Detroit Piston Richard Hamilton a 4:30 miler?

Here's an example of a very good college Div 2 basketball player who tried out for cross (Div 2) and won the first cross country race she ever ran:

From

http://www.goseawolves.com/sports/index.cfm?fuseAction=profile&roster_id=199&sport_id=2

2003-04: Completed one of the finest 2-year careers in school history with her second straight First Team All-GNAC honor and captured Second Team All-West Region accolades after making the first team as a junior...a nursing major with a 3.46 GPA, she also earned a spot on the Academic All-District Second Team (College Division), honoring her as one of the top 10 women’s basketball student-athletes among all NCAA II, III and NAIA schools in nine Western states...led the team in scoring (17.9), rebounding (9.4), assists (3.9), blocks (1.1), steals (2.6), 3FG% (.370), FT% (.855), minutes (38.9) and double-doubles (10), and held top 10 GNAC ranks in scoring (3rd), rebounding (2nd), double-doubles (2nd), assists (7th), blocks (5th), steals (2nd), FT% (3rd) and assist-turnover ratio (10th)...ranked 19th nationally in FT%...scored in double-digits 24 times — including a GNAC-record 38 in the Feb. 7 win over NW Nazarene — and the other three games she had nine. The NNU game was also tied for the third-highest single-game point total ever by a Seawolf...made 33 straight free throws at one stretch in February (a streak thought to be a school record) and came just 0.0002 short of breaking UAA’s single-season FT% record. On Feb. 14, she broke UAA’s single-game FT% record by going 14-for-14….shattered UAA’s single-season records for playing time, logging 1,050 total minutes and 38.9 per game. Played the entire game 18 times, and fewer than 37 minutes just twice. Her 45-minute effort at Seattle (Jan. 22) was the first time in nine years that a Seawolf played the entire game in an overtime contest...in just two years, cracked UAA’s career top 10 in scoring average (4th, 16.8), total rebounds (10th, 539), rebounds per game (2nd, 10.2), total assists (9th, 231), total steals (10th, 143), 3FG made (T-8th, 58), 3FG% (8th, .345), FT made (9th, 222), FT% (2nd, .838) and double-doubles (2nd, 24)...earned Most Outstanding Player award at the 2003 Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout after leading UAA to the title with wins over Division I teams Mount St. Mary’s and Clemson. Averaged 17.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg and 4.0 apg in the Shootout, including a 21-point (7-10 FG, 6-6 FT), 7-rebound effort against Mount St. Mary’s...other top performances included 19 points and 12 rebounds in a win over Western New Mexico (Dec. 17); 9 points, 17 rebounds and 5 assists in a win over Central Washington (Jan. 15); 27 points (8-16 FG, 2-3 3FG, 9-10 FT), 11 rebounds and 5 assists in road win over Western Washington (Jan. 24); 38 points (13-21 FG, 2-2 3FG, 10-12 FT) and 12 rebounds in win over NW Nazarene (Feb. 7); and 28 points (8-18 FG, 4-9 3FG, 8-9 FT), 17 rebounds and 6 steals in road win over Western Oregon (Mar. 4).

Then: from

http://www.goseawolves.com/sports/index.cfm?fuseAction=profile&roster_id=363

2004: Excelled in her only season of cross country competition at any level...won her first-ever race, claiming the season-opening UAF Invitational...placed second overall and first among collegiate competitors at the Palmer Invite...top UAA finisher at season's first three events...placed 17th at the GNAC Championships...posted second-best UAA finish at NCAA West Regional (16th) and at NCAAs (87th)...earned academic all-conference honors.

She also managed to run 4:44 1500 and 2:18 800, without a full season - jumped in late after her basketball season concluded. That's probably better than a guy jumping in and running 4:3x. http://www.goseawolves.com/index.cfm?fuseAction=readStory&story_id=1618

Add: Her 4:44 1500 was only 3 seconds off the provisional qualifying time for NCAA DIV 2 outdoor track (4:41). The same 1500 standard for men is 3:54 (roughly 4:12-4:13 mile). So, make that a lot better than a guy basketball player running 4:30. Her 800 time compares well to those mentioned above in the Superstars competitions and that's not even taking in to account her gender. I don't about Rip Hamilton, but at least there's a female basketball player with verified times that are very respectable.

I didn't mean for the above to be a thread killer, so here's a bump. Anyone else as impressed as I was by this basketball player's running?

I checked your "proof." The link you provide connects to a January 2005 track meet in which a Michael Vick ran 9:35 for the 3000 meters. Problem is that this Michael Vick runs for a Midwestern college. The Michael Vick we all know, on the other hand, is in the middle of playing his pro football season.

VapoRub wrote:

Michael Vick can run (almost) two sub-5:10 miles back to back - at altitude.

Not really that impressive or unbelievable......I was a sprinter in college and after my last season I decided I wanted to try the mile unattached at an indoor race. I trained for a month and a half (after 2-3 months of doing jackshit) by doing 1 mile time trials at the local indoor track and doing some 3-4 mile runs a couple times a week. I went to that meet and ran a 4:46. Not to mention that I never ran cross country, never ran a race farther than 400m, and we never practiced with repeats farther than 600m. I had no experience with middle distance and trained by myself for 6 weeks. It is certainly not unbelievable that Hamilton, a professional athlete, could run a 4:30 mile when it is his job to be in shape. Maybe 4:30 is not a normal mile time for an NBA player....but i'm sure it can happen.

Some good points made from both sides here. I'll throw this one out then....I used to work in an exercise phys lab and we did fitness testing on our city's NHL hockey club. The lab kept team records for a number of years, and the fittest athlete to ever come through in terms of V02 had a max V02 of about 59. I know hockey's not the same as basketball, but as the guy points out above, any developed athlete should be able to run a 4:30. Obviously this hockey player (sorry, I can't remember the name, but he was on the Oiler's in the '80s) was 'developed' as he held the team record, but with a max V02 of 59, I don't think he'd be able to sustain any amount of speed for a long period of time. Many pro athletes can be well developed, but few would have a V02 high enough to excel in a middle distance race. They don't need one for all their short bursts on the court. Thoughts?