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The Forgotten Phenom
By Bryan Green
Sometimes its amazing what we forget.
Back in 2002, Chris Solinsky won the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships by 20 seconds, tying Dathan Ritzenhein for the largest margin of victory ever. He was just four seconds off the Balboa Park course record, and only two Olympians had ever run faster. He was as dominant a high school athlete could be that season.
In an amazing coincidence, four of the athletes from that field would share the track with him at Payton Jordan, where he ran 26:59.60 to break Meb Keflezighi's nine year-old AR in the 10,000 meters and become the first non-African to go sub-27...in his debut! Check out that Foot Locker field:
*Chris Solinsky - 1st (26:59.60, American Record)
*Galen Rupp - DNF (27:10.74, #2 all-time US)
*Tim Nelson - 18th (27:31.56, #10 all-time US)
*Robert Curtis - 3rd (27:33.38, #11 all-time US)
Garrett Heath - 6th (3:37/2010 IAAF World Indoors 1500m finalist)
Mohamed Trafeh - 7th (#3 all-time US half-marathon)
Stephen Pifer - 14th (3:57/13:33)
Neftalem Araia - 4th (13:44/2nd NCAA XC)
Matt Debole - 5th (13:36)
Four of the top 11 10,000 meter runners in US history were all in the same race together 8 years ago! And look who still came out on top?
When you look at Chris Solinsky, it's hard to reconcile his solid physique with the times he's continued to put up along the way. In high school he basically matched Ritz over 3200m, running 8:43. In college he put up 3:37, 7:36.9, and 13:12.2, as good as any American collegiate runner ever. And in his two years as a pro he's run 3:55 and improved from 5th to 2nd in the USA Outdoors 5000m.
When I wrote my Trade Values column I put Solinsky #41 (sigh) and wrote the following:
Maybe it's because he came after the Class of 2001, which had the amazing trio of Ritz, Alan Webb and Ryan Hall. Few athletes were as dynamic as Webb, who broke Jim Ryun's mile record, and Ritz set the standard for high school cross country runners with his two Foot Locker victories and his 3rd at World Junior Cross Country. You could forgive fans for paying most of their attention to those three.
And it didn't help that Galen Rupp, the high school record breaker with the famous coach, came right after him, either. Rupp would go on to set five high school and junior American Records, and seemed to create controversy and strong opinions due to his training situation. More recently, and despite Solinsky's amazing performances, we've been enamored with German Fernandez, Chris Derrick, Evan Jager, Andrew Wheating and now Robby Andrews, our 'phenoms du jour', if you will.
One person has done more to keep Chris Solinsky out of the spotlight than any other, however, and that's his training partner and former college teammate, Matt Tegenkamp. For the past two and a half years Chris Solinsky has trained and raced against Teg, and Teg has simply had his number. Like many fans, I got sucked into thinking of Chris Solinsky as being "not quite as good as Teg" and not "on an upward path and gaining on Teg".
Something tells me nobody will be making that mistake again. If there was ever any doubt before, Chris Solinsky must surely know that he is every bit as good as Teg (or Ritz, or Rupp, or (gasp), Lagat?). We also know that, should they remain healthy and run the right races, we could see an amazing summer of distance running in this non-championship year.
Galen Rupp can surely run sub-27 in a race in which he doesn't lead much of the second half. Ritz showed with his 12:56 that he can also break 27 on the right day. And one has to suspect that Teg could approach 27 minutes as well should he ever choose to run the 10,000 meters. (I know, I know, but a guy can dream, right?) Even a healthy Abdi could no doubt challenge Solinsky's time.
(And I'm just going to put this out there: would you really be that surprised if Ryan Hall did some speedwork and then ripped a monster 10,000 meters this summer? With his insane base? I certainly wouldn't be.)
The same can also be said for the 5,000 meters. We may get to see a nice battle in this event sooner rather than later at the Prefontaine Classic. Solinsky has said that he is training specifically for that 5000 meter race, and there is little doubt that a healthy Rupp would have just the extra motivation after this race to potentially let loose something fierce in front of his home crowd. Who do you bet on, the guy coming in off the AR performance or the guy who effectively rabbited that performance and had his thunder stolen as a result?
I don't know what to expect from that race or the rest of the year, but one thing's for certain, I'll never forget Chris Solinsky's finish in that race at Payton Jordan. I don't think we can call him the forgotten phenom any more.
Sometimes its amazing what we forget.
