Mark Davis and Todd Williams are two of the greatest distance runners the U.S. has ever produced. Davis had the American record in the two-mile for many years and Williams ran 42:22 at Gate River. Why didn't Meb/Abdi/Culpepper ever beat that record?
I don't know about changing conditions at the CA State meet between 1987 and when Fernandez ran (did the state meet course get faster ???). German Fernandez is one of the greatest high school track runners of all time, but was certainly better on the track than X-C.
I'm sure Dathan Ritzenhein would have the course record at Balboa if Nationals were there when he was running. 14:35 at Kenosha and whatever he ran at the MI state meet are tremendous, plus Solinsky did run 14:40 at Balboa a couple of years later. And Ritz was way up there (3rd?) at World Cross-Country (Juniors) the next Spring. Just like Melody Fairchild was 3rd at World X-C after setting the Balboa Record in 1990.
Everyone is focused on the boys race, but Claudia Lane almost broke 17:00 after going out in 5:17.
Now, I agree that Drew Hunter only running 14:55 is weird, especially given the 7:59 on a flat track for 3000 two months later. Maybe he's more of a 1600/3200 guy, and maybe that day wasn't ideal.