fdsasd wrote:
Lagat won the indoor 3k and mile and then won the 5k outdoors during his senior year. He dominated the NCAA during his senior year. His junior year, he ran the 1500 outdoors and would have won that, but he fell during the race. In cross country, he finished 3rd as a sophomore at NCAA's and then 7th as a junior. He did not compete during his senior year. Those finishes are impressive given his low mileage training. He ran 3:37 as a freshman, 3:34 as a junior, and 3:30 in August following his senior track season. I think it's safe to say he was a dominant figure in the NCAA. He didn't win as many races as someone like Cheserek, but he was about as good as they come. If Lagat of 1999 raced Cheserek of today at 5000 or 1500, he'd completely blow him away, no question.
I think singling anyone out for accusations is unfair, because I am equally skeptical of everybody. And that includes David Torrance.
With that said, that's not an accurate rendition of Lagat, the NCAA runner.
In 1997, age 22, he finished fourth in the NCAA 1500m outdoor final running 3:42 behind Lassiter's 3:40..
In 1998, age 23, no one can prove what would have happened if he didn't fall. But the race is on youtube, and a fair conclusion, all things considered, is that, at best, he would have been in a fight to the wire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSX7YXuv1pQIn the 1999 NCAA 1500m outdoor final, age 24, he stayed on his feet but again finished fourth, in 3:48.88, behind the very undistinguished Clyde Colenso (3;47.54). Lagat had won the 5000m two days earlier, in 14:01.
Not a dominant showing by any means. Nothing close to a basis for saying that he would have blown Cheserek away. And nothing reasonably predicting a 3:30 1500m two months after the 1999 NCAA.
Again, whenever I find myself thinking ungenerous thoughts about Lagat, I have to remind myself that I cannot, objectively, regard him with any more suspicion than every other top level American runner of the EPO era. Every one of them can have his record broken down and his performance jumps assigned to the use of EPO.