BREAKING: Matt Tegenkamp retires from pro running!

I ran against Matt Tegenkamp in Missouri during his high school career, we were the same age. My senior year at state in the two mile Matt is cruising to a win. I'm about a 1/2 lap behind and I hear the whole crowd start to chant, "Tegenkamp, Tegegkamp, Tegenkamp..." Pretty amazing. I feel like I was there to see the start. It was fun to follow his career after that. It was easy to root for a nice guy and to say, "Look, one of us kids from Missouri really made it to the top level." As he is retiring I am starting to run again after "retiring" after college. If he is running an hour a day he is probably doing more in retirement than I am coming out of retirement though. :-) Congratulations on a great career Matt!

nikeman wrote:

You definitely need to include his 2009 US title at 5,000 meters. The Wisconsin trifecta finish of Teg, Solinsky and Jager was an amazing race.

Indeed, but should we put it up there with an * as Lagat didn't run it as he had a bye for Worlds?

How crazy is that to thank about? If Lagat runs that year, it's likely Teg - a sub 13:00 stud - would have retired with zero NCAA or US titles.

rojo wrote:

We are likely to write an article where we highligh tthe top 5-6 moments of his careers. We are looking for nominations.

His sub-13.

His 4th place At Worlds

Those two jump out at me. What else?

I assume US 2-mile record.

Any NCAA races?

For me it was 5th at the World Junior Cross Country. At that point, I knew he was going to be a world-beater. Tough as nails. Had the pleasure of "racing" him in Mobile at the 10K Road champs where he dropped out due to injury. Dude was big, strong. Such a contrast to Ritz, who that day rolled like a 27:30 solo.

His last 2 state meets in high school were amazing. XC his senior year breaking the state record on a day where it was unseasonably warm and winning by a full minute, or that 3200 where he became the first MO high schooler to run sub 9 at the state meet. In both cases he led every single step of the race, locked in on those records, and got them. Those were just the start of some amazing things to come.

blatter wrote:

I can't name a single American 3:34 runner who ran 2:12. There might be one, or two, but I can't think of one.

I can name a handful of international runners, but not many: Dixon, Quax (not sure Quax ran 3:34, but he was close), Farrah, Geb, and Bekele. I'm sure there's a few more, but that's all I can come up with.

Among Americans in the pre-professional runner era it is hard to top the late Charles McMullen who ran 3:59 at Missouri then 3:56 in an open race that is an adjusted result and 2:15:19 at the Drake Relays in 1978.

Certainly the first ever American below both Four Minutes and Two Hours & 16 Minutes in his career.

coach deez nuts wrote:

Precious Roy wrote:

Before picking apart Teg's races, remember that he beat Tariku Bekele and a guy named "Mo" in 2007 and pushed some of the greatest 5k runners of all time to their limits (Kipchoge, Lagat, Kipsorio). That race was really the turning point for US distance running where everyone saw that it was possible to really compete with the E. Africans. Teg was a fearless racer and inspired a revival in US distance running.

Teg got 4th in one of the slowest finals of all time and was always coming from behind. Fearless is not the word I would use to describe his racing.

fair point, he gets a big pass by the letsrun crowd where Rupp does not. For Teg let's call it savvy. But for Rupp they'll call it something worse. I liked that race but it wasn't a turning point in my mind because I'm sure like many others, I was still wanting to see us in medal contention in a race that had some real pace to it.

Section V Old Timer wrote:

blatter wrote:

I can't name a single American 3:34 runner who ran 2:12. There might be one, or two, but I can't think of one.

I can name a handful of international runners, but not many: Dixon, Quax (not sure Quax ran 3:34, but he was close), Farrah, Geb, and Bekele. I'm sure there's a few more, but that's all I can come up with.

Among Americans in the pre-professional runner era it is hard to top the late Charles McMullen who ran 3:59 at Missouri then 3:56 in an open race that is an adjusted result and 2:15:19 at the Drake Relays in 1978.

Certainly the first ever American below both Four Minutes and Two Hours & 16 Minutes in his career.

Nice recall! Great runner and a good guy. Drake was not a fast course either.

