not as impressed wrote:
The problem that people have with her leaving her high school team is that she left because she couldn't play nice with her teammates, not that she wanted to move on in order to improve. Look at Missy Franklin. She is comparably far better than Mary Cain at the same age yet she still competes for her high school team, as she should. Using your own analogy to basketball, most high school players continue competing for their high school teams if the team is good. Bronxville has a great program and Mary would have been fine there.
When Missy Frnaklin competes with her high school team, it is an afterthought-- a hobby-- compared to her real training with a club.
The best swimmers, basketball players, baseball players, soccer players, etc. do not become that good by playing with their high school teams. There are club teams where the coaching and the level of competition is much better.
There is no reason why a word class-- yes, world class-- runner should waster her time with a high school coach to compete with a high school team.