The NCAA 5000m record was set in 1978 by Henry RONO in 13:08:4
If this record were to be broken this season in one race. What current 5 NCCA runners would you choose to chase this record? Can we estimate who would win the race and what their time will be?
Here is my squad of 5 current runners that I think would be able to accomplish this mission
Morgan McDonald 13:29:79
Grant Fisher 13:30:13
Rory Linkletter 13:37:97
Joe Klecker 13:42:65
Alfred Chelanga 13:42:11
What are your thoughts,
Cheers!
none
McDonald runs 13:14, followed by Fisher and Chelanga in 13:18 and 13:20. The other two blow up because of the fast pace.
McDonald ran 13:15 at some race in Belgium. Maybe the same meet Webb ran AR (different year).
THeXCRunner said: The NCAA 5000m record was set in 1978 by Henry RONO in 13:08:4
it's probably worth mentioning that:
a) 13:08.4 was the world record at the time
b) in 2018 only 2 Americans broke 13:08 for 5000m; Paul Chelimo (12:57.55) and BenTrue (13:04.11). Rono's record looks safe for a while yet.
but, because it can be fun to think about these sorts of things, let's look at what it takes to run 13:08 for 5000m. shortly before his 13:08 Rono ran 27:37.08 for 10,000m and 1 month after it he ran 7:43.04 for 3000m, and 6 weeks later ran a world record 27:22.4 for 10,000m, so you're looking (implausibly) for college boys who have those sort of credentials.
this year, only 2 US athletes broke 28 minutes for 10,000m, and the best college boy was Tyler Day (N. Arizona) with 28:04.44 at Palo Alto in May and Connor McMillan (Brigham Young) ran 28:09.55 in the same race. the next best college boy, Gilbert Kigen (Alabama) ran 28:27.31, a whole minute slower than required.
this suggests that there are no candidates with the requisite 10,000m speed, so we should probably be looking for 1500m boys moving up in distance. 10 days before he ran 13:00.41 Dave Moorcroft ran 3:34.30 en-route to a 1 mile time of 3:49.34, so for 13:08 you're probably looking at 3:46 and 3:51 which means you want Josh Kerr (New Mexico), Sam Worley (Texas), or maybe Cameron Griffith (Arkansas), but these guys are probably not yet ready to give up their 1500m ambitions for a chance at 5000m immortality.
which means, the most likely candidate is someone who is not really competitive at his main event but still has a couple of years of college to get the improvements required. my outside bet is therefore Mick Stanovsek (Oregon). he's run 3:39.82 for 1500m and his mile time of 3:56.9 would be better if he ran it more often. he's injury-free and a returning senior. with a good winter behind him someone like him seems a more likely prospect than any of the candidates mentioned by the OP, including Grant Fisher, who has, in my opinion, peaked.
cheers.