WASTED TALENT?

anybody ever heard of Sam Vasquez...last i heard he was running under his old high school coach in Daytona...this kid ran a 4:03 back in 2001 in his senior year....now i think he's running around 4:30....dropped out of arkansas i think...heard he still has a wharthog tattoo on his thigh....but nice kid though..

I knew a grade 10 runner who broke Simon Bairu's high 3k record all by himself. He ran 4:21 and 9:20 with very minimal training. He is now going to jail for stabbing someone.

male nymph wrote:

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.

Bob Kennedy was a miler when he won the NCAA XC title.

People say that Lukezic is an amazing runner, but he only managed one state crown. Jesse Fayant owned Lukezic in high school only losing to him one time in the mile. Fayant had a better kick and if the two were next to each other with 200 to go Fayant would win everytime. He did all of this off running 25-30 miles a week and only running 5 out of 7 days a week. He went to UW and never ran competitively again after his freshman year. NOt sure exactly why? You see how good Lukezic is now, and wonder what he could have done?

Ran with a guy in college who messed around and didn't always have the drive. Sometimes he didn't put in the work. High school All-American. He still ran solid times sometimes (got down to 1:48 in the 800 if that gives you an idea), but never ran as fast as he could have. I honestly think he would be one of the U.S.'s top milers now if he had had his head screwed on straight.

According to a friend who ran with the current 2 mile AR holder in high school, their old coach told him about a kid who was extremely talented (which means something) but chose to quit track and play soccer. I used to ask about him every once in a while hoping that he would have started running again, but apparently he ended up playing soccer for some small college. Makes me wonder if some Tegenkamp type is sitting around playing Nintendo somewhere.

what could have been wrote:

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.

John Woodruff is a good shout but he would have definitely had his hands full with Rudolf Harbig. Harbig is the forgotten man of middle distance running. Coached by Gerschler he ran 1:46.6 for 800m in 1939, a record which lasted until 1955. He also set a WR of 46.0 for 400m a few weeks later. At his peak he was unbeaten at 800m for 48 races, but unfortunately his career was curtailed by the war. Among the athletes Gerschler helped were Josey Barthel, Olympic 1500m champion in 1952 and Gordon Pirie, 4-time distance world record holder. Harbig set a 1000m WR of 2:21.5 in May 1941 and but for the war under Gerschler's coaching he would have set about rewriting the world records for the longer distances. With such incredible basic speed (he was faster than Coe over 400m) Harbig could have been the first man under 4 minutes for the mile. Woodruff v Harbig should have been one of the greatest athletics rivalries of all.

as a teenager and a member of a successful local running club we trained hard up until the age of 16, winning local and area xc championships. Slowly thay all started to leave and give up on running as the time and effort needed to maintain high standards was too much as well as the peer pressures of females, alcohol and cigarettes!

Only 2 of us continued at the club and I now coach senior mens xc team as well as run 50 miles average per week to keep in shape.

David Sharpe, 1.43 800 metre runner. Ran about 20-30 miles per week, usually in shorts in freezing North East England weather. Barely trained except when he was knocked out of bed to go to the track, when Steve Cram (his training partner) retired he just didn't seem to have the motivation to train anymore, retired when he was about 27, double World Junior Champ at 800 and 1500, World Cup winner and second at European Champs, trained like a jogger.

Think he could have run 1.41.

You mean that coach Gerschler who was one of the first proponents of PED? The coach of the first self-admitted PED user Josey Barthel, who took pervitin just hour before his Oly final and all of nothing "felt amazing strength in the final 120m, which came from this wonderful athletic substance"? Pervitin (amphetamine) was a new drug, and at that time wasn't banned, but he won under drug's influence, not because of perfect coaching. Harbig was also known for letting docs make tests on him all the time. How do you think that the Freiburg institute for drug research was founded? Who was the founder?

Jan Ullrich.

Runner up in the Tour de France at age 22 (he could have won, if he hadn't been ordered to help his teammate). Won the tour in '97 at age 23. Widely tipped to win 7, 8, even 9 Tour titles. Instead he dedicated himself to cream pies and a dysfunctional team.

As one former DS said, if all the riders in the peloton had been clean, Jan Ullrich would now be a 9 or 10 time TdF champion.

