what about casey combest,
high school indoor 60m national record holder.
what about casey combest,
high school indoor 60m national record holder.
Wow, Chris Nelloms. I graduated from B'kly Tech in NYC where we had a 4x8 team that ran a 7:38 in the trials for the fourth fastest time in the meet going in behind the Jamaicans...they cam back to run like a 8minute relay, that's a waste!
Anyway about Nelloms, plenty of good runners did well at OSU while Nelloms was there so it wasn't the coach. I do believe that coaches do play a major role in development and should have seen trouble signs but that's another story. Around that time they also had a kid named Robert Smith that ran the 2 and the 4 oh yeah by the way, he went on to be an all pro RB for the Vikings. Chris Nelloms was my idol in HS while I won NY State in the 110HH in 14.4 in the rain he ran nearly a second faster...WHOA!!! Too bad.
Craig Miller
High School: Manheim Township (Lancaster, PA)
College: University of Wisconsin
Achievements: 3x State XC Champ
2x State Mile Champ
Fastest US Freshman Mile
12th at NCAA Nationals 1500m
Suspended from team temporarily for stealing alcohol with his brother during team practice run.
this sort of goes along with the thread, but I talked to the winner of a very difficult marathon, he told me his pr was 2:44:xx and he never ran more than 180 miles a month.
just a guy wrote:
Crazy amount of talent comes out of the Concorde District.
Not as much talent over the years as the Patriot District (formerly known as the Northern District). For years and years it absolutely dominated the Northern Region, and often times states, in XC and the middle/long distances. I guess it started to shift around the time of Webb...
AMBER TROTTER
gonna have to go with two guys. sammy v. 403 miler in highschool. started great at arkansas but his ego and lack of discipline absolutely killed him. saw a few months ago he was blathering about still trying to get a contract somewhere. this is after about 2yrs of running mid 9 two miles and shite road 5ks.
the other guy is david adams. think he ran in high school mid 90's. was just a sick cross guy. went to clemson, and well, you know how that story ends. that was really sad as he was a hard worker and a nice guy.
Beanman wrote:
Abdizirak Mahommed,twice Footlocker Finalist.As talented as Ritz,but better speed.
Not even close (although I believe you meant Footlocker Champion.) He ran in a very weak era. He beat a bunch of nobodies and a junior year Torres. Ritz buried Alan Webb and Ryan Hall (not to mention beat a senior Donald Sage as a junior, who probably also would have beaten Abdizirak Mohamed.) Big difference.
I knew a kid in 8th grade that ran 4:58 for the mile. He decided to do football in high school so he quit running so he could gain weight. He ended up pole vaulting in the spring seasons, but wasn't nearly as talented as he was in the mile.
I saw a kid run 13.40 in the 110 highs in high school. Went to college and never ran track. He supposedly could run 10.5 and 21.16 too.
Im from Ohio and I never hear anything about John Zishka(4:03mi/13:55) progress in college. Can anyone tell me if he became a wasted talent beyond HS?
How about Steve Prefontaine?
World class runner who got drunk, drove and crashed into a rock.
John was overraced in HS & freshman year at Penn State. 23rd at NCAA in XC as frosh & 3rd indoor 2 mile. He was forced to run hurt at PSU which was a big reason why he transferred to Oregon. John continued to battle injuries, but was all-american 5K as a senior.
asfd wrote:
Craig Miller
High School: Manheim Township (Lancaster, PA)
College: University of Wisconsin
Achievements: 3x State XC Champ
2x State Mile Champ
Fastest US Freshman Mile
12th at NCAA Nationals 1500m
Suspended from team temporarily for stealing alcohol with his brother during team practice run.
Are you a damn idiot? The kid was the top frosh in the nation at nationals and # 2 time wise behind AJ Acosta, he also helped their XC team to a second place team finish as their 5th runner.
He isn't the fastest freshman anymore, he is # 2 now. behind Taye which ran 4:09..
Miller def had one of the best frosh season in teh NCAA, suer he didnt win a NCAA title like Bob K. but he is a miler and he proved it this year. He was on their DMR team that got second, ran a very solid leg on the 4xmile at Pennrelays, and made the finals at hte NCAA championships.
So what if he drank in hs, as long as he steps up and performs it doesn't really matter. Look at Rono, I mean that guy drank too but he also performed and that should be what your looking at, not the negatives. And you must not be in college yet because most top notch guys I have spoken to drink occasionally too. some more then others but drinking isn't that big of a deal.
Football career with the potential to make millions or track career based on a 1:53 800? Let\'s be serious.
I know a kid who ran 51 in 8th grade...off no training besides soccer. didn't run track in highschool because it was the same season in soccer. the real shame of it is he was/is no real soccer talent.
Jeff Nelson, American High School Record Holder at 3,200 8:36. Went to Oregon, then community college, then was out of the sport. Check this out from 1990.
Not "wasted talent", but John Woodruff definitely falls into the category of "could have done so much more". Wins the Olympic 800 meters at age 19 in Berlin and then Hitler decided to take over Europe and Woodruff went off to fight the war. By the time the Olympics resumed in 1948, it had been a dozen years and his career was over. Could he have won three straight gold medals in '36, '40, and '44? We will never know.
Hoovis 2 wrote:
How ironic...I knew a promising young miler by the same name that gave up running to play soccer. Wow...what a small little world.
Coincidence, not irony.
(And yes, I understood the joke you were trying to make.)
a few more NCS runners, mainly from HAAL:
1. Yong Sung Leal from Arroyo High School in San Lorenzo (c/o 2002 or 2003). national HS record holder for 5,000m. works at Orchard Supply Hardware in San Leandro now.
2a. Chris Lanese from Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward (c/o 2000). 5th at 2000 CA State champs 1600, 4:15 PR. went to Dartmouth, did nothing, quit after his frosh year. not sure what happened to him. probably graduated.
2b. his teammates Jon (c/o 2000) and Lisa Gillis (c/o '98) (brother and sister); strong runners who never did anything post HS. jon ran his frosh and jr years. sub 10 3200 as a frosh. lisa ran well, and i think ran a season or 2 at UCI, but didn't amount to anything.
3. Efeson Yosief from San Leandro High School (c/o 2001). 9th at CA division 2 state XC championships. 15:01 or 03 at MT Sac Relays (4th in sweepstakes when Spiker won it in '99). went to Chico State, got into the party scene. went on a run with him in 2005, hadn't run with him in years, and he hadn't run in months, kept up with a group of us and ran like 13 miles or so just off talent. track PRs were low 4:20's and about 9:20 or less. possibly related to Meb, as he is from Eritrea, and many Eritreans settled in the Oakland-San Leandro area in mid '90's.
probably a few more female runners from HAAL/ NCS, but i can't think of any. tough league for a while, but not so much anymore. great football programs though. 2 teammates of mine are now pro athletes: 1 track guy plays football for Green Bay Packers, 1 XC guy plays soccer for Houston Dynamos.