In a message dated 2/20/2003 3:02:46 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: . I've long thought >that one thing that depressed the numbers, and therefore the quality, was >the perceived dimunition in opportunity for US athletes when top Africans >flooded and dominated the college ranks in the late 70's, early 80's. > >Now, the best of those 20 year old Kenyans are too busy making money on the >roadracing and European circuit to bother with wasting their top income >potential years in college programs. Which translated to more "success" >for American runners, as well as more scholarship slots left open, which >provided encouragement for a generation who are going through their HS >years with the idea that scholarships and NCAA gold are achievable. >
Would you believe.... As publisher of X-Country X-Press, I see results on a weekly basis during the fall from just about every school that competes in the sport. I started compiling a list of international runners competing here and came up with 121 Kenyans (58 at Div.I schools). The totals (and this is mostly distance runners) are almost 750 athletes representing 70 countries. Granted, not everyone is "taking" scholarships away from U.S. high school kids, but international runners are alive and well at U.S. colleges. Walt Murphy
