I think we are seeing a new age of distance runners. There is less of this mentality of "if someone runs fast young, they are automatically going to burn out and not be good as they get older." With good coaching and a good mentality, it is definitely possible to avert this and we are seeing it now with a number of runners who were good in high school also excelling beyond that.
Can Aisling Cuffe break "The Footlocker Curse"? Unfortunately since around 2011/2012, Footlocker has become diluted and not as important with the NXN field. I think what we are seeing now are the remnants of those who were good when winning Footlocker meant something REALLY special.