 Chris Solinsky was one of the best we'd ever seen...how did we forget? |
In an amazing coincidence, four of the athletes from that field would share the track with him at Payton Jordan, where he ran 26:59.60 to break Meb Keflezighi's nine year-old AR in the 10,000 meters and become the first non-African to go sub-27...in his debut! Check out that Foot Locker field:
*Chris Solinsky - 1st (26:59.60, American Record)
*Galen Rupp - DNF (27:10.74, #2 all-time US)
*Tim Nelson - 18th (27:31.56, #10 all-time US)
*Robert Curtis - 3rd (27:33.38, #11 all-time US)
Garrett Heath - 6th (3:37/2010 IAAF World Indoors 1500m finalist)
Mohamed Trafeh - 7th (#3 all-time US half-marathon)
Stephen Pifer - 14th (3:57/13:33)
Neftalem Araia - 4th (13:44/2nd NCAA XC)
Matt Debole - 5th (13:36)
Four of the top 11 10,000 meter runners in US history were all in the same race together 8 years ago! And look who still came out on top?
When you look at Chris Solinsky, it's hard to reconcile his solid physique with the times he's continued to put up along the way. In high school he basically matched Ritz over 3200m, running 8:43. In college he put up 3:37, 7:36.9, and 13:12.2, as good as any American collegiate runner ever. And in his two years as a pro he's run 3:55 and improved from 5th to 2nd in the USA Outdoors 5000m.
When I wrote my Trade Values column I put Solinsky #41 (sigh) and wrote the following:
Some of you are probably saying, "What? Solinsky and Jager #40 and 41?!" That's right. It's not that they aren't fantastic, it's that they're not fantastic enough. They are essentially 5k runners in a country that has Lagat, Ritz, and Teg ahead of them, and Rupp, Chris Derrick and German Fernandez all gaining fast. Despite their amazing PR's, how can you rank them higher?As usual the joke is on me. I should have known better. I should have looked at his past and realized Chris Solinsky has been the best at every level he's competed. The funny thing is nobody called me out on it. We all simply forgot.
Maybe it's because he came after the Class of 2001, which had the amazing trio of Ritz, Alan Webb and Ryan Hall. Few athletes were as dynamic as Webb, who broke Jim Ryun's mile record, and Ritz set the standard for high school cross country runners with his two Foot Locker victories and his 3rd at World Junior Cross Country. You could forgive fans for paying most of their attention to those three.
And it didn't help that Galen Rupp, the high school record breaker with the famous coach, came right after him, either. Rupp would go on to set five high school and junior American Records, and seemed to create controversy and strong opinions due to his training situation. More recently, and despite Solinsky's amazing performances, we've been enamored with German Fernandez, Chris Derrick, Evan Jager, Andrew Wheating and now Robby Andrews, our 'phenoms du jour', if you will.
One person has done more to keep Chris Solinsky out of the spotlight than any other, however, and that's his training partner and former college teammate, Matt Tegenkamp. For the past two and a half years Chris Solinsky has trained and raced against Teg, and Teg has simply had his number. Like many fans, I got sucked into thinking of Chris Solinsky as being "not quite as good as Teg" and not "on an upward path and gaining on Teg".
 Chris Solinsky will always be remembered as the first non-African to go sub-27. |
Galen Rupp can surely run sub-27 in a race in which he doesn't lead much of the second half. Ritz showed with his 12:56 that he can also break 27 on the right day. And one has to suspect that Teg could approach 27 minutes as well should he ever choose to run the 10,000 meters. (I know, I know, but a guy can dream, right?) Even a healthy Abdi could no doubt challenge Solinsky's time.
(And I'm just going to put this out there: would you really be that surprised if Ryan Hall did some speedwork and then ripped a monster 10,000 meters this summer? With his insane base? I certainly wouldn't be.)
The same can also be said for the 5,000 meters. We may get to see a nice battle in this event sooner rather than later at the Prefontaine Classic. Solinsky has said that he is training specifically for that 5000 meter race, and there is little doubt that a healthy Rupp would have just the extra motivation after this race to potentially let loose something fierce in front of his home crowd. Who do you bet on, the guy coming in off the AR performance or the guy who effectively rabbited that performance and had his thunder stolen as a result?
I don't know what to expect from that race or the rest of the year, but one thing's for certain, I'll never forget Chris Solinsky's finish in that race at Payton Jordan. I don't think we can call him the forgotten phenom any more.
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2 comments to "The Forgotten Phenom"
Nicely written piece...enjoyed reading it.
totally agree with the above comment. it explains very well the major talents the US has in the sport right now. the only thing solinsky had not done that nearly all of those other runners had done was pop a performance like the 10k. it is wonderful to see people talking about solinsky with the likes of rupp, ritz, and teg; it's absolutely where he belongs.