One thing Sveinsson has going for her is that she competes for a small, private school, thus allowing her to train for the big meets at the end of the year and not over race during the regular season. She and her support staff know what they've been doing and are looking out for her long-term development, similar to what Hasay and her support staff have done. It's great to see two athletes running at such a high level.
She should be recognized as one the US besttalents ever. No kidding. She is on the same level as Decker, Gallager, Hasay.
Hope her Mother does not get too overbearing
Hasay also competes for a small private school and it allows her to race less frequently.
realist505 wrote:
What do Goucher, Flanagan & Barringer have in common? They were not running national records in high school. They focused on steady improvement not chasing down times.
It is true that most high school phenoms burn out, but there are exceptions. Hopefully Sveinsson and Hasay are exceptions, but lets time tell and not Letsrun pundits.
"HIGH SCHOOL: A four-time All-Seminole Athletic Conference, all-region and all-state runner, Barringer is a five-time 4A Florida State champion on the track and three-time champion in cross country (sophomore through senior seasons), and the 2005 state finalist for the Wendy’s Heisman Award and finalist for the Sports Illustrated Got Milk Award. She was the 2003 and ’04 Foot Locker South Regional Champion in Charlotte, N.C., successfully defending her title in ’04. Advancing to the Foot Locker National Championships both years, she finished third as a junior and 10th as a senior to earn All-American honors. The 2005 USA Cross Country Championships Junior Women’s third-place finisher, she also raced in both the 2004 and ’05 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, the latter as the captain leading the USA to a fourth-place team finish. In the classroom she was a four-year member of the Principal’s List, graduating with a 4.2 weighted GPA."
While not a record holder, Barringer was quite good in high school. Women's running is by and large like men's running - some phenoms peak early, some continue to improve, and almost all distance world records are set by men and women in their early 20s with the exception of road records. No pre-pubescent girl or boy will EVER (now that world records are sufficiently strong) set a world record. If a girl wants to be able to challenge for a medal, she had better be pretty damn good when she starts running. Will Sveinsson probably be a world beater? No, but most likely, neither will Wills. But when Wills's improvement curve slows, are you going to say it's because he sprouted hips?
Swviensons mom and coach have been smart about her development. It will all come down to which college she attends. Some high school phenoms don't burn out they just choose colleges that aren't best for their continuing development.
Oregon?
Sparkles the Cat wrote:
all these girls won't amount to nothing.
Either anorexic, bout to grow hips, bout to burn out, etc. Its a long slow road, and few young ones have the 'discipline' to wait.
If the don't plateau in HS, college kills them, and they begin the downward spiral.
Man are you a misery.
new england runner wrote:
"HIGH SCHOOL: A four-time All-Seminole Athletic Conference, all-region and all-state runner, Barringer is a five-time 4A Florida State champion on the track and three-time champion in cross country (sophomore through senior seasons), and the 2005 state finalist for the Wendy’s Heisman Award and finalist for the Sports Illustrated Got Milk Award. She was the 2003 and ’04 Foot Locker South Regional Champion in Charlotte, N.C., successfully defending her title in ’04. Advancing to the Foot Locker National Championships both years, she finished third as a junior and 10th as a senior to earn All-American honors. The 2005 USA Cross Country Championships Junior Women’s third-place finisher, she also raced in both the 2004 and ’05 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, the latter as the captain leading the USA to a fourth-place team finish. In the classroom she was a four-year member of the Principal’s List, graduating with a 4.2 weighted GPA."
While not a record holder, Barringer was quite good in high school. Women's running is by and large like men's running - some phenoms peak early, some continue to improve, and almost all distance world records are set by men and women in their early 20s with the exception of road records. No pre-pubescent girl or boy will EVER (now that world records are sufficiently strong) set a world record. If a girl wants to be able to challenge for a medal, she had better be pretty damn good when she starts running. Will Sveinsson probably be a world beater? No, but most likely, neither will Wills. But when Wills's improvement curve slows, are you going to say it's because he sprouted hips?
You are correct. She had a very good high school career. Not one that was chasing records but along the same lines as Goucher, Kastor, Flanagan, Tollefeson (sp?), Yoder Begley or Wurth. They were all top level national runners in high school but were not chasing times and continued to improve through college and all have been Olympians. I would say that after a female's sophomore year in college is a good time to assess where they might be heading as far as a running career.
