Galen Rupp, Dathan Ritzenhein, and Alan Webb the USA young 3 musketeers

So what do you mean by "great things"...?

Please be specific...

withrow would smoke rupp 1 on 1 at any distance

the toinkster thinks that you have smoke too much pot,

MEB FOR LIFE!

Vipam wrote: and the young guns the U.S. distances are looking the best they have in decades. Looking forward to the great things in 2005 and BEYOND from Alan, Dathan, Galen, and our veterans. GO USA!

Don't forget the incredible crew of young runners in HS right now...Freshman are running sick times left and right this year. Or slightly older guys like Miller, Forys, See, bumbalough, Barnicle...can't wait to see what some of those guys do when they get in college races in the next year or next few years for the younger ones. 4 years from now we might have freshman in college making guys like Ritz, withrow, mcdougal, rupp ect look slow. Which would be tremendous. This rob Finnery kid just ran 906 for 3200 as a freshman....been a long time since anyone has came close to that.

Go Withrow, this kid is gonna roll!!!

people are quick to forget Withrow's 13:35 performance and outstanding US and world xc championships. i would definitely put withrow in there and make it... well im at a loss for a good 4 man analogy.

fantastic four, perhaps?

Vipam,

Rupp's certainly very very good, but I wouldn't put him in the same league just yet with Webb and Ritzenhein. He's got loads of potential it appears, but that and a quarter will get you half a credit on a vintage Galaga machine.

Webb and Ritz are clearly THE top two promising young stars in the US right now. No one their age and younger is even close to them, and so far Webb is a half step in front of Ritz.

If unfair expectations of rates of improvement and also consistent level of performance are not put upon these runners then I am sure they will all get to the top. But if every race gets turned into life or death, and a battle for the pride of the nation. I would be surprised if they end up anywhere but in the training room. Two of these guys already did the right thing, and found coaches that understand no mountain can be scaled overnight. Without risking death due to oxygen sickness.

Let the magic happen, and spend more time thinking about your own running and racing and less about there’s.

Dathan is an incredible talent so I agree with you Flagpole in that aspect; however, in my opinion Galen has more potential. I still expect Dathan to one day run sub 27 minute 10000m but if Galen can stay healthy I suspect he his capable of breaking any 10000m an American set before him.

cormier and bumbi will be forces too.

Webb is certainly more than half a step ahead of Ritz. He is able to compete with the world's best right now. Ritz, while making significant progress, is still fighting for supremacy among US 5k and 10k runners.

I know this argument has been made over many times but I have said for many years that every US runner should move up one event (5k to 10k) because of their lack in speed(or maybe I should say ability to have speed at the end of a race). It is clear that Webb is one of the few US runners with the ability to mount a serious kick on command. He will most likely win a medal with further progression and also he will most likely own every American record from the 1500 to the 5000.

tsmallz wrote:

cormier and bumbi will be forces too.

Cormier is gonna be 20 and he ran 3:49. 19 YEAR old Jimmy Wyner of Cornell ran 3:45 and nobody is talking about him. Bumbi will be a force though.

Where's the love for Jorge Torres?

flagpole what the hell do you know.. yo were the only person who predicted ritz would beat webb in the 2mile race..

you have no creditability here

Withrow is the real deal. I know and you know it!

I thought mr. peepers only ran 3:46

I like to state the obvious in a cliche manner so that people think I am smart and original. Hey folks, I am smart and original.

One Keg wrote:

Where's the love for Jorge Torres?

He's mexican. Don't count.