If every NCAA xc champion were all thrown into the same race who would win?

Some soccer team.

That reminds me of Alcindor (Abdul-Jabbar) was ineligible to compete for UCLA as a freshman. The freshman team included Alcindor and All-Americans Lucuis Allen, Kenny Heitz and Lynn Shackleford. They would beat the varsity team.

All NCAA champs, lining up in their "championship" form/fitness.

Rono is one of the greatest distance runners of all-time.

He wins. He had the ability to just "run faster than you"- he would set a pace and just keep increasing until everyone was gone.

A name nobody has mentioned is Pat Porter (not a D1 champ, but D2 from Adams State). Porter won 8 straight USA XC Championships and was 4th at the World Championship in '84. You may know him as Lasse Viren from the Pre film "Without Limits". He was a pure XC guy.

Lindgren would decide he can take down Rono-- run him into the ground early- the pack gets small by 3k...

Lindgren, Rono, Pre, Porter, Cheserek, Kennedy, Nyambui...

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I saw Nyambui at a race in West Texas once -- I was at about the 3k mark.He had a 20 second lead...I never heard him coming..I'd never seen anyone run so fast, so smoothly, so quietly. I told a friend, "I just saw the guy who is going to become the best distance runner in the world." I was wrong (he DID get a silver medal in the Olympics, but never achieved "greatness") but I can still see him effortless at 2:45 pace. He'd be in the pack.

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Not much support here for "King Ches" -- but 17 NCAA championships should be respected

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Kennedy? Pre? If you saw Kennedy win as a freshman, you'd know why he's in the lead pack with Pre (on Lindgren's shoulder -- looking at him like "your crazy, but let's go !) Two of the toughest XC men ever.

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I want someone with AI or other skills to run a simulation!

Why AI?

I like the idea of knowing what you and others think based on eye witness, analysis of stats and conjecture of what you think about their backgrounds and personalities. AI isn't going to give you that much.

Totally agree on your Rono assessment but not necessarily letting Lindgren wear him out early. Afterall, it was Rono breaking Lindgrens records at WSU??? Converted or not, Rono wouldn't have lost to Lindgren but GL sure would have brought the best out of both of them. That's what I love about this sport separate from track. The best 10k guy isn't always going to win against the XC monsters that love to feel and aflict the pain, not worried about pacing for times.

Was Pat Porter's college performances make him a contender if he ran D1 in college? I'm sure he would have been in contention but how many would he have won? He obviously continued to improve after college. Loved watching guys like him get after the rest of the world.

Here's one that I think would have been an interesting NCAA take using imagination. Where would Carlos Lopez of Portugal have fit in? Without listing all of his accolades, lets just say he was as tough as a coffin nail getting run over by a car the week before winning LA 84 Gold in the marathon. He would have been a bit ahead of Rono's time in college but both would have competed in Montreal and Moscow if for not the Kenyan Boycott of both. Lopez was silver in 10k to Viren in Montreal and eventually held the European 10k record.

IF Lopez had run NCAA XC, I would have to put him in my top 3. But then there's plenty of other IF's, such as Bekele who I would probably have to put ahead of him even though Lopez won 3 World XC titles. Ngugi as well.

Rono is definitely the favorite. I think Mantz is a darkhorse though. People don’t really understand how dominate he was his last year. He Milton Berled the entire season.

RONO : 28:06.6 , 28:33.5 , 28:19.6 … zero spring loaded shoes

You "probably" would have to put the greatest distance runner of all time AND the greatest xc runner of all time ahead of Carlos Lopez?

Yeah, I'd say you probably should.

Mark Scrutton

If those were the top 4 runners, that would likely spark more outrage and calls for age limits. Rono was 24, 25, and 27 when he won, Nyambui was 27, and Chelanga was 24 and 25. Rupp was only 22.

Anyone that thinks Henry Rono at his best would NOT win is delusional.

Pat Porter (The Panther) went to a NAIA school. He will tell you himself that he was not that fast in college and many others beat him. Then after that he became a great one.

The list that AI gave goes as follows

1. Pre 2. Rono 3. Lingren 4. Rupp 5. Cheserek

i think this is close to fair in some degree maybes the bottom 3 could be swapped

Narrow it down to US born runners and see what you get.

Mantz would win a race that didn't include dopers. Outstanding citizen award winner as well.

B-league

Yeah, hard to argue against Rono -- when he was in shape -- but I'm old school and I'd vote for Lindgren, even over Pre. True, he didn't face the Africans, but, come on, he was taking on the best in the world while in high school.

In a different world, with better support & treatments, he'd have been in contention for Olympic medals in '68 and '72, but, alas, that was not the world he lived in.

Give me sam chelanga or the 13 minute collegian lawi lalang

1. Pre 2. Rupp 3. Rudy chapa 4. Ritz

Rudy Chapa never finished higher than 9th