The effort was doomed from the start. No one gets 105% out of themselves.

nikeman wrote:

Sorry about the foreign commentary, but here's that 2007 World Championships final. Last 800 went in about 1:52 (:58/:54)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGnyDZVaWR0&feature=share

Teg blew by Slow Mo Farah in that race

Section V Old Timer wrote:

blatter wrote:

I can't name a single American 3:34 runner who ran 2:12. There might be one, or two, but I can't think of one.

I can name a handful of international runners, but not many: Dixon, Quax (not sure Quax ran 3:34, but he was close), Farrah, Geb, and Bekele. I'm sure there's a few more, but that's all I can come up with.

Among Americans in the pre-professional runner era it is hard to top the late Charles McMullen who ran 3:59 at Missouri then 3:56 in an open race that is an adjusted result and 2:15:19 at the Drake Relays in 1978.

Certainly the first ever American below both Four Minutes and Two Hours & 16 Minutes in his career.

I can think of a few better than that: Thom Hunt 3:57/2:12, Rudy Chapa 3:38/2:11, Ken Martin 3:57/2:09. I'm sure there are more in that range.

I can't think of any 3:34 guys who even attempted a serious marathon. I suppose if you ran 3:34 you really did not need to consider running a marathon.

RunCogRun wrote:

Dr. Steve Brule wrote:

A class act, a great competitor, and someone who was on top of his game for 15 years. I think in time we will come to respect his range and his longevity. How many other 2:12 guys ran 3:34???:

1500m 3:34.25

1 Mile 3:56.38

3000m 7:34.98i

2 Mile 8:07.07 (AR)

5000m 12:58.56

10000m 27:28.22

Half-Marathon 1:02.04

Marathon 2:12.28

Matt Gabrielson has similar range. Not bad for a guy from a rural Iowa community of 2000 people who played HS FB (didn't run XC) and only did track over golf upon the recommendation of the basketball coach.

1500m 3:41

1 Mile 4:02

3000m 7:54i

5000m 13:32

10000m 28:44

Half-Marathon 1:03:44

Marathon 2:13:28

He's now coaching at Edina.

Nothing against Matt Gabrielson, who was a fine runner, but that is not "similar range" to Tegenkamp's. If you look at Gabrielson's personal bests, you see a list that is so commonplace among national class runners that almost nobody would know who owns them. This is NOT the case with Matt Tegenkamp.

oh, and the late Paul Cummings ran 3:56/2:11. He's one of the few Americans I can think of who was an actual miler for a while, then transitioned all the way up to the marathon.

Presumably Chapa wouldn't have been a whole lot later than 1978 with the Marathon time either?

Not to pick nits here but by the time Hunt ran his 2:12 (1986) you could make a decent living running 2:12 marathons. Same would apply to Martin who was another three years later.

He was always too tall

Solid dude! Pro!

rojo wrote:

We are likely to write an article where we highligh tthe top 5-6 moments of his careers. We are looking for nominations.

His sub-13.

His 4th place At Worlds

Those two jump out at me. What else?

I assume US 2-mile record.

Any NCAA races?

2009 USAs 5000m where he beat Solinsky by like a second.

Mottram has gone 3:33.97. Watch him debut in London. Says 2:13, surely he's capable of at least 2:10. He's always been twice the athlete Teg is. For example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esIV_UBEAaw

Wow how crazy he's retiring. How time flies. I can still remember when he was a high school phenom. My first memory of him was back in 1999. My dad is a cross country coach, and in 99 he had his best team ever. They won every meet that year, including the Griak meet, and set the still standing state meet record.

Every meet...except one. One meet, my dad invited Lee's Summit HIgh school to come compete against his team in a local race. He led the team at the time, and together they handed my dad's best team their only defeat.

How I wish there'd been a Nike Nationals back then. Those two teams would've held their own against the best in the country.

blatter wrote:

Section V Old Timer wrote:

Among Americans in the pre-professional runner era it is hard to top the late Charles McMullen who ran 3:59 at Missouri then 3:56 in an open race that is an adjusted result and 2:15:19 at the Drake Relays in 1978.

Certainly the first ever American below both Four Minutes and Two Hours & 16 Minutes in his career.

I can think of a few better than that: Thom Hunt 3:57/2:12, Rudy Chapa 3:38/2:11, Ken Martin 3:57/2:09. I'm sure there are more in that range.

I can't think of any 3:34 guys who even attempted a serious marathon. I suppose if you ran 3:34 you really did not need to consider running a marathon.

Steve Bolt 3:59 / 2:14.06