. . . Meanwhile, can anyone name someone who's even made a USA team for Olys or WC who didn't compete in college?
Allyson Felix . . . Ajee Wilson . . . so, it can be done . . . but for 1500m on up, college development, at least for a couple years, is an absolute must . . .
I meant in the distances, as indicated in my prior post.
Alexa turned pro before her senior year in high school when it seemed like the trendy thing for high school phenoms to do. Mary Cain had started training with Salazar in Alexa's sophomore year. As a junior, she then won NXN and ran some pretty "Cain-like" times.
But Mary had left her team and trained with Salazar because she was bullied in high school, Alexa seemed to have a good rapport with her teammates. Mary had so much immediate success, it seemed like the right choice for Alexa too. And while I'm not sure about the monetary piece to this, it just seemed like turning pro put Alexa in no-man's land.
Had she gone to college, and competed in the NCAA her times were good enough to win her titles and maybe give her confidence for the next steps. Look at Katelyn's trajectory. Her times aren't competitive professionally, but she's the best in the NCAA and she's being touted as the next big thing.
Mary Cain also said something interesting about her choice--that while running wise her times were fast enough to turn pro, emotionally she wasn't mature enough for that step yet.
That's not to say Alexa made a poor choice for herself, but around the time she, Drew and Mary had turned pro, there were a lot of questions on whether turning pro out of high school is the best way for long term success. I do think we have our answer.
I have to agree with Ryun. Name a WR holder who's ever even watched an NCAA race. Even the multi events, the disciplines for which it could be argued it is worthwhile, seem populated by athletes unaware that the NCAA exists. It apparently is not just unnecessary but an impediment to success.
Mondo Duplantis
Meanwhile, can anyone name someone who's even made a USA team for Olys or WC who didn't compete in college?
Alexa turned pro before her senior year in high school when it seemed like the trendy thing for high school phenoms to do. Mary Cain had started training with Salazar in Alexa's sophomore year. As a junior, she then won NXN and ran some pretty "Cain-like" times.
But Mary had left her team and trained with Salazar because she was bullied in high school, Alexa seemed to have a good rapport with her teammates. Mary had so much immediate success, it seemed like the right choice for Alexa too. And while I'm not sure about the monetary piece to this, it just seemed like turning pro put Alexa in no-man's land.
Had she gone to college, and competed in the NCAA her times were good enough to win her titles and maybe give her confidence for the next steps. Look at Katelyn's trajectory. Her times aren't competitive professionally, but she's the best in the NCAA and she's being touted as the next big thing.
Mary Cain also said something interesting about her choice--that while running wise her times were fast enough to turn pro, emotionally she wasn't mature enough for that step yet.
That's not to say Alexa made a poor choice for herself, but around the time she, Drew and Mary had turned pro, there were a lot of questions on whether turning pro out of high school is the best way for long term success. I do think we have our answer.
I wish her well in the future.
I agree with this thoughtful response. American distance runners are not world class out of high school--and it's a tough road when they go pro straight away.
Alexa turned pro before her senior year in high school when it seemed like the trendy thing for high school phenoms to do. Mary Cain had started training with Salazar in Alexa's sophomore year. As a junior, she then won NXN and ran some pretty "Cain-like" times.
But Mary had left her team and trained with Salazar because she was bullied in high school, Alexa seemed to have a good rapport with her teammates. Mary had so much immediate success, it seemed like the right choice for Alexa too. And while I'm not sure about the monetary piece to this, it just seemed like turning pro put Alexa in no-man's land.
Had she gone to college, and competed in the NCAA her times were good enough to win her titles and maybe give her confidence for the next steps. Look at Katelyn's trajectory. Her times aren't competitive professionally, but she's the best in the NCAA and she's being touted as the next big thing.
Mary Cain also said something interesting about her choice--that while running wise her times were fast enough to turn pro, emotionally she wasn't mature enough for that step yet.
That's not to say Alexa made a poor choice for herself, but around the time she, Drew and Mary had turned pro, there were a lot of questions on whether turning pro out of high school is the best way for long term success. I do think we have our answer.
I wish her well in the future.
I agree with this thoughtful response. American distance runners are not world class out of high school--and it's a tough road when they go pro straight away.
Best wishes for Alexa. One one hand, a different path may have afforded a different career. Better? Or worse? But as a competitive runner she accomplished more than nearly all of us. It's easy to say now that she should have gone to Stanford or something, but damn, she was a professional runner. Wish her the very best (and secretly hope that once she just runs for fun the competitive juices start flowing and she jumps back in).
Allyson Felix . . . Ajee Wilson . . . so, it can be done . . . but for 1500m on up, college development, at least for a couple years, is an absolute must . . .
I meant in the distances, as indicated in my prior post.
What were her career earnings compared to say German Fernandez? It is like Jager did much in college.
But let's compare the groups. We had
Cain, efraimson, Murphy, Aragon, cranny, Rainsbeger, and donaghu all ran top 10 1500m/mile times in 5 year period. The success rate for the college track isn't very good. The go pro group is pretty bad also...
Going pro out of high school was not a problem but the right choice. It's just that not every junior phenom becomes a top end world class athlete. She put it on the line and gave it her best shot. That's a hell of a lot more than most people.
Name a USA medalist in distance events in the past 20 years who didn't run in the NCAA. Even pro-then-collegian-then-pro Rupp and his shady coach found value in it.
I was absolutely on topic and replying very directly to the OP's comment on 'going pro' which every poster since has interpreted as 'not participating in the NCAA.' Mine was one of the few non-negative posts. I am completely supportive of those who do not do any collegiate running. I'm not in your side or that of most posters (who believe she should have run for some PAC-12 school) but I am certainly on her side and completely approve of the decision which is the primary focus of these posts. (Notice how I was and am now very much on topic.)
The dream of any kid playing a sport is for it to become their job one day. To have been a pro for 8 years and be done at 25 before physical decline is the way to go. congrats on a good run
Name a WR holder who's ever even watched an NCAA race.
Henry Rono.
He holds no world records. Duplantis may be the only one. In the men's marathon, Rupp takes the honors at #162. Sisson for the women at #24. This is using the performers list as opposed to performances, which is much less generous since the same athletes appear multiple times. Doesn't seem to suggest that the NCAA is 'essential' for distance running development.
Allyson Felix . . . Ajee Wilson . . . so, it can be done . . . but for 1500m on up, college development, at least for a couple years, is an absolute must . . .
I meant in the distances, as indicated in my prior post.
How small of a sample size are you working with here? You want to compare the success of, maybe, a few dozen athletes in two decades against the thousands per year who compete at the NCAA level?