OnAthletics is going after Colin Sahlman

OACstan24 wrote:

OnAthletics wants to continue their great success over the last month as they are now going after the great sub 4 minute mile high schooler now. Heard from sources that they told him if he breaks 14 for the 5k he has got a pro contract with them. I am sure others will be interested, but look out for On to be the ones to try to sign him.

I heard from other more reliable sources that he is heading to NAU.....

KAV wrote:

OACstan24 wrote:

OnAthletics wants to continue their great success over the last month as they are now going after the great sub 4 minute mile high schooler now. Heard from sources that they told him if he breaks 14 for the 5k he has got a pro contract with them. I am sure others will be interested, but look out for On to be the ones to try to sign him.

I heard from other more reliable sources that he is heading to NAU.....

I bet there was a moment where Kessler was planning to go to school as well. we will see

NP is the next Ingerbritsens wrote:

rhimby wrote:

Please no. When was the last time a male distance runner had success going pro out of high school?

If you're not good enough to win NCAA titles in high school, don't go pro.

Hobbs Kessler, Alan Webb, and Drew Hunter are/were successful pros. Hunter is going to break 13:00 this year I predict.

Not yet/extreme highs and lows/jury is out

some college meets are more competitive than domestic pro/invitational races (case in point the mile that colin just won as a high schooler). in that way it def makes sense to go to college for a year or two unless you are set on a specific coach/group/etc then i dont see the problem. like kessler for example, he seems happy with VNTC and Warhurst so why go anywhere else? Ron will prob retire or be out of the game soon anyway.

OozmaKappa wrote:

rhimby wrote:

The probably with going pro too early is that you get zero experience racing for the win at championships for at least 4-5 years, while your peers that went to college have tons of experience competing for NCAA championships. You're in a weird middle ground.

The problem with every athlete that comes out of the G League is precisely that experience in hobbyjogging races which kneecaps their growth. They'd be better off without this "experience".

G league? Do you mean the Golden League? I think it is referred to as the Diamond League now, though.

And how is international racing going to hurt their growth? That doesn’t make any sense.

Evan Jager

rhimby wrote:

OACstan24 wrote:

If you get offered money to run professionally out of college, you take the deal. He was at a pretty high peak of hype at that point

Right I'm not saying financially it was a bad decision, but purely from a running standpoint I think NCAA is underrated for developing athletes. Honestly Adidas threw way too much money at him without any guidance.

Exhibit A: Josh Kerr

He's even mentioned that NCAA gave him the racing experience he needed before he take it to the next level

If he gets offered $1M, take it. Somebody will give him a 5 year deal for $100K year plus college costs no doubt. If he goes to On, I predict immediate success. I think he runs 13:40 as a high schooler this year, and the sky is the limit with On. I would assume 3:53/13:20 next year.

90 percent probability he’s going to NAU in the fall

For his development, he needs to be part of a training group, and he needs to get experience with a variety of different race tactics to figure out how to best adapt when he isn’t controlling the race. He can get both those with On, VNTC, or in college at a program like NAU or Oregon where the coach has ties with some pros.

Financially, I don’t know what his family situation is, but a year or two in school before going pro will help move things along with the degree to allow him to do other things besides running. He should talk to the guys on the ON team, a few other programs both college and pro and weigh the choice with his family while considering any non-running career interests and which situation he want a to be in when he gets his first injury.

Dwightarm wrote:

OozmaKappa wrote:

The problem with every athlete that comes out of the G League is precisely that experience in hobbyjogging races which kneecaps their growth. They'd be better off without this "experience".

G league? Do you mean the Golden League? I think it is referred to as the Diamond League now, though.

And how is international racing going to hurt their growth? That doesn’t make any sense.

I thought he was talking about the NBA G League. But who knows, because his post really didn't make sense.

The problem with going pro straight out of high-school is you are turning down a free education. Seriously, this board is hugely myopic when it comes to this. You have the best colleges in the country offering you scholarships. Your athletic career will only make up a tiny proportion of your life and unless you are a world beater, you arent going to make a fortune. If you are good enough, you'll still have huge deals waiting for you post collegiate and you'll have set yourself up post post-athletics with an education. The most likely thing is that you won't be one of the best in the world though but by going the NCAA route, you will have secured yourself a debt free start to your adult life which is huge while also securing your future.

You can find examples of those that did well going pro out of high school and those that didn’t.

It worked well for Ajee Wilson and Allyson Felix. Evan Jaget and Alan Webb were one and done. Somebody like German Fernandez should have gone prob after his freshman year, from a purely financial perspective (and you could argue it would have been better for his running).

It remains to be seen if it’ll work for Hobbs Kessler and Drew Hunter. If we are looking at it from a financial perspective then both of these guys made the right decision. They’re making way more than if they went to college.

“…figure out how to best adapt when isn’t controlling the race.”

Didn’t he do exactly that last night? Sitting on a pace and kicking, is not rocket science and I’ve seen the strategy mastered by HS freshman.

No. Every kid who has gone pro out of high school got a deal that included free college where ever they wanted to go. Hunter got $2M over 10 years plus college paid for. And rather than be bound to the team's travel schedule and meet schedule, he can choose not to race on finals week. Only an idiot wouldn't have taken the deal. He would have his college paid for at Oregon and then gotten a very low level pro contract afterward. He would be out $2M.

The problem with going pro out of high school is that very few of the athletes that have done it are actually good enough to go straight into an elite training group and are left to futz around on their own. Adidas had no plan in place for Hunter when they signed him. He would have been better off going to Colorado and running under Whetmore for 3 years than noodling around with Tinman. Grant fisher is in a much better place because he was able to develop himself in college to the point where he could join Bowerman. Signing with adidas also seems like a poor choice, as they’re not really committed to building solid training groups. Josh Hoey went pro out of HS and we’ll probably never hear from him again. Hobbs will need better training partners than semi-retired Nick Willis and Mason Ferlic to make any progress. The maturation/development between age 18 and 25 for males is just so much different than in women that being a phenom as a HS boy is not nearly as strong an indicator for future pro success.

Sounds like a dumb Andrew Wheating idea.

Let him go to NAU, Mike Smith will give him a nice foundation without frying him and then in a couple years if he outgrows the NCAA he can turn pro.

I would be pretty surprised if On is actually going after a high school kid. So far their M.O. in the U.S. seems to have been to sign NCAA studs right after they graduate, and it's worked out pretty damn well for them so far. Far better than Hunter or Kessler has workout out for Adidas if you ask me.