Best athlete you ever actually competed against?

Luv2Run wrote:

The thread on GOAT and a conversation last night with my brother prompted me post this.

Who is the best athlete you ever directly competed against? It could be in any sport. What are his/her bona fides?

Not acceptable: running a major road where you were so far back that while you were in the race, you were not really competing.

College and high school races are acceptable. But you had to be in the event against the person.

Mine is a guy named Larry Kinnebrew. He played several years in the NFL. I played basketball against him as a kid in youth leagues. The guy won state championships in the 100m, one of the throws, wrestling state champion and starred on 2 state championship football teams.

Swimming - Ian Crocker

Track - Johnny Gray

We ran the Roy Griak meet every year so I got compete against some studs. Some that come to mind: Hassan Mead, Ben Blankenship, Ryan Hill, Hillary Bor, Stephen Sambu, and Lawi Lalang.

Ben Olsen. Former US Mens National Team Player (Soccer). Played with him on the same team (club) and against him (high school). Guy was an absolute stud even in high school. Was the National Player of the Year in high school and in college. Good pro career, played in England, played in a World Cup. Great player, great guy, great family.

SoIL wrote:

So weird... I used to wrestle with Alli all the time at practices and we're still friends. I only wrestled her once in an actual tournament and I'm 95% sure I won 7-2. I'll have to let her know that she's even coming up on running forums now.

Wow, very small world. I didn't expect anyone on the boards to know who she is, much less, to have wrestled her as well. I wonder if she would remember my name. I've searched online, but no luck finding the IKWF state wrestling brackets from that long ago. But I do have the bracket somewhere in my parents basement. If you can figure out who I am, I'll see if I can post the picture. I believe it was 68 lb weight class if I'm not mistaken.

Note: I am the same poster as 815 runner.

I have ran a few local XC races with an old Allen Webb in the last few years, also whooped him in a DMR at a local track meet.

Ed Eyestone, and I got dusted......every time.

Rod Dixon, but never saw him again after the first mile he was so far ahead in a 10K Road race.

An out of shape Doug Padilla, who I was ahead of going into the final 200m of an indoor mile race. He beat me by four seconds.

Henry Rono elected to run the 5000 because I'm sure he was "scared" to race me in the steeple!

I did beat an older Frank Shorter in a 1983 road 10K.

Rupp in his prime and post-retirement Alan Webb.

Pickup game with Julius Peppers in Charlotte 10-12 years ago

Wow.

The alley oop he threw down was stupid. A human at that size should not be able to do what he did. I was with Brendan Haywood's team. Haywood killed him during the game but was not near the athlete Pepper's was.

Also played pickup with Armon Gilliam almost 20 years ago after he retired with the Hornets. Wouldn't shoot the ball. I kept giving it to him thinking, "I'm not taking shots with this guy on my team." He kept passing. Almost like he knew he was playing with what amounted to little children compared to him. I felt like a 4th grader playing with his dad...

In the 80s when I could run local 10Ks in 33s to 34s, I remember getting some top 5 finishes in small races where the winners were running 31s. The winners were local DII quality runners and another guy who was a 2:17 guy, and no doubt those races were tempos for them.

I ran against Bruce MF Egeland!

/EOT/

In the early 80s I ran a collegiate steeple that had Solomon Chebor in the field. He of course won, but I was able to stay in the mix until the last 200.

In the Empire State Building Run-Up one year, I finished seconds behind Mike McCarthy, who was then world individual pursuit champion in track cycling.

When I turned to cycling after my running career ended, I was in numerous races with George Hincapie when he competed domestically.

On the track, Scott Fry.

On the roads, Bob Kennedy in I think his only road 10k ever, and Brian Abshire.

I don't count races where great runners either didn't try or were too old to run fast.

I have a few. In high school basketball, I played against future Ohio State and NBA star Jim Jackson. He dropped 42 on us and dunked over our entire 2-3 zone. In high school track I competed against Chris Nelloms (Dayton Dunbar) and Robert Smith (Euclid) in the 4x400. Not sure if it counts since I was the 3rd leg on my team and they were both anchors.

In college, probably the most famous person I raced was Jim Spivey. It was a last chance meet at North Central College in Illinois. It was an 800m race, at night under the lights. Spivey won it in about 1:50, I was about 3 seconds back.

Rupp, senior year of HS. I managed to run one of the worst races of my life, not that I was ever going to be in any kind of contention.

I was at the Florida Relays in college to run the 1500m. We had a small group and one of our sprinters injured a hamstring in the 4x100. As there was no one else there, I anchored the 4x200 later in the day. I lined up against Dennis Mitchell. It was ugly.

Played soccer in high school against Caleb Porter, former MLS and USL player and most recently the coach of the Portland Timbers. He played mid and I played between the sticks. Dude had a foot on him but I'm pretty sure I kept him off the scoreboard.

When I was a kid I fought a 10th dan judoka, which is the highest rank you can get in judo, and there are only a few of them in the world.

Back in college I raced Joe Falcon in a 3k on the track and against Todd Williams every few weeks for my whole college career. Raced Kennedy twice. Finished 2nd to Craig Virgin in a road 10k. Lead over each of them briefly but was never a real threat to beat any of them. Still smile at the memories though.

Most memorable to watch and see and compete with was Falcon. He just glided around the track, barely touching the ground.

In high school I ran against Jon Riley from Brookline. One of the classiest guys out there.

In the two mile at Reggie once, I was in the fight for second with another Brookline guy. Riley lapped the entire field and ran next to his teammate to try to beat me. Yes. I lost.

Later that spring we ran the mile and I mean he was light years faster than all of us.

I was a sophomore at the time. But I remember talking to him after the races and he really couldn’t have been nicer or cooler. Mind you. This guy ran 8:58 at the indoor championships and followed this with a 409. He was by far the best and yet. Not even a hint of ego.

Needless to say. I became a huge fan. Of his and was really excited to see him make the Olympic team in 2004.

Ps. Getting lapped ina 2 Mile sucks