Cusack. I dont believe Pre lost a college distance race post freshman year, so really there is none. Pre proved he didnt have to run from the front and could take out the overambitious in Spokane, so really, no matter the runner, if it was in an NCAA sanctioned race, Pre probably would beat them.

Pre holds no American records... Dathan will be better... he choked in Munich... whatever, the guy won and ran times that, within percentage of the at the time world records) make him still the best US distance runner in history. Meb was 50 plus seconds on the world mark, Bob was 14... look at things comparatively and realize Pre deserves praise, even if high schoolers give it blindly.

wm rowing wrote:

Pre holds no American records...

Wrong.

Olympic Trials 5000m Record: Steve Prefontaine (Oregon) 13:22.8

yes, i know Pre won and believe i infer that in my post. it's a stretch to say Pre 'choked' in Munich. huge stretch.

scott hubbard wrote:

Cusack kicked butt all cross season in '72 including the AAU meet. I'm thinking the muddy NC meet in Houston, '72, would've played out like the Rose/Pre duel in Spokane in '73. Cusack was running w/a ton of confidence as was Nick and would've made Pre try to beat him.

Wasn't that the year that Cusack ran off the course in the AAU XC meet, crossed the line first but was DQ'd. I think he had a huge lead on Shorter before the mistake.

I know of no race in which Cusack finished ahead of Pre.

maybe somebody else can help here but i think you're right about Cusack making a wrong turn w/a big lead. think the meet was in Chicago, flat with numerous loops. it would've been a terrific race between Cusack and Pre at '72 NC's! Mud and all. Tennessee won w/Doug Brown leading their charge.