Oregon runner Rupp prepares for final kick

The Oregon senior is favored in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the NCAA championships, Wednesday through Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark. The Ducks, who at one point featured track legends such as Alberto Salazar and Steve Prefontaine, seek their first outdoor men's title since 1984. Should they prevail, the Ducks will be the third school to sweep the outdoor, indoor and cross country crowns in a school year and the first since Arkansas in 1998-99. The Hogs did it five times, Texas-El Paso three.

For Rupp, this has been a long time coming. After graduating from Portland's Central Catholic in 2004, Rupp spent nearly a year in running and educational limbo as he considered turning pro and/or attending the University of Portland. All the while training under Salazar, who won the New York marathon three times from 1980-82 and Boston once. Meanwhile the Oregon program, which spawned Nike co-founders Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight, was in turmoil as then-coach Martin Smith strayed from the tradition of strong middle-distance and distance teams.

Smith departed, and Rupp enrolled in the spring of 2005. Vin Lananna became the coach that summer, and now Oregon is ruling the sport, evoking memories of the glory days of the 1960s, '70s and '80s when the Ducks produced eight NCAA outdoor or cross country team champs, several individual winners and numerous Olympians.

Rupp is closing his career with the kind of kick he uses to finish races. His senior season has included his first NCAA title last fall in cross country as the Ducks repeated as team champs and NCAA indoor titles at 3,000 and 5,000 plus the distance medley relay as the Ducks took their first indoor crown.

"This is everything I could have hoped for and probably then some," Rupp, 23, says.

A year ago, after he redshirted to prepare for the Olympics, the plan was to turn pro. But Rupp received a heavy dose of love at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, where he finished second in the 10,000 and earned a trip to Beijing. He couldn't resist one more year as a collegian.

"That comes from such a love and passion for this school and community," he says. "I never thought I'd have such a connection and feel so proud and honored to represent the school. It's been great to see how the program has grown and the sense of pride everyone has to wear the uniform."

Love him, hate him

This emotion comes from a guy who has been vilified on message boards with derogatory terms. Says Kenny Moore, an ex-Oregon runner, two-time Olympic marathoner and well-known track writer, "I've seen some of those posts. Pre (Prefontaine) would have found out who those guys were and gone after them."

Rupp says he doesn't read the boards, as counseled by his parents, Greg, a respiratory therapist, and, Jamie, a nurse and former Oregon prep champion who ran at Oregon State and Portland.

Salazar, who has a building named for him at Nike headquarters outside Portland, thinks he knows the reason for the vitriol: "I told Galen because of his visibility and connection to me and indirectly Nike, as people perceive it, people think he's spoiled, privileged. Nothing's further from the truth."

Friends describe Rupp as a workaholic who spends most of his time training and studying. He says he has a 3.87 GPA in business and needs 25 credit hours to graduate.

"He's really an extraordinary young man for a lot of reasons," says Lananna, who built a successful program at Dartmouth and revitalized Stanford with five NCAA team titles. "He's a perfectionist. He does the right things for the right reasons. Not many people like that these days."

And there are not many coaching arrangements like the one Salazar and Lananna have with Rupp. Salazar remains Rupp's personal coach, though he is a Nike employee and has no official role with his alma mater. Lananna notes that collegiate golfers and tennis players often have personal coaches.

"There's no book, no formula; the reason this works is trust," says Lananna, who speaks to Salazar often about workouts and racing schedules. "It's mutual respect all the way around. Every decision is made in Galen's best interest."

Says Rupp, "They bounce ideas off each other all the time. I have two of the greatest minds in track and field looking out for what's best for me and helping me become better."

Rupp's family, which earns about $120,000 a year, according to Greg Rupp, pays Salazar $200 a month for coaching to comply with NCAA rules. For Rupp to become eligible in 2005, the NCAA ruled the family had to pay about $5,000 to a charity for services received from Salazar, plus travel. They continue to pay for extras such as travel to European meets and altitude training.

"We've had to take out second and third mortgages," Greg Rupp says. "It's been our pleasure."

The motivation comes from within. "The idea of somebody outworking me … it just sickens me," Galen Rupp says.

Opponents recognize the mental toughness Rupp brings to his races. "If I could fight like him, I'd be really good," says Kenyan Sam Chelanga of Liberty, second to Rupp in cross country and the indoor 5,000. "People like me, when we hit the wall, that's it. Mentally we're done. He has the ability to come back."

Developing the kick

Salazar was a similar in training and racing, learning through injury and illness about the importance of balance and recovery. He has been coaching Rupp for eight years.

"With Galen, I try to train him as smart as possible and do it with as little pressure as possible," Salazar says. "We take a long-term approach. We talk that we've been doing this eight years and, God willing, (for) another eight to 10 years."

In high school Rupp ran a 4:01 mile, set the U.S. junior record in the 5,000 (13:37.91) and established a U.S. prep record in the 3,000 (8:03.57). At Oregon, he finished 11th at the 2007 world championships 10,000 and 13th in the '08 Olympic 10,000; he also set U.S. 10,000 records for juniors (28:15.52) and collegians (27:33.48). Yet, he was knocked for never winning an NCAA title.

That changed senior year for the 5-11, 138-pounder who developed his kick watching Kenyan-turned-American Bernard Lagat do a speed workout before winning the 1,500 and 5,000 at the 2007 worlds. Salazar and Rupp have stressed speed workouts. Rupp closed 1,500s this spring with an eye-catching 52.2 seconds for the final 400 meters. He's run a personal-best 1,500 of 3:39.14, equivalent to a 3:56 mile.

"That's done a lot for my confidence," he says. "All that is going to help me in the 10,000."

Rupp altered his mental approach, too. "It's funny. The less I've thought about individual titles and the more I've thought about the team, it's like those guys have helped me become better and win by not worrying so much about myself.

"But I always felt that if an NCAA championship was going to define me, I might as well just run college and stop. But it was a weight off my shoulders."

The plan is for the running, likely to include marathons, to continue.

"We want medals and to be consistently at the top of every meet," he says, including the Olympics and worlds. "One day maybe you can be the best in the world."