fast high school runners wrote:
1. Jim Ryun
2. Gerry Lindgren
3. Alan Webb4. Daniel Simmons
5. Hobbs Kessler
6. Drew Griffith
7. Dathan Ritzenden
8. German Fernandez
9. Edward Cheserek
10. Nico Young
11. Lukas Verzbicas
12. Jeff NelsonWhat do people think about this? Should they be higher or do I have them too low?
Lukas Verzbicas is alarmingly low on this. 3x national xc champ, double champ his senior year and triple champ indoors (both never done before or since, albeit the competition was a bit lower), as well as sub 4 and 8:29 which wasn't even approached for 12 years.
I think Webb is too high, as is Kessler, but I guess it depends on your criteria. Obviously Webb and Kessler were better at one event than any of these other guys at the time bar the 60s boys maybe.
I get the argument for great single performances, but I think a more well-rounded approach should be taken. To me, Simmons (No cross champs, 2 national records) and Griffith (National cross title in weaker championship, 3:57, 8:31) are just outside the top ten looking in. They each have a pretty good chance to move into the top 10 in the coming weeks, but it hasn't happened yet, much less 4th(??) all time.
I don't know if anyone I'd consider top 10 has a worse cross resume than these two, but what they've been doing on the track is surely making up for it.