College Coaches: Why the heck would you NOT want Kayla Montgomery on your team???????????????

lease wrote:

As this athlete's MS progresses (which it surely shall--the only question is, how fast), it is indeed possible that that scholarship may be tied up "unproductively" for a couple of years.

MS progression may be avoidable. Dr. Terry Wahls reversed her MS symptoms after spending four years in a tilt recline wheelchair. (http://terrywahls.com/)

I can see why college coaches would be careful when evaluating this situation but she has improved her times every single year in high school. I would think improvement over a high school career is what coaches would be looking for.

Here is another article on Kayla. I'd say the best written of the bunch:

http://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/despite-ms-kayla-montgomery-keeps-running?page=single

Just an FYI: the comments about brain cancer and comparing it to MS did not come from me, lease.

I'm not educated on this disease, but from the article it says she is on medication. I would assume they are pretty strong prescriptions considering the severity of her condition. Will this have any impact on NCAA drug policies, or would this be something you could apply and possibly get a waiver for?

I am a high school girl's coach and was a member of competitive D1 team. Only knowing Kayla from what I read, I would love to have a girl like her on the team, MS or no MS. 10:43 HS girls are not a dime-a-dozen as some have said and it's not always the 10:10 girls that matriculate to NCAA All-Americans.

Congratulations Kayla and congratulations Lipscomb!

Kayla finished 8th at nationals in the 5k in 17:16

kinda pathetic to read the typical LRC crap about this kid, i.e. she's not inspirational enough or hasn't run fast enough to merit a scholarship to a program like Lipscomb...

From what I gather, LU has a large women's team - like 30? - and Kayla's HS results are comparable to other scholarship recruits.

The snarky, critical BS of an athlete like this - and a college willing to give her a shot - are sad. You people are part of the problem, period.

This looks like pain to me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHa841CR6og

She was Lipscomb's seventh runner pretty consistently this year. Lipscomb finished 4th in the South Regional. Not too bad.

It's really too bad that she went to Lipscomb. More than likely she will run well for a year or two and then end up injured/burnt out/stagnated. Seems to be the trend there for men and women alike....

Let's just be honest here Lipscomb is bush league through and through. I feel bad for her that she can't see that Bill Taylor is a used car salesman. PS: This isn't someone posting out of jealousy I work with a team much better than Lipscomb's.

They are affiliated with some goofy church too. I saw them bragging on their website about how many runners they had converted this year. Beware parents about sending your child to a place that trumpets religious conversion as something to be proud of...

I actually heard she is pretty sassy/not that friendly.

Is there any precedent with someone with her condition. I don't remember reading a story quite like hers. A year or two of good running might be a success...not a failure.

615 info wrote:

It's really too bad that she went to Lipscomb. More than likely she will run well for a year or two and then end up injured/burnt out/stagnated. Seems to be the trend there for men and women alike....

There is one guy that keeps bashing Lipscomb under different names. Obviously has an agenda.

The negative stuff being said is not true. The men and women at Lipscomb improve every year, and improve by a lot. There are many girls who have improved by minutes. Look up results, high school PR's, College PR's and see what is fact.

As for injuries, Lipscomb had the same seven women in their top 7 all xc season this year. All were healthy and competed in the season that counts. All seven were under 18-minutes through 5k at the South Region Championships, where they finished fourth as a team, their best ever finish. It's a strong program that gets stronger every year.

Who even heard of Lipscomb six or seven years ago? The fact that there are now haters shows how far that program has come.

As for Kayla Montgomery, it doesn't sound like anyone has really done what she is doing. It's hard to know how long she will be able to run, much less improve. She could be running for the next 20 years, or things could turn quickly.

I'm proud of her for going for it, and I'm proud of Lipscomb for looking at the person first and taking a chance on her.

Where is she now?

Don't know about after college, but looking at tfrrs it looks like her first yesr was her best year, and she may not have finished her senior year after a 26+ minute 6k. I hope she is not in too much pain now

What you would get is national attention to the program as showing heart as well as competitiveness, but it is difficult to understand that in advance and your athletic director might ask you why you tied up a scholarship to someone who might not be able to walk. With 18 scholarships for women, it's worth a shot and I am very confident after reading that article that the program that brought her in would become famous if she can compete well for at least one year. I hope that she makes it the whole time, just an inspiring story because she went all in when she understood what she might be facing. Live in the present.