Mary Cain Ducking Again??

Mary Cain is 18. Why are people saying she's 17?

The same reason that they refer to Rupp as a kid, when Rupp is 28.

I don't think Cain will be in shape to break 4 by July 15, so I think we will see her at US Juniors.

douglas burke wrote:

world junior trials are at the same time as the paris meet and that is why she cant do both.

She's the best ever U.S. junior at multiple events and the best ever hs runner at 800/1500/mile/2M/5k, I believe, so she's certainly worth talking about, just as LeBron and Kobe were worth talking about when they were hs seniors.

ksksl wrote:

Les wrote:

"Ducking" is much too harsh a word. She's not ready to run yet. Was David Rudisha "ducking" the competition when he didn't run the first two Diamond League meets? Pros do not duck the competition. That's how they make their living. But it's foolish to race the best when you're not at your best. She should take as long as she needs to get in pro competition shape. She's not in high school any more. She's a pro now.

No, when you enter and then switch events because other athletes have entered... that's ducking. Rudisha didn't do that, did he? He just didn't enter in the first place. Big difference.

Is the claim that she's ducking Efraimson?

dkny64 wrote:

Is the claim that she's ducking Efraimson?

The claim is that of she switched events, then she's ducking all of the competitors that were added after she entered. If Efraimson is one of those, then yes. And if so, that is very weak.

Are the mentalitites of the NOP runners so fragile that they can't handle being beaten? Why do they need to be protected so much?

Er... wrote:

I'm not sure what's more strange about your post: being a fan of a 17-year old high schooler or claiming to be a fan and then publicly, anonymously, accusing a 17-year old high schooler of ducking competition.

Apparently we can no longer be a fan of someone yet criticize them at times. News to me.

Yea I have no problem with Mary Cain in general - she is an amazing runner - I just thought it wasn't cool that she was entered in the 1500 and it was like advertised (even on letsrun) and when the startlists were out she was out too.

She waited really long to change events too - this article from Friday shows she was going to run the 1500m:

http://www.armorytrack.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=45586&do=news&news_id=268057

I'll boo her when she passes section 302 ($30 at ticketalternative.com).

Andrewww wrote:

Yea I have no problem with Mary Cain in general - she is an amazing runner - I just thought it wasn't cool that she was entered in the 1500 and it was like advertised (even on letsrun) and when the startlists were out she was out too.

She waited really long to change events too - this article from Friday shows she was going to run the 1500m:

http://www.armorytrack.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=45586&do=news&news_id=268057

Got it. I'm going to lay out what I think has happened / will happen, then you can hack away at my claims if you're so inclined.

Cain's training this outdoor season hasn't been going very well while she's been trying to keep more of a school/running balance than she did last year. Salazar keeps expecting her to turn the corner and it keeps not happening. He stepped her down from the 1500m to the 800m at Pre, but that race didn't go particularly well. The time was ok - 2:02.31 isn't a disaster - but Cain got caught up in traffic and never really found a rhythm in the race.

The Adidas meet has been hyping a Cain - Simpson showdown in the 1500m for quite a while [which was always bogus since Aregawi is the odds-on favorite to win the race and Cain even at her best hasn't shown she can be competitive with Simpson], so Salazar was hoping to keep Cain in the 1500m. It's become clear to him, however, that Cain isn't fit enough to run with the leaders of the 1500m to the 800m, so if she stayed in the 1500m she'd be stuck in the midpack scrum, and that's the last place he wants her to be right now.

One option would be to pull her out of the meet completely, but he wants to get her back out there racing so he put her in this 800m, which features a smaller, slower field than she faced at Pre. She should have plenty of room to run and be able to focus on getting her racing legs back.

At this point she isn't close to being ready to race the DL 1500m in Paris, so she'll run US Juniors [presumably the 1500m] and [barring an injury or something really bizarre happening that keeps her from qualifying] Junior Worlds.

If she runs great at Junior Worlds, she might do a late season pro meet or two, but her main focus the rest of the summer will be on making the transition to college. Once she's settled, Alberto will make some decisions about how to handle the 2015 indoor season and the build-up to 2015 Outdoor Worlds.

Here's an intersting question for all of you:

If you think Cain is ducking the competition at Pre and New York, because she doesn't want to face the likes of Cranny and Efraimson, they why would she do US and World JR's? She'd be facing the same people you guys are accusing her of avoiding, or maybe it's just that Salazar doesn't want to see her beat by people of her age cause he's convinced himself that she's better than that, then still why would she do World JR's?

So either A) she's ducking cause she's actually not in shape or B) the argument that she's ducking Cranny/Efraimson, but still doing World JR's is invalid

And I realize starting off with a under distance event to work your way back into it (rustbuster) is good, but that 2:02 was it, why is she running the 800 again after she was so set on the 1500 at DL New York? You don't need 2 rustbusters, cause if she's that out-of-shape, then she needs to be like Rudisha/Usain Bolt and just not run in the first place

I'm saying she isn't ducking anybody [or rather Salazar isn't having her duck anybody], she just isn't in great shape and her first rust buster didn't accomplish what it was supposed to so he's having her do a second rust buster that he hopes will go better.

Sorry, I wasn't exactly responding to you, just a few others...

And I sure hope it goes better, maybe 1:59-2:00, during indoors (2:34 1k, 4:01A 1500m), she was in ridiculous shape, and if she can get that back I think she's prepared for a fast 15 at Paris, but if it doesn't, Salazar needs to train Cain for DL Brussels in September and I actually think that's her best chance at breaking 4 regardless

Stop spouting common sense.

Check your math wrote:

Mary Cain is 18. Why are people saying she's 17?

Ok 18yrs 1 month and 10 days.

Check your math wrote: Mary Cain is 18. Why are people saying she's 17?[/quote]

Mr stickler wrote: Ok 18yrs 1 month and 10 days.[/quote]

Wow, you must be the life of the party telling people their ages to the m-d-y. You must be single.

ksksl wrote:

Les wrote:

"Ducking" is much too harsh a word. She's not ready to run yet. Was David Rudisha "ducking" the competition when he didn't run the first two Diamond League meets? Pros do not duck the competition. That's how they make their living. But it's foolish to race the best when you're not at your best. She should take as long as she needs to get in pro competition shape. She's not in high school any more. She's a pro now.

No, when you enter and then switch events because other athletes have entered... that's ducking. Rudisha didn't do that, did he? He just didn't enter in the first place. Big difference.

She's not ready to race the best people at 1500 yet. If she's in top form and then drops out or changes events, then you can accuse her of ducking. Event competitors change quickly. If everybody else in the 1500 had declared early do you think she would have entered in the first place? Probably not, in my opinion.

malmo wrote:

Er... wrote:

I'm not sure what's more strange about your post: being a fan of a 17-year old high schooler or claiming to be a fan and then publicly, anonymously, accusing a 17-year old high schooler of ducking competition.

Agreed. It's really creepy obsessing over a high school kid like this.

that always happens, look at lebron james and kobe bryant, the media was always writing about them in high school, they lived up to the hype, many dont, regardless those good at a young age get tons of media.

This ducking it's a Oregon thing like noodling for the Arkanissippi gang?