I ran an 800 against this guy in high school. was not pretty.

SPORTS PEOPLE;

Sprinter Hurt in Crash

NYT

Published: March 12, 1985

Clinton Davis , the nation's premier schoolboy sprinter two years ago, suffered two broken legs in an automobile accident in Pittsburgh early yesterday, authorities said. Davis, 19, was listed in serious condition at Allegheny General Hospital and a hospital official said the former national indoor 400-meter champion will have to wear casts on his legs for six to eight months.

According to a city police report, Davis's car struck a telephone pole at about 1 A.M. Davis was pulled from the car by a man who feared the vehicle was about to catch fire. Davis, a surprise winner of the 400-meter run in the Millrose Games in 1983, dropped out of the University of Pittsburgh last fall but recently re- enrolled and planned to try out for the Pitt football team as a wide receiver.

mohamed didn't train much, this thread is about most talented not most achieved.

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.[/quote]

chris nelloms also got shot like 4 times while in college and almost died, then came back and rolled at big tens the next year. Maybe some karma came around and finally got him.

north wrote:

mohamed didn't train much, this thread is about most talented not most achieved.

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.

[/quote]

Dude. Are you kidding me? He beat a bunch of nobodies?! This thread is indeed supposed to be about wasted talent. This kid was ridiculously good in HS, and never ever trained during the summer or for that matter, they way he should have throughout the year. If he ever had run more than 30 miles/week, let alone 80 like a lot of HS kids do now, he would have been damn close to running 4 mins and breaking 8:45 in the duece.

1996 Results:

Place Time Name Grade Region School Hometown State

1 15:21.0 Abdirizak Mohamud 11 NE Boston English Boston MA

2 15:23.6 Sharif Karie 12 SO West Springfield Burke VA

3 15:30.2 Ryan Andrus 12 W Mountain View Orem UT

4 15:30.9 Michael Kasahun 12 W Fresno Fresno CA

5 15:38.0 Jorge Torres 10 MW Wheeling Wheeling IL

6 15:40.6 Christopher Dugan 12 NE Southmoreland Scottsdale PA

7 15:47.7 Mark Thompson 12 MW Edmond Memorial Edmond OK

8 15:47.8 Jonathon Riley 12 NE Brookline Brookline MA

9 15:49.1 Steven Slattery 11 NE Mount Olive Flanders NJ

10 15:55.2 Jamey Gifford 12 SO Baylor Lookout Mtn. GA

11 15:56.1 Jesse Barnes 12 MW Batavia Batavia IL

12 15:57.2 Aaron Blondeau 12 MW Salida Salida CO

13 15:57.6 David Lopez 12 W Hoover Glendale CA

14 15:58.0 Eric Post 12 SO Chantilly Fairfax VA

15 15:58.4 Wes Stockard 11 SO Webb School Knoxville TN

16 16:01.2 Rhy Reynolds 12 W Newport Newport OR

17 16:01.6 Eric Kweder 12 SO Thomas A. Edison Alexandria VA

18 16:04.1 Chris Sorensen 12 W La Cueva Albuquerque NM

19 16:05.2 Ernie Ziegler 12 MW Harrison Harrison OH

20 16:05.7 David Rodriguez 12 W Mission San Jose Fremont CA

21 16:06.9 Ryan Travis 12 SO J.C. Jewell Zachary LA

22 16:08.5 Geoffrey Fleming 12 W Roseville Roseville CA

23 16:11.8 Edwardo Torres 10 MW Wheeling Wheeling IL

24 16:17.7 Adam Daniels 12 NE Seton Hall Prep Pompton Plains NJ

25 16:23.5 Michael Sanford 12 NE Pine-Richland Gibsonia PA

26 16:29.7 Isaac Hawkins 12 W Joel E. Feris Spokane WA

27 16:30.4 Gabe Jennings 12 MW Madison East Madison WI

28 16:34.8 Josh Crowfoot 12 SO South Gwinnet Lithonia GA

29 16:38.0 Parker Pruett 12 NE Sumner Memorial Birch Harbor ME

30 16:39.4 David Christian 10 SO Daviess County Owensboro KY

31 16:51.2 Matthew Elmuccio 12 Ne Westfield Westfied NJ

32 18:01.8 Christian Dullock 12 MW Jackson Jackson MI

1997 results:

