Ritzenhein outruns his expectations at U.S. meet

By Curtis Anderson The Register-Guard

Published: February 19, 2008 04:38AM

Nobody was more surprised than Dathan Ritzenhein with his margin of victory at the USA Cross Country Championships in San Diego on Saturday.

Facing a quality field, which included Olympic Trials marathon winner Ryan Hall, and coming into the 12K race at Mission Bay Park with a sore IT band, the Eugene distance runner couldn’t be sure how he would perform.

As it turned out, better than expected.

Ritzenhein easily pulled away from the pack midway through the race and sped to the finish line in a time of 35 minutes, 3 seconds, well ahead of former Boulder, Colo., training partner Jorge Torres, who was a distant second at 35:29.

“I was a little shocked at how dominating the victory was,” said Ritzenhein, who was forced to churn out 135 miles per week on an anti-gravity treadmill in January when he was too “banged up” to run on dry land.

“I definitely knew I was in good shape, but I was still unsure of how things would hold up, and I was surprised to take it by that much.”

One thing is now certain.

Ritzenhein, 25, who has already sewed up a berth in the 2008 Beijing Olympics by placing second in the Olympic Marathon Trials in New York City’s Central Park last November, has gained a tremendous amount of strength.

“He ran really well,” said his coach, Brad Hudson. “He got better as the race went on.”