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DyeStat Cross Country 2000
Molvar's List 9/21
2000 Boys Footlocker XC Preseason Preview -
Can Ryan Hall or Alan Webb keep Ritzenhein from going out as the best ever?
by John Molvar
Dathan Ritzenhein of Michigan has not lost to
another high school runner since the Footlocker
Final in 1998 as a sophomore where he finished
7th. Outdoors he got knocked to the track in the
nationals 2 mile, got up and still won. Last
fall he disposed of the strongest Footlocker
field in at least 10 years. Outdoors he won the
2 mile relatively easily at the Nationals over
one of the strongest fields in over 10 years.
Ritzenhein is the obvious favorite to repeat. In fact the
question to ask is will he be regarded as the
best high school distance (2 mile and XC) runner
ever at the end of this year. It is hard to
compare past XC Champions, but track times can be
compared. The 3 greatest high school distance
performances ever on the track are, in order,
Rudy Chapa's 28:32 10000, Gerry Lindgren's 13:44
5000 and Jeff Nelson's 8:36 2 mile. If Ritz can
best any of those times, his name will be
remembered with the all time greats which is
topped by the greatest ever, middle distance
runner Jim Ryun with his 3:55 mile.
First Ritz must win the Footlocker XC title and
there are 2 guys whose long run dreams always end
with them winning the Footlocker title and both have a
shot.
Ryan Hall of California exploded onto the scene
last spring as predicted by his father and coach.
He ran under 9 in the 2 mile with relative ease
and ran a 4:04 mile equivalent in July. He is
the fastest improving runner in the country. One
of the highlight of next year's outdoor season
will be the race between Hall and Webb to see who
will be the first to run sub 4.
Mile star Alan Webb was the talk of the country
when early outdoors he ran a sensational 3:59
1600 relay split at Penn. The question was could
he be the first in 30 plus years to break 4:00 in
the mile. Unfortunately for Webb, when the big
meets rolled around no one was talking about him,
they were talking about Ritz's and Don Sage's
chance to go sub 8:40 in the 2 mile, Sage's
stunning 4 minute flat mile and the explosive
emergence of Hall. Worse still, there was
nothing Webb could do since he was on a self
imposed early exile to the sidelines citing
burnout. At last year's Footlocker Final, a break
was made by 6 runners midway through the race
that Webb couldn't respond to. This
combined with Sage, Ritz and Hall stealing his
headlines has made Webb a man on a mission this
year.
Bobby Lockhart is unquestionably the best
underclassman this year and is a strong top 5
contender. Schneider, Hass, McGovern, the
Jefferson twins and Maddox were all finalists
last year who know what it takes to get there
again. Schneider and Hass had tremendous outdoor
seasons.
The top newcomers this year are junior Steve
Dewitt of Maine and Sophomore Adam Perkins of
Missouri. Dewitt blasted out of the gates in
early September and broke former teammate Lois
Luchini's course record. That is the same
Luchini who finished 2nd in the 1998 Footlocker
and ran 28:53 for 10000 as a true freshman at
Stanford. Perkins ran the equivalent of 4:15 for
the mile as a freshman last spring.
The top 100
1 Dathan Ritzenhein MI
2 Ryan Hall CA
3 Alan Webb VA
3 *Bobby Lockhart VA
4 Nick Schneider MN
5 Stephen Haas NC
6 Brian McGovern CT
7 John Jefferson FL
8 Sean Jefferson FL
9 Steven Maddox TX
10 *Steve Dewitt ME
11 ROD KOBORSI TX
12 Aaron Fisher IN
13 BRETT GOTCHER CA
14 Erik Heinonen OR
15 **Adam Perkins MO
16 MATT TILLMAN AL
17 JOSH PALAZOLA MA
18 Tim Hobbs IL
19 Seth Pilkington, UT
20 *Micah Van Denend IL
21 Bryan Dillon, CO
22 Eric Gross AR
23 Daniel Glaz IL
24 Chris Toloff MI
25 Chris Jones IA
26 *Mike Haschel IN
27 Charlie Koeppen IN
28 David Vidal, MT
29 Thomas Kubler CA
30 Dustin Bybee UT
31 Roger Cahill AZ
32 Jason Sandfort MO
33 Paul Niedzwiecki MI
34 *Shaun Lyle OR
35 *Henry Hagenbuch CA
36 *LEE YARACS FL
37 *MATTHEW CIANCIULLI FL
38 J.J. Duke CA
39 *BRYCE RUIZ VA
40 *JUSTIN CORELLI NY
41 JUSTIN ROMANIUK NY
42 NEAL GRAVES MA
43 Said Ahmed MA
44 *Timothy Moore MI
45 Andrew Ice WA
46 Arturo Garcia CA
47 Matt Faulkner OR
48 MATT KEALLY VA
49 *JEFF GOSSELIN NC
50 *PETER MEINDL ?
51 Scott Loftin KS
52 *SEAN MURPHY MA
53 Jacob McCauley OH
54 Frank Velasquez IL
55 Neil Davis CA
56 Eric Chaves CA
57 KEVIN BILLINGTON AZ
58 JAKE RAINES MS
59 *ROLF STEIER FL
60 *KEVIN CATLETT NY
61 ROBERT MEAD MD
62 David Welch IN
63 Jason Sandfort MO
64 CASEY BURCHILL CA
65 *YONG-SUNG LEAL CA
66 CHRISTOPHER ELDER NC
67 ROB DUNPHY TX
68 ADAM AMBRUS NJ
69 CLARKE FOLEY NY
70 Mike Myers NJ
71 TIMOTHY SCARPINATO NY
72 Tony Rakaric, IL
73 Jim Daikoku, CA
74 PAT MOULTON NH
75 Al Bosmenier FL
76 Duncan Lindquist UT
77 Ossy Pina CA
78 Seth Watkins MT
79 Dave Atkiss PA
80 Mark Nevers CA
81 Joe Kaufman CA
82 Mark Esche WI
83 Lou Brodey TX
84 Lane Neely OR
85 Austin Smith VA
86 Vance Twitchell MT
87 Dave Silver VA
88 Cody Loy OR
89 **Tim Nelson CA
90 Geoff Cronin MA
91 **PHILLIP REID CA
92 **BRANDON HEBBERT UT
93 **DANIEL DEICHERT NJ
94 SEAN STEVENS TN
95 NICK COWAN GA
96 **Eduardo Pasko CO
97 PUNEET MAHAN CA
98 Mobley, Todd MI
99 Charles Milleon, NY
100 Matt Penza OH
101 Jerry Bonner RI
102 Todd Glew MA
103 **Ryan Deak Fl
104 ** Bobby Curtis KY
John Molvar
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