Good points, sorry if my post came off as contentious the tone was mostly in reply to some of the other posters on the thread.
This comment isn't addressed to anyone in particular, but is just something that I believe is often overlooked when discussions such as this one (the "high school phenoms always burn out, but solid HSers turn into great pros" discussion) are had:
Yes, there are more elite senior (and by senior I mean open division, not senior in high school) runners who had good but not record-breaking, all-time great high school careers than there are elites who were record-smashing all-time greats in high school. The bulk of the reason for this, though, isn't necessarily higher burnout rate among the record-breakers. The main reason there are more solid-but-not-great HSers competing well as pros than there are record-breakers is because there are about 10 of the former graduating every year, while only about one of the latter graduating every 10 years. The solid runners outnumber the all-time greats approximately 100-to-1! Their senior division success rate only needs to be 2% of the all-time HS greats' rate in order to outnumber them 2-to-1 at the pro level.*
*Note: all numbers are, obviously, approximations/extimations. But not outlandish ones, I do believe.
Who says that Sveinsson is "chasing times/records?" From what I've seen in interviews, she is just a (very) talented girl who is willing and able to travel to get good competition... and then beating them soundly.
As a coach, one of the most encouraging things I see is that her physique is one that will hold up well to the developmental changes ahead, unlike so many of the record-holding "burnouts".
realist505 wrote:
Mostradamus wrote:Yeah...just like Decker, Jennings,Hamilton, Goucher, Flanagan, Barringer and Blood
What do Goucher, Flanagan & Barringer have in common? They were not running national records in high school. They focused on steady improvement not chasing down times.
It is true that most high school phenoms burn out, but there are exceptions. Hopefully Sveinsson and Hasay are exceptions, but lets time tell and not Letsrun pundits.
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From what I remember, Goucher, Flanagan & Barringer were great H.S. athletes and started running even before H.S. The best girls in H.S. generally end up being the best girls in College...I am not sure why you focus on the exceptions. Bri, Kooons, Lawarence, Price, Kosinski, Jones, Blood, Edwards, Bowman, etc., etc., were actually great age group runners. Like I said, why focus on the exceptions?
TrackCoach wrote:
realist505 wrote:What do Goucher, Flanagan & Barringer have in common? They were not running national records in high school. They focused on steady improvement not chasing down times.
It is true that most high school phenoms burn out, but there are exceptions. Hopefully Sveinsson and Hasay are exceptions, but lets time tell and not Letsrun pundits.
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From what I remember, Goucher, Flanagan & Barringer were great H.S. athletes and started running even before H.S. The best girls in H.S. generally end up being the best girls in College...I am not sure why you focus on the exceptions. Bri, Kooons, Lawarence, Price, Kosinski, Jones, Blood, Edwards, Bowman, etc., etc., were actually great age group runners. Like I said, why focus on the exceptions?[/quote]
Yes, they were great high school runners but they were not running extermely fast times that were near national records. Who were the exceptions that I was focusing on? I just gave examples of some current Olympians that were not running near record times in high school. I just think that we put too much stock in high school times. That was my point.
Jones definitely wasn't running national high school times. It appears she was just a hard worker. Sveinson is basically coached and trained by her mom like the Jones girl. Sveinson's future will be determined by the university she decides to attend. I still believe Jones is very talented but someone needs to figure out what she needs. Do the universities look at what these young phenoms where doing in workouts before hitting college? I think this may have something to do with continued success on the next level.
Sveinson ran 4:40 in the mile today, if I'm not mistaken doesn't that give her the US soph record in the mile as well (previously nicole blood's 4:42 mark)...has anyone ever held both of these titles at the same time
wtf she won a indoor 2mile title. she was like a 10:20 indoor 2miler in high school i would say that she was nationally known...
Wow, she just broke the sophomore records of two phenoms... Jordan Hasay and Nicole Blood.. in the span of 2 days!!
Truly amazing...
She is over rated CRAP!
how is she overrated? she is getting faster every year and she does not look anorexic. It's going to come down to the college she chooses. I've seen a few universities mess up some pretty talented kids.