Who was Don Sage?

Don also took 3rd at USATF cross and I ran a respectable race at Worlds. He also was a trials finalist at 1500 finishing 7th in final as a collegian.

He only ran FL once and Golden West once. Newton's philosophy was to train hard but not overrace. Not a bad philosophy.

How do you know that? It makes no sense at all.

The racing schedule was true. The mileage claim was not. Newton early stressed high mileage but he adapted and cut back on the mileage around the early 90's before Don was running.

Don Sage, York #01 runner, was in the shadows of the Torres brothers (Wheeling) as an underclassmen but was just as gifted. He did not race Footlocker Midwest until senior year. At the national meet, he finished second to junior Ritzenhein.

Alan Webb had a significant but also underwhelming junior year post-season (for him). He declined the Prefontaine Classic and Sage was asked to step in after his 8:42 3200 at IHSA. Still, Webb salvaged a 3:59 1600m relay split at one of the national meets leaving off on a good note.

Sage went from really really good to all-time great at the end of his senior season because he made the most of every opportunity and was an excellent racer. When he ran the 8:42 at IHSA, the way he did it with a 52 second final lap, it's as if he finally stole the show from the junior class. It was exciting because it was also a surprise. Then he took Webb's spot at Pre Classic and made then most of that opportunity, getting closer to 4 minutes than what anyone expected. I think somewhere in his high school marks is a 1:51 open 800 too.

Sage was very good.

He won the NCAA 1500 and was part of the strong Stanford cross country contingent that dominated for a couple years.

The next one in line from the IHSA was Micah Vandenend (sub-4:20/9:20 as a sophomore). Vandenend won IHSA xc, 1600 and 3200 as a senior. He didnt get out of Footlocker Midwest which was a big disappointment for him as a senior. His biggest issue in college (Iowa) was being injury prone. He salvaged a sub-14 5000, essentially based on talent alone as his training was hardly consistent. But he was arguably just as talented as the Torres brothers and Sage were. Vandenend might have been a 10000m Team USA candidate at some point had he reached his potential.

Talking about Sage and Vandenend puts into perspective how difficult it is to become an Olympian. It requires:

a) top level talent (which all these guys had)

b) consistent, injury free training (not everyone had)

c) and a little bit of luck in being at the right place in your training/life at the right time during an Olympic year (who is Ian Dobson?).

The renaissance was triggered by a few things:

1) Bob Kennedy (7:30/12:58) chasing his dreams and training in Kenya

2) Adam Goucher running 3:54-7:43-13:11 in 1999

3) Tim Broe in the 3000, Steeplechase & 5000

4) the talented & eccentric Gabe Jennings coming out of high school, doing well as a true freshman and winning the 2000 NCAA title and Olynpic Trials

5) the 1999 and 2000 Footlocker race results

6) partially Dan Browne & Jonathon Riley

Torres brothers were running 90+ mpw in HS. Same with Ritz. Not a huge surprise if Don and others ran that amount of mileage. Hall peaked at 75mpw in HS (albeit at higher altitude). I think training info started leaking out.

Comparing Vandenend to Sage or the Torres brothers is a hilarious comparison. He as you point out didn’t make footlocker and don’t think he ever was an All American at Iowa. Why even bring him into the conversation? Good guy though.

I was sitting on the backstretch that day. Definitely got goosebumps the final lap.

Would you rather be the kid than ran 17:00 in hs, 16:00 in college, and then Peaked at 15:30 at 25 or the kid that ran 16:15 in hs, 15:45 in college and then never ran faster? The first kid struggles to make variants while the second would have gotten to run the state meet. Peaking at 25 is great for the couple dozen guys who are out to make Olympic teams. For 99%, you want to peak in HS because that is about as high of level that your talent will allow you to be competitive at.

Now you can take this to stupid levels. It is one thing to build kids up to say 60-70mpw over 4 years. Another when you start talking 100mpw and some of the year round intensity programs…

Micah was just as talented as the Torres brothers. He was the next in line. I know the talent when I see it. I ran against him periodcally in high school and also in the Big Ten. I think even in high school he was battling back from injuries. A qualifier through Footlocker MW senior year was essentially his for the taking. Something went wrong that day. But if he had gotten through he would have been top 5.

Why bring him in the convo? Because three IHSA state champs, similar talent and three different ending results.

Back in 2002, I ran at the Penn Relays. I was jogging over to the bathrooms to piss as I was about to race soon. I see Don Sage ahead of me with a couple of Stanford runners also heading into the same bathroom. He stops, looks at me, then tells his other teammates to wait for me so that I could go in first. Not only polite, it was as he had a sixth sense that I was in the next race and wanted to make sure that I could get my business done without having the added pressure to wait for others to go before me.

Seriously? How old are you? He was very good high school miler 2 miler and had a successful collegiate career at Stanford but not much after that as far as running goes

Yes. I was off a year on Stember. Prior to his 4:04 1600m as a junior, there had been no talk of anyone in HS running a 4 minute mile. He was followed by Gabe Jennings et al and finally Alan Webb in 2001

Jim Ryun had retired years before.

Is this true? Let’s say a Power 5 coach has a potential recruit who’s run 4:05 on 80 miles/week and one who’s run 4:10 on 50 miles/week. You think he’s going to less interested in the faster guy because he’s run higher mileage? How closely do college coaches examine the mileage and training of their recruits? College coaching isn’t just a case of adding 30 miles/week and watching their guys’ times drop. The 50 mile/week guy might have hit his mileage ceiling and break down with more miles. I think coaches are almost always going to go for the faster guy especially if he’s got the XC placings as well.

Plenty of guys talked about sub4. Louie Quinanta (sp) was in runners world after running like 1:50/4:08 as a junior. But not many kids were dropping the sub 4:05s which made it seem reasonable in the late 80s/90s when the top time was often a 4:07…

Come on Elmhurst #01. Maybe as had the talent of Eduardo but Jorge made 4 FLCC finals. Was a FLCC champion in 1998. Won NCAA cross country title in 02 (and was also third and second). Also an Olympian. This was a thread about Don Sage yet we are talking/comparing him to a guy who never made footlocker, was an NCAA All American or broke 9:00. If we are throwing out Illinois high schoolers why not mention Lukas Verzbicas or Chris Derrick? Nothing against Micah but come on.

"How do you know that? It makes no sense at all."

I know it because I was there, because Joe Newton was a friend, because Don was friends with my kids, and spent plenty of time with them. I knew Don's dad and mom quite well. I went to most of his meets even after my kids had graduated.