Mary Cain and college?

quick draw mcgraw wrote:

"exactly"? you really are clueless. gymnasts have a tiny window to make money at their sport and it is when they are in their teens. you don't see 30 year old professional gymnasts. with running, you don't hit your peak until your late 20s and you can keep on running into your late 30s (deena) and beyond (joanie). for a gymnast, it's now or never in high school. for a runner, she can wait 4 more years and she won't age herself out of making money. however, she could burn herself or train/race stupidly for 4 years.

also, what high school seniors are 15? you are a very odd perspective.

I don't disagree with you. Gymnasts have a tiny window, Cain has a big window. Gymnasts *have* to decide when they are 15-16 if they are going to go pro or not. There is tons of pressure They are not looking long term. My point is really that for Cain to even be considering going pro doesn't make sense at this stage when the scholarship is a sure bet.

As a father currently paying college bills, and as an athlete who competed (albeit without huge success) at a Division 1 school...

I think any high school athlete who can make the kind of deal that Alan Webb did--$250K base for a guaranteed number of years--would be nuts to take a 4 year athletic scholarship instead. Literally, take the money and run...to your preferred college of choice/ability, pay your own tuition, and bank the rest of the money.

Either that or go to work for Chipotle and make $99K

Interesting point brought up about her ideal training situation being with mid-level D-1 or high level d-3 guys. (d-2 is nonexistent in the northeast so leave them out for a second).

Seems like a good fit for her then would be a school in the northeast, with very good academics, a strong women's program, and a decent but not quite as good men's program. She could train with the girls whenever appropriate, guys whenever necessary, but still ideally have the flexibility to do Salazar's training program?

Any such college come to mind?

Good point. However, these two schools attract students such as Steve Jobs, Yoko Ono and Meredith Monk because these individuals were drawn to the academic and social cultures there.

odds on OPs original Q: very low chance she skips college.

She's driven, has prodigy star power, is coached from the West Coast, and has well-educated professional parents. Rumors are she's academically strong, and independent-minded (religion aside).

Best bet: Stanford.

C'mon folks, SHE will decide and SHE is not you normal young high school student. On top of that, SHE is not attending a high-end high school in the East...SHE is living and training in Portland, Oregon, and may I say, with great success. So...SHE may well decide that she likes Portland, Oregon very