Top Ten Greatest High School Runners (Boys)

Sartor Resartus wrote:

My picks:

1) Jim Ryun

2) Gerry Lindgren

3) Alan Webb

4) Michael Granville

5) Lukas Verzbikas

6) Steve Prefontaine

7) Dathan Ritzenhein

8) Eric Hulst

9) Rudy Chapa

10) German Fernandez

We are excluding anyone who raced the sprints?

Or just black runners (although I see you did include one to muddy the waters)?

No Obea Moore, William Reed, Ed Cheserek, Roy Martin, Houston McTear, Jeff Demps, Joe Deloach, etc.?

Geraldo wrote:

Sartor Resartus wrote:

My picks:

1) Jim Ryun

2) Gerry Lindgren

3) Alan Webb

4) Michael Granville

5) Lukas Verzbikas

6) Steve Prefontaine

7) Dathan Ritzenhein

8) Eric Hulst

9) Rudy Chapa

10) German Fernandez

We are excluding anyone who raced the sprints?

Or just black runners (although I see you did include one to muddy the waters)?

No Obea Moore, William Reed, Ed Cheserek, Roy Martin, Houston McTear, Jeff Demps, Joe Deloach, etc.?

No, we are not talking about the sprints. Obea Moore's 4:28 mile was certainly impressive for a 400 meter man, but not enough to put him in the top 10 all time distance runners.

We discussed Cheserek earlier in the thread. I offered the opinion that he was very good, and had a decent argument to be in the top ten, as did several others.

We're clearly talking about distance here. In fact, I don't really view the 800m as distance, so I'd remove Grandville too.

Geraldo wrote:

We are excluding anyone who raced the sprints?

Or just black runners (although I see you did include one to muddy the waters)?

No Obea Moore, William Reed, Ed Cheserek, Roy Martin, Houston McTear, Jeff Demps, Joe Deloach, etc.?

D man D wrote:

We're clearly talking about distance here. In fact, I don't really view the 800m as distance, so I'd remove Grandville too.

Geraldo wrote:

We are excluding anyone who raced the sprints?

Or just black runners (although I see you did include one to muddy the waters)?

No Obea Moore, William Reed, Ed Cheserek, Roy Martin, Houston McTear, Jeff Demps, Joe Deloach, etc.?

They call the 800m a run, not a dash, so I think it should be included :)

800M's DEFINITELY a distance event! People like Alan Webb, Mary Cain, or Jenny Simpson run it. They're distance runners to me.

If you guys don't think Ritz is the best ever HS XC runner, then who do you think is? And why?

My reasoning for Ritz is his great two FL wins by HUGE AMOUNTS, especially the second one where he obliterated a sub-4-ready Alan Webb. No other HS XC runner has had that kind of competition. Also, his World Jr XC bronze.

What are people's thoughts on Granville's RIDICULOUS (no other way to describe them) 800M times? I mean, 1:46...in high school?! Plus, he has all of the 800M class records. He has to be on any top ten.

For me, a top ten (in no particular order) would be:

-Gerry Lindgren (a legend)

-Jim Ryun (top two are the best)

-Alan Webb (best distance range in HS runners ever, IMO)

-Dathan Ritzenhein (greatest HS XC runner ever--he could take anyone else in a cross country race in their HS career)

-Edward Cheserek/Lukas Verzbicas (counting both of these guys together, since they are the two foreign-born guys on this list; about

V: somewhat of an oddity, since wasn't he not a US citizen in his HS career?)

-Jeff Nelson (8:36, longest HS distance record ever?)

-Rudy Chapa (28:32!!!!)

-Michael Granville (his times speak for themselves, best HS half-mile in history by a landslide, although I bet Webb could've maybe gotten 1:46 in HS had he tried)

-Eric Hulst (World Junior XC champion, 8:44 full two mile, and a sub-29 10K)

-German Fernandez (although he never won FL, he did record a 4:00/8:34 16/32 double, as well as an 8:34 over a full two-mile)

Honorable mentions:

-Steve Prefontaine was almost included on here, for an 8:40 two mile and complete dominance of his era. I bet he could've run faster on the track with competition like modern runners have.

-Craig Virgin for his amazing XC course records, sub-14 5K, and legendary 8:40 two mile time that broke Pre's outdoor record (Lindgren had the fastest two mile of all at this time, but it was indoors...on a shitty track, which is all the more impressive)

-Chris Solinsky (solid track times and a dominant FL win by 20 seconds...Ritz-like)

-Marty Liquori and Tim Danielson (sub-4 speaks for itself)

-Galen Rupp (has the very impressive 5K record, beating Ritz and Lindgren, two giants, but couldn't win FL and always seemed to run weird distances [e.g., 2,000M, 3,000M, 5,000M on track, and 10,000M] instead of pursuing, say, the two-mile record)

-Rich Kimball (won World Junior XC Championships in HS)

-Jorge Torres (only four-time Foot Locker finalist)

Who else is up there? Thom Hunt? Donald Sage and Ryan Hall?

For Granville, I meant *"best half-miler," not "mile."

Anyways, I'd be curious to see who people would include if we added sprints and field events as well.

Bump

-Michael Granville (his times speak for themselves, best HS half-mile in history by a landslide, although I bet Webb could've maybe gotten 1:46 in HS had he tried)...

Jim Ryun ran 1.44.9y (1.44.3m) in October of 1966. He was age 19, and it was a WR. Unlike Webb, Ryun didn't really run the 880y in HS. It seems in HS Ryun could have run 1:45 for the 880m, and low-1:45 for converted 800m.