Collegiate bests of 3:41 1500, 3:59 mile, 7:46 3k, 13:19 5k, 27:31 10k. Of course, more impressive coming well before the super shoe era. 3k/5k/10k were among the fastest ever times among collegians.
NCAA XC History
2008 - 7th
2009 - 3rd
2010 - 5th
2011 - 2nd
NCAA Indoor Track History
2009 - 4th in 5k, 5th in 3k
2010 - did not compete
2011 - 8th in 5k
2012 - 2nd in 5k, 2nd in 3k
NCAA Outdoor Track History
2009 - 3rd in 5k
2010 - 4th in 5k
2011 - 4th in 10k, 4th in 5k
2012 - 3rd in 10k
14 All-American awards out of 14 tries. Only one season where he didn’t qualify. 8th was the worst he ever placed in an NCAA race. Had to deal with the likes of Galen Rupp and Sam Chelanga early in his career and then Lawi Lalang and Cam Levins late in his career. He’s got everything but the titles: lots of All-Americans, consistency, and fast times.
Hard to argue with this. Agreed Derrick is the answer.
This one is the closest he got. If he had held Lalang off with 300 to go I think he would have taken it.
What a stacked race - Lalang, Derrick, Cam Levins, Chelimo, Ryan Hill, Lenny Korir, among others.
Thanks for sharing the video. The gamesmanship, racing and staying in your lane at the finish are exactly what I like to see. I’m hopeful that Schumacher’s errors with Derrick all all worked out now do Fisher does not suffer the same fate.
This is one of these questions that seems awesome, as if the debate can go on for years.
But the answer is Lasse Viren.
Viren is the answer to a slightly different question.
The question here is “Who has the best NCAA resume (not necessarily what they’ve done post-college) without a title?” Viren never had much of an NCAA resume.
Lauren Gregory coming oh-so-close once again made me wonder what other great runners never won a title. So who has the best NCAA resume (not necessarily what they’ve done post-college) without a title?
Ummmm ever heard of Jordan Hasay ...
semi-seriously did she win anything in the NCAA. I feel like she had so many close calls in cross country and track but can't remember a single title. Just looked it up, apparently she did win an indoor title her sophomore year, so I guess not her. But no outdoor or XC title.
Molly Huddle seems like a pretty solid choice on the women’s side. 10 time AA, no titles. Cranny a 12 time AA with no titles — basically did not improve from HS through college and then started improving again after joining BTC. Lol milt.
The title asked for the best, not the fastest. Only on LetsRun is Joe Klecker considered better than Lasse Viren.
Does Lasse Viren really count? According to Wikipedia, he only ran at BYU for one season of XC… technically he ran in the NCAA but if that’s accurate, he’s not relevant to this discussion.
“Virén began his running career in the United States at Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah. Virén ran on the Varsity Cross-Country team for BYU for one season, before returning home to his native Finland.”
people like finding loopholes to be annoying and flex their knowledge, even at the expense of their comprehension of the original question.
these are the same people who will tell you that technically los angeles and new york city don’t have football teams because the stadium is outside city limits. no one cares.