Mary Cain's performance in Germany was not, I hope, what anyone wanted for her. That said, it does not mean she is done in the sport, made a mistake by deciding to run professionally, or would have fared better in the collegiate system. What it does mean is that she might have a longer emotional and physical transition to make before she improves upon her personal bests again and that those who care for and support her should be focused on helping her build the resiliency necessary for that longer transition.
Mary Cain is a phenomenal talent. She achieved in her discipline a level of excellence most will never know. That deserves respect and admiration, regardless of the age at which one achieves it. It also speaks to the talent and drive she has. She lucked into the former and gets credit for the latter. In deciding to run professionally, she demonstrated that she wanted to compete with the best and be the best. That is the necessary mindset.
And, it seemed she was poised to do it young. She and the people who know her best decided to take advantage of that. I imagine they had a number of long and hard conversations before doing so and upon doing so about the contract. Hopefully, her contract is for long enough that she can take the time to grow into her adult body and mind or for enough that she can save money to be able to afford growing into her adult body and mind without a contract. I imagine they also negotiated paying four years of college tuition.
Regardless of what Mary ever achieves again, she ran times few will run, earned accolades and medals few have, and got other experiences she may not have had. She was able to do this, because she made her own road. She wanted to achieve something few before her had, and she and her support network realized that required an approach few are willing to risk.
It's fair to say that she is in a valley of that road right now, but higher peaks can come. Transitioning into adulthood for women brings with it more physical changes than for men. For her to have long-term success, she needs to allow her body to make this transition and grow into the shape it should naturally have. If she trains and fuels well through it, she could run faster times than she has in two or three years. On the other hand, iIf she decides to train too hard or not fuel properly, she may get back to her old times within the year, but her chances of ever running faster will likely be ruined. This is hard to accept, and a college team could have made this piece worse or better, depending on the coach and team. She certainly would not have been out of the spotlight, as some have speculated, given how fast she ran in high school.
Mary has a hard road in front of her. Others have expected a level of success from her in a very short period of time. She will need to block these expectations out, while keeping her own belief in herself high, as she takes longer than she probably originally thought to get to the level where she wants to be. She will also have to find intrinsic reward in the process while she is not getting the external competitive accolades to which she had likely become accustomed. I think anyone who cares about the sport should give her the space and encouragement to do that. She can become both a better runner and person through it.