Dat Troll Do wrote:
I give it to Ritz because I feel he was the most well-rounded--success in XC, on the track, and in the marathon. He made the Olympics twice as compared to once for Hall and Webb. And he is still competing whereas the other two are retired. Webb's mile record is the most impressive time and I think Hall's stint as a top-marathoner was probably the closest to the top of the world, but Ritz's total package eclipses them.
I'm with you. This is all totally subjective, but if I had to pick which resume I would want to have out of those three, it would definitely be Ritz's. Even though Webb beat Ritz in their only 10K matchup, Ritz was clearly the best out of three in the 5K/10K, based on PR and World placing (even Webb acknowledged this). In the 3K/2 miles, it was very close between Ritz and Webb, although I'd give a slight edge to Webb. The mile, that's a no brainer. Then as you move up to half marathon, Hall has the edge but Ritz wasn't far behind him. Then Ritz put together some good marathons, including his 2:07 at Chicago and Olympic finish (ahead of Hall). Plus Ritz is still active as you mentioned, so the book isn't closed.
So yeah, based on his range from 3K to marathon, I'd give it to Ritz but I could see someone making case for any of the 3.