Place Time Name Grade Region School Hometown State

1 15:22.7 Abdirizak Mohamud 12 NE Boston English Boston MA

2 15:33.5 Jorge Torres 11 MW Wheeling Wheeling IL

3 15:38.9 Isaiah Festa 12 W Morro Bay Los Osos CA

4 15:46.5 Steven Slattery 12 NE Mt. Olive Flanders NJ

5 15:47.8 Fasil Bizuneh 12 MW Ben Davis Indianapolis IN

6 15:48.6 Edwardo Torres 11 MW Wheeling Wheeling IL

7 15:50.2 Ronnie Buchanan 12 W Righetti Santa Maria CA

8 15:50.6 Michael Altieri 12 W Jesuit Sacramento CA

9 15:52.0 Murad Campbell 11 NE Overbrook Regional Lindenwold NJ

10 15:53.2 Chris Siemers 11 MW Fenton Bensenville IL

11 15:59.0 Louis Luchini 11 NE Ellsworth Ellsworth ME

12 16:01.2 Steve Smith 12 W Ayala Chino Hills CA

13 16:02.1 Joe Barnes 11 MW Clayton Northmont Dayton OH

14 16:05.6 Anthony Francisco 12 W Sunny Side Tucson AZ

15 16:06.0 Mark Gleason 12 W Mission Viejo Mission Viejo CA

16 16:09.6 Todd Swenson 12 NE Londonderry Londonderry NH

17 16:10.0 Ian Hahn 12 NE Manchester Township Lakehurst NJ

18 16:11.0 Dustin Herman 12 W Nordhoff Ojai CA

19 16:11.3 Ayron King 12 MW Pike Indianapolis IN

20 16:11.8 Andy Powell 11 NE Oliver Ames North Easton MA

21 16:15.7 Eric Reese 12 NE Sullivan County Dushore PA

22 16:17.0 Wes Stockard 12 SO Webb Knoxville TN

23 16:25.3 Bradsher Wilkins 11 SO Orange Hillsborough NC

24 16:30.4 Nick Gow 12 MW Lakeland Highland MI

25 16:31.0 Brian Turner 10 MW Millard North Omaha NE

26 16:31.7 Josh Baker 11 SO Freedom Morganton NC

27 16:36.8 Joshua Rohatinsky 10 W Provo Provo MI

28 16:54.0 Jeff Wood 12 SO Kingwood Humble NE

29 16:54.6 Andrew Macleod 11 SO Oakton Herndon NC

30 16:57.5 Joe Lion 12 SO Watauga Blowing Rock UT

31 17:05.6 Michael Olague 12 SO Conroe Conroe TX

32 17:17.2 Amlesom Teklai 12 SO West Potomac Alexandria VA

I don't know if you can really say a kid that ran 142 miles in a week in high school was wasted talent. Sounds like he performed pretty much to the best of his ability in HS then got burned out (injured in this case)

20 16:11.8 Andy Powell 11 NE Oliver Ames North Easton, MA

He's another one I would have expected more out of, particularly with the HS credentials he had.

26 16:29.7 Isaac Hawkins 12 W Joel E. Feris Spokane WA

Same thing for this one--he ran some great races, and never really did much after high school.

blast from the past wrote:

At his peak [Rudolf Harbig] was unbeaten at 800m for 48 races, but unfortunately his career was curtailed by the war.

Yeah--so was his life: March 5, 1944, in Ukraine.

Mark Dailey of EMU wasn't a waste. But IMO he was more talented than Paul McMullen with better pure speed and more endurance. McMullen was well respected but Dailey was in immortal status. He kicked down Brian Diemer like it was nothing in a mile race, when Dailey wasn't a miler yet. Give him the baton and he'd win guaranteed. His kick was unbelievable. I heard when he got away from Coach Parks that he trained under an unproven coach who screwed up. As a pro everyone saw a lesser Dailey under that coach which killed me. I wanted everyone to see what he could've been. Too bad as IMO he was medal quality in the right race and I've seen some great runners.

how about these guys wrote:

He (Mark Dailey) kicked down Brian Diemer like it was nothing in a mile race, when Dailey wasn't a miler yet.

Dailey was only a sophomore in college and a pure 800 guy at this point.