Kennedy is not a bad choice -- saw him win as a freshman and there's no denying the tenacity with which he raced.
This thread has made me truly reflect on some memories--I may be one of the few who saw Lindgren and Pre and Ryan (Van Cortland Park/'69...I was a kid-- begged my dad to take me to an XC race instead of a football game) battle as well as seeing Nyambui and UTEP at their heights..I raced (well, in the same race...lol) Porter...and saw Kennedy win...I saw Goucher on his home course and spent time with Rono when he tried to take a shot at the master's mile world record..I was there when Joe Falcon kept surging away from Dave Barney (who was an Olympic hopeful at 10k) on the pre-Chile Pepper course in Arkansas...and many more memories.
Thank you for starting this thread and bringing back many, many, memories.
Everyone will have their favorites and so many scenarios could play out. The beauty of cross country.
But there's still no way anybody beats Rono ...he was the best in the world at every distance from 3k to 10k. Let that sink in.