I caught this race on TV the other day at a hotel. She ran a smart race (unlike the American in the race who ran like the Ingebrigtsen fan boys on the boards who think you should always front run and to not do so is an insult to the sport).
To be fair, it may not be about the college, and moreso the opportunity to live somewhere new and out-of-state.
True. But the great state of Michigan was on a tear, having the best women's runners out of HS for the last 4 years and ALL of them left (3 for Stanford), but then this one to MSU! 2 of them went to HS literally across the street from U of M! That hurts. Makes me wonder frankly. I would also wonder less if we were making up for it by getting top talent from elsewhere..im not sure I see that. And our best runner we did have bolted for ND! There are other top sports here that make the pitch and keep talent here.
I think selling recruits on Michigan is a huge ask when compared to Stanford. Better weather, better training / coaching, and a better school as well...but MSU surprises me especially since I don't think $ would be an issue with her talent
Didn't Vanderlende only leave as a grad student though?
Could be perhaps when USATF initially said they weren't going to send a team to Peru, anyone with other options went that route immediately instead of waiting around for USATF to pull their head out. I know quite a few people that didn't even bother to book their trip to Eugene because it would have extended their track seasons by a month, and for what?
I think selling recruits on Michigan is a huge ask when compared to Stanford. Better weather, better training / coaching, and a better school as well...but MSU surprises me especially since I don't think $ would be an issue with her talent
Didn't Vanderlende only leave as a grad student though?
Yes on all points. I would like to go to Stanford too. Vanderlende left with eligibility. Just seems coincidental that we are getting nobody. I hear....things.
The relative lack of depth in Canada makes it a practical decision. London, Ontario isn't too far from Michigan, so she probably has spent a lot of time in Canada with family. My own kids have dual citizenship with Canada and another country and they feel very strongly Canadian, but also strongly identify with their mother's culture, having lived there as small children and returned to visit several times. Lots of people around the world identify very strongly with more than one nationality. One of the benefits of having such an amazing sports culture and the NCAA system is that plenty of the foreign athletes end up working and living in the states, so you get quality immigration.
as was mentioned in this post, her dad is from Canada. Both he and mom, Jessica are UM people through and through. Her connection to the London club is that one of her dads UM teammates is the head coach or president of the club, so an easy in, in their club system, which is 100% better than the US.
Why not go somewhere else? Ann Arbor is a neat town, but when you have been there your whole life and pretty much live next door to their athletic facilities, maybe a change is good.