- See Less -After a few standout performaces as an underclassmen in high school, German came to prominence in his senior year when he broke Marc Davis' course record by 14 seconds at the 2007 CIF Cross Country State meet. He then won the Foot Locker West Regional and placed third at the finals. A few months later he won US Junior Nationals in Corss Country and earned a trip to the World XC Champs where he lead Team USA with a 25th place finish. At the end of 2009, German was named to the ESPN Rise All-Decade Team as one of the best 7 HS XC runners from 2000-2009. In track, he really turned heads with two amazing performances. At the CIF State Meet, German ran 4:00.29 to break Ryan Hall's meet record and then came back 3 hours later to win the 3,200m in a blistering 8:34.23. This is widely considered the best HS distance double of all time. A few weeks later he broke Jeff Nelson's HS Two Mile record at the Nike Outdoor Championships, winning in 8:34.40. He also borke Galen Rupp's 3,000m HSR running an en-route 7:59.82.
As a freshman at Oklahoma State, German won the Big 12 Cross Country title, but a mid-race injury left him a disappointing DNF. He came back strong in indoor track by breaking the World Indoor Junior mile record twice, with 3:55.02 being his fastest. That time is also an NCAA record. He skipped the NCAA Championships to focus on the World Cross Country Championships after he defended his US Junior Cross Country title. At Junior Worlds, he lead Team USA with an 11th place finish. During outdoor track, German won his first NCAA title, winning the 1,500m in 3:39.00. At the USA Championships, German broke Chris Derrick's weeks old US Junior 5,000m record when he placed 5th in the nation with a 13:25.46. He was a finalist for the first ever Bowerman Award for his stellar freshman year on the track.
During his sophomore season, German struggled with injury, but still helped his team win Big 12, Mid-West Regional, and NCAA National team titles.
