US HS 1500 record holder Alexa Efraimson (4:03.39 pb) retires at 25

It was a bad decision to go pro then. When you're nowhere near the world best and you don't go into a group that can get you there, unlike Kenyan or Ethiopian runners, then you're making a bad decision. You miss out on a lot and you actually continually build your brand, if you're concerned with that, by going the college route. Now, of course, if you were already world class, you could go pro, but she wasn't and never improved. After a year of college domination, you have an even better basis for going pro, but look at the success stories even there--those are people who were already close to world elite or there, Athing Mu and Donavan Brazier, and Brazier actually took a few years to find his place in the pro world. And to name another, Nourredine Morceli ran juco.

I don't necessarily disagree with your conclusion however-

1] Rupp is number 19 all-time performer in the 10,000 m and second non African born after Fisher. You choose the marathon to make your case, beee...cause?

2] I think it is generally understood that we are discussing American runners.

3] of course Rono once held multiple WR's

Ryan Crouser's world record is current, as are Mclaughlin's, Mondo's, Flo-Jo's, Joyner-Kersee's, Powell's, and Merritt's.

Mary Cain’s prs are from high school.

I’m very impressed that Alexa actually decided to walk away. I think it shows maturity and that her whole identity isn’t tied to how fast she runs in circles. Wish her the best in the future and she’s only 25 and hopefully w some money socked away.

I don’t think the conclusion is ‘don’t turn pro in high school’.

And here we go again. Another post from someone who clearly is CLUELESS!!! Skipping college and or NCAA competition is NOT for everyone, in fact it is super risky. One in a million U.S. runners are capable of bypassing college, find a solid training group, a place to live, and have the maturity to excel in one of the most difficult sports in the world. Please don't start throwing out examples of runners outside the U.S. that are excelling. For every one of these exceptional athletes there are thousands that crash and burn and are never heard of again. The NCAA is a solid "Farm System" for up and coming runners. It allows you to mature both physically and mentally, not too mention providing an education for later in life. You're done with college at 21-22 years old and are hitting your prime years to compete. If you're a stud runner at a younger age and CAN compete at a level higher than the NCAA and succeed then do it, but for most of us mere mortals college competition is ideal.

I have no idea if going pro in high school was the right move or not... but damn I really feel for her, it must have been so frustrating to run as your job for 7 years and never PR in your best event... all the while watching yourself go from "the next big thing" to a "never was" and watching so many of your peers pass you by at the same time.

I assume she got a long-term contract in high school and it is finally expiring now.

Wish her the best in the future... no idea what her feelings towards running are, but if it were me I would get away from the sport for a while.

Running is hard. Kudos to her for getting paid to do it for 8 years.

This is how you retire from the sport gracefully. Good for her. Always a class act and continues to be.

Not the career any of us have imagined when she went pro but it's hard to figure out what will happen in the future at this level of running. They're all running for a couple of percent of improvements at most.

Too small of a sample size for me to agree that it is wrong to skip the ncaa. Look at Ajee Wilson also from that similar Era of runners. and Drew H did win a US title.

I’ll be honest I’ve never even heard of this girl lol and I follow running pretty well

She ran the us highschool record 1500m time. One of the best girls distance highschoolers of all time. I got her #2 behind Cain just from her 1500/3ktimes

Hey douche, she had no teammates = why she retired early.

Name the 20 fellow athletes she trained with on a daily basis.

No, failure to particpate in the NCAA is not 'super risky'. If every T&F WR was held by someone who had, that could be argued. I can't name one besides Duplantis. If you had to go a hundred deep to find a non-NCAA athlete in every event, or even one, your argument could have some merit. Simply look at times and medals. The data speak for themselves. Although you can find an outlier like Lagat in the 1500 - still not #1 and therefore behind someone who didn't do it - simple facts suggest NCAA participation is an impediment to success.

Do you suggest the medals will be swept in the next OG and WC by NCAA participants and/or former ones? Let's see if that happens. If so, I will surrender and concede. If none medal in any event the next 2 years, will you do the same?

Finally decided to get a real job and stop pretending running is a real career. Good for her. Put your degrees to use hobby jogger's

As you suggest, I think you see that T&F in general is dominated by non-NCAA-participants. This is demonstrated by records, all-time lists, medals, etc. I'll tell you why I used the marathon as an example to illistrate the insignificance of NCAA participants.

Start with the 100. You'll see a few in the top-10. Hardly proves it is 'essential' but it is not a complete barrier to success. Still, the absolute best don't seem to be on your list (of collegians). You'll notice something similar in the 200, and as you get longer, they'll (NCAA athletes and former ones) get sparser.

Get into the distances. At events longer than 2k, you can go way down before you find any...culminating in the marathon. It's unremarkable I used the event which best illustrates my point. That WAS my point. It may be good for sprints but is definitely NOT for distance. It is less true - but true nonetheless - the shorter you get.

What's funny is that you picked an event which is not all that much better. Is the top-10 at 10k mostly NCAA alumni? How many are in the top-100? Using that event to illustrate your point is ironic because it actually illustrates mine. The greats didn't run in the NCAA. Find a field event to illustrate your point because 10000 certainly doesn't.

By the way, I realized Duplantis is not unique as an NCAA-affiliated WR holder.. (For field events I might actually recommend going collegiate, by the way.) McLaughlan-Levrone. Is that the only runner who both ran in the NCAA and has a WR?

Tinman Elite destroys their first runner technically outside of the group.

I always thought Alexa was beautiful and extremely marketable. I dont know why she is dating Jordan Gusman. He seems like a toxic loser.

Going pro doesn't preclude someone from getting a college degree. Ajee graduated from Temple in 4 years while competing at the highest level as a pro.