[2] He placed second to Oregon Track Club's Wade Bell at the 1968 national championships in Sacramento, California,[2][3] running 1:46.5, then his personal best.

[11] He placed fourth at that year's NCAA outdoor championships, won by Ken Swenson of Kansas State University.

[10] At the national (AAU) championships he finished a close second to Swenson, with both clocking the same time and Swenson winning by "an eyelash", in the words of The Sheboygan Press[3][12] Winzenried's second place qualified him to represent the United States in a series of dual meets in Europe in July 1970,[13] including one against West Germany in Stuttgart.

[18] Winzenried's good form continued in 1972, and he broke the indoor world best at the unusual distance of 1000 yards at the Mason-Dixon Games in Louisville, Kentucky on February 12, his time of 2:05.1 beating Ralph Doubell's 1970 record of 2:05.5 by four-tenths of a second.

[26][27] Entering the 1972 Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, he had the fastest time of any American at 800 meters that year (1:46.6) and was considered likely to make the team.

[18] He made another push at the Olympics four years later, but re-injured his Achilles tendon in late March 1976 and, unable to train properly, had to abandon his attempt.