trackcoach wrote:
Danny K wrote:Your list is based entirely on track performances. How do you account for XC accomplishments in your criteria? For example, Baxter is 27 seconds faster than Hasay at Mt Sac in all of Hasay's attempts and 22 seconds faster at Woodward.
I'm not necessarily saying that Baxter should be ahead of Hasay but that basing everything on track times does not take into account the complete picture.
Kim Gallagher was the HSR in the 800, 1500, mile, 4x8, DMR and was 3rd on the 5k list at one time. Btw, the 5K was done as little more than a work out. Kim was also the Penn Relays mile champ, multiple COAs which included anchoring a COA 4x4. Multiple PA State individual and team XC and track championships. Gallagher was absolutely dominant and anything that she did not accomplish was because their just wasn't an opportunity. Girls did not run the 2 mile in Kim's day and she never ran Kenny or Footlocker, but she was a scary good XC runner with out taking it serious. When she set the 4:36 HSR in the mile, it was at a meet where she tripled. Plumber broke the HSR record two weeks later, but Kim said if she had run the mile around the time when set the 800 WJR/HSR she could have run under 4:30. Kim only had one all out record attempt where she wasn't focused on her team and that was at the World Juniors when set the 800 WJR.
In the early days of Dyestat, I saw a list where the top t&f writers and data guys ranked Kim Gallagher as the greatest American H.S. t&f athlete across all events, male or female. I can't take anything away from Decker or Cain, but Decker didn't have great H.S. career, she had 2 incredible performances and in terms of Decker or Cain, it is difficult to compare an athlete like Kim who ran for a team, she ran all of her H.S. meets, frequently tripling and often the relay were the primary focus. It is also difficult to compare performances from difference eras, because Kim's 2 flat in the 800, a record which lasted for 30 years, was equal to Jim Ryun's 3:55 at that time. How ever you want to look at it, there is no list that should not have not Gallagher some where in the top-3.