What ever happened to... These high school standouts!??

Graham Bazell judging by his Facebook went off the deep end. Great high school runner though that did nothing

Jonathan Riley , Mark Schurzu , Vince Draddy

Yes. Pioneer. Why? His record stood for a couple of decades before being broken by Webb. It means he is a pioneer because, until Webb, nobody really could run as fast as Scott, except Scott.

Also, remember, if I recall correctly, the legendary Carlsbad 5000, going into year 32 in 2018....was designed by Scott.

Pioneer, indeed.

[quote]Er... wrote:

Interesting post. Your overwriting never fails to amuse. I was a big fan of Steve Scott back in the day and even threw my support behind him at the last minute, rooting for him to win gold in the '84 1500m in L.A. Too bad it wasn't his day. I'm curious, though: in what way do you consider him a pioneer? Great guy, phenomenal athlete. But pioneer?

Correction:Since it started in 1986, 2018 will be year 33.Thanks

Stoppit Smith wrote:

Yes. Pioneer. Why? His record stood for a couple of decades before being broken by Webb. It means he is a pioneer because, until Webb, nobody really could run as fast as Scott, except Scott.

Also, remember, if I recall correctly, the legendary Carlsbad 5000, going into year 32 in 2018....was designed by Scott.

Pioneer, indeed.

[quote]Er... wrote:

Interesting post. Your overwriting never fails to amuse. I was a big fan of Steve Scott back in the day and even threw my support behind him at the last minute, rooting for him to win gold in the '84 1500m in L.A. Too bad it wasn't his day. I'm curious, though: in what way do you consider him a pioneer? Great guy, phenomenal athlete. But pioneer?

As an addendum, I will include three athletes from closer to me that I got to witness first hand at XC invitationals when I was in high school.

Carrie Garritson, Milena Glusac (and I will include Amy Skieresz, as she was one of her biggest rivals), and Nazario Romero.

The good thing is that I can still run in races that have Mr. Romero in them (I don't say run against because his 15 minute 5Ks are at least 5 minutes faster than I am).

I have worked briefly with Ms. Glusac when she was the head of a company that helped to provide the refreshment (Gookinade) for our new race, created in 2009.

So, it is good to see that they are still involved.

My point is mainly this. Garritson, Glusac, and Romero, if given the kind of support that athletes in other sports get, could have gone much farther. I am convinced of this. Ms. Garritson was one of the best young runners I had ever seen (I saw her in 1991 as a senior when she was a sophomore).

The only real publicity she got was negative, but she did not create her training methods.

To this day, I am fully convinced that, having seen the abilities of Romero to dominate when he was at SPHS, as we competed against them in nearby San Marcos, he could have been a highly competitive Olympian.

The problem is that the big corporations tend to like big corporate towns:

Los Angeles, San Diego, New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas.

But they forget about the Escondidos, Fallbrooks, Fullerton/Buena Parks, and even the Agouras.

And I appreciate all of the positive comments about my comments.

I do have a pretty wide scope on this, having been interested in running since watching Grete, Joan and Alberto (at one time I was a fan), watching a surprising Doina Melinte set what is STILL a world record, and watching Bob Kempainen lose it all at the finish. I even got to see an upstart Richard Chelimo at the 1992 Carlsbad 5000.

But back to my point. Because I have witnessed this, I have seen where the marketing goes and what happens. We did not even keep an Olympic training center in Chula Vista.

Our runners deserve better.

They really do.

Not This Guy wrote:

Winning an Olympic gold medal 1500 in 3:54 does not impress me in the least.

Am I the only one who remembered that Centro ran 3:50 and not 3:54?

Adding a few:

Drew Hunter

Reed Brown

Matthew Maton

Grant Fisher

Stoppit Smith wrote:

We all bought into Dan and Dave of triathlete fame. Why? Advertising.

The advertising may have been a little short on the details, however.

Steven Hassan, Matt Mizerick, Ryan Deak, Erik Stanley, Bill Matthews, CJ Brown, Thomas Porter...Justin Harbor? Scott MacPherson? Those are a whole bunch of southern talented Footlocker guys. Someone throw me some info. The florida guys referenced were very talented. Steven Hassan had some stout races.

I'd agree that he was a pioneer of speed golf. In every other way his work was exceptional--but neither new nor innovative.

[quote]Stoppit Smith wrote:

Yes. Pioneer. Why? His record stood for a couple of decades before being broken by Webb. It means he is a pioneer because, until Webb, nobody really could run as fast as Scott, except Scott.

Also, remember, if I recall correctly, the legendary Carlsbad 5000, going into year 32 in 2018....was designed by Scott.

Pioneer, indeed.

how about adding some other distances....

-darrold williamson (baylor 400m)

-xavier carter (lsu 100-400)

-kelly willie (lsu 100-400)

-johnathan johnson (texas tech 800)

-brendan christian (texas hs 100-200m)

-J-mee samuels (nc hs 100-200)

-demiko goodman (georgia hs 400m)

-elzie coleman

OhYeahThoseGuys wrote:

Adding a few:

Drew Hunter

Reed Brown

Matthew Maton

Grant Fisher

are you really bad at making jokes or just stupid?

Good catch.Decathlete fame.Oops.Point re: advertising still stands.Thank you.

Avocado's Number wrote:

Stoppit Smith wrote:

We all bought into Dan and Dave of triathlete fame. Why? Advertising.

The advertising may have been a little short on the details, however.

Hear hear. Back in my high school days as a freshman (midget for my fellow Ontarians) this guy was the stuff of legends. I'm pretty sure he won every OFSAA championship (equivalent of state)in XC and track except in his first year as a senior. Would love to find out more about his post-college running career

Disregarding the devastating impact of injuries, how many people reading this have been good at something that they lost interest in, for various reasons? Happens ALL the time. Some of you have excelled in other endeavors/careers, or put an All-America level of commitment into families, as your focus and drive have changed.

Also, "Been there, done that" has merit. It is sometimes a very legit philosophy, especially when there's so much pain and sacrifice involved. Yes, sacrifice can enrich a person's life, and perseverance can lead to joyous highs. And they can be a drag. And everything in-between.

Think back on Jim Ryun at Kansas, where he walked off the track for a spell. Think about Boston Marathon winner Des Linden needing a major break from a gruelling sport not long ago. No doubt they were called losers, quitters, underachievers, head cases, lazybones, space cadets, past their prime, etc. Jim Ryun is still maligned at times because he "only" has a silver medal after being such an amazing high school athlete.

It's all a folly -- elite HS athletes being judged on a public forum by others whose own lives are never going to be picked apart in a similar manner. Having a forum is great, so I'm not knocking that, only that to judge a person based upon past success and idealized future success, and without knowing squat about what the person is really up to, is laughable.

If an elite high school athlete eventually goes in a different direction, and is happy trying something new, never to return to greatness in his/her original sport, then more power to the person, even if others confer the title of "failure" or "biggest disappointment" upon him/her.

There are so many great high school T&F/XC champs and recordholders to whom I'll gladly say, "Good for you for trying, in your own way. You succeeded brilliantly, even if you fell short of that NCAA Division III regional gold medal after a stunning high school career. And congratulations on your family, your career, your peace of mind. I'm jealous."