Lawi Lalang is the greatest distance runner in NCAA history

Natethegreat wrote:

Um...ever heard of Hassay?

you're joking, right?[/quote]

Your new around here, right?

Ok, I'm officially amused to discover that I was arguing with a 14-yr-old about all-time greatness in NCAA distance running.

Well, played Nate, well played - on an AG basis, I think you're trolling at a high level, perhaps 8.5-9 / 10.

Well wasn't exactly trolling cause Lawi is the greatest didstance runner i've ever seen!

Natethegreat wrote:

Well wasn't exactly trolling cause Lawi is the greatest didstance runner i've ever seen!

You get that many responses to a thread and not a one of them agrees with you - I'd say that's trolling.

I'll take it you mean greatest NCAA distance runner you've ever seen and say now we're onto something since you're only 14.

In the days before T&F went pro, there were some amazing foreign athletes who came thru the NCAA system because it was a good deal relative to the alternatives. Now the best foreign athletes have no incentive to do that so the best foreigners who do run NCAAs are good but not ready to go pro. Compare Lawi Lalang to Hagos Gebrhiwet, for example.

Lawi's a fine runner, he may develop into a first-rate pro, but for now he isn't competitive with Gebrhiwet.

Rono was also super old

Henry Rono was hilariously overage and a Kenyan faker/import.

Galen Rupp is the obvious answer. Maybe Gerrythejogger after him.

old, young, foreign-born, American-born, no runner as good as a Henry Rono relative to the best in the world is likely to compete in the NCAA system as T&F is structured now.

Heck, as recently as 20 years ago even Usain Bolt might have come thru the NCAA system - think Ato Boldon. [I have to admit Usain was WAY better than Ato as a junior and even 20 years ago, Usain might have gone straight to the pros.]

Personally I think it's cool to see some of the second tier E African distance guys - Chelanga, W Korir, Lawi, etc - come to the NCAA system, get an education, establish themselves in the US, then try to make a go of it as pros while already having some name recognition among the kind of people who post on letsrun.com.

Doesn't matter that Rono was old, he was still in the NCAA.

Not to mention he set steeplechase, 3k, 5k, and 10k world records in one short season. NO ONE HAS EVER DONE THIS, IN OR OUT OF THE NCAA. Few guys have been that dominant, ever. Anyone in this thread who has heard of Henry Rono and named someone who is not Henry Rono is an idiot.

crazy raisin wrote:

Doesn't matter that Rono was old, he was still in the NCAA.

Not to mention he set steeplechase, 3k, 5k, and 10k world records in one short season. NO ONE HAS EVER DONE THIS, IN OR OUT OF THE NCAA. Few guys have been that dominant, ever. Anyone in this thread who has heard of Henry Rono and named someone who is not Henry Rono is an idiot.

Agreed. Just find it very funny that the OP [if the OP is to be believed in another recent thread] was born 20+ years after Rono was doing all that.

I would bet that Rono was the only NCAA athlete to set a world record in a track distance event at dual or tri-meet. And he did it twice.

Where does Pre fall on this list? (Serious question). I'm not Pre fan boy or anything. But his most dominant/impressive days were his time in college. Would he be top 5? Top 10?

Natethegreat wrote:

Well wasn't exactly trolling cause Lawi is the greatest didstance runner i've ever seen!

Your guy did good yesterday - will be interesting to see if he's back at AZ in the fall or has a strong enough summer to go pro.

Hope that Lalang stays at Arizona but you could see the draw of turning pro. Certainly the best of his era, perhaps one of the best since the great Nyambui at UTEP, now more than 30 years ago.

Rono has to be considered the best with that world record run (4!) he had in 1978. But what about the rest of his career? He won titles in 1977, but what about 1978-79? He faltered at NCAA xc, and what happened in track that year (79)? Was he injured?

Lindgren is the other at the top. But did he set any world records at the time? Not to compare with Lalang but with Rono.

Rono won XC in 76, 77 and 79.

SC in 78 and 79.

15 min Message Board Rat wrote:

Lindgren is the other at the top. But did he set any world records at the time? Not to compare with Lalang but with Rono.

6 mile world record in 1965 as a 19 year old freshman.

freshman at the time were not allowed to compete in ncaa competition

15 min Message Board Rat wrote:

Hope that Lalang stays at Arizona but you could see the draw of turning pro. Certainly the best of his era, perhaps one of the best since the great Nyambui at UTEP, now more than 30 years ago.

If Lawi doesn't have a shot at making the Kenyan team for worlds [and I don't think he really does], it probably makes sense for him to put in another year at AZ, get his degree and continue to build his name recognition in the US. Would be fun if he decided to start down the path to US citizenship. That'd sure stir up a bit of conversation on this board.

daveyguy wrote:

11 NCAA titles out of 12 attempts. He beat Pre. But you're leaving out that his only loss comes from going against the GOAT:

Jim Ryun, the only man to beat Gerry in a NCAA final.

Great post. I have to say that Lindgen was the one with most NCCA wins. Thanks for that info. I have things to learn.[/quote]

The 60s was just a weak era, there was Lindgren and Ryun and then not anyone really near them. 2004-2009 was the greatest era of college running because the class of 2004 was the deepest high school class ever, with 2003 the 2nd deepest, thus the next 4-5 years of college racing after that were the greatest, thus the most dominant runner from that era is the great, therefore Rupp. Everything before Rupp was just building to Rupp, everything after Rupp matters not because the golden age is over, all of American distance running history culminates in the person of Galen Rupp.

If Lawi doesn't have a shot at making the Kenyan team for worlds [and I don't think he really does], [Quote]

Lawi is certainly not a shoe in and probably not even a favorite to make the kenyan team, but I'm sure he has a chance, leading from 4 laps out and still running 13:07 and all. Either way I think he'll stay at AZ, James Li is building him to be a great runner in the long run, so he probably won't have the fate of many talented young Africans and burn out very early

so embarrassing watching a bunch of white runner nerds arguing about which Kenyan was better.....

none of those cheating bantu's should be competing in the USA let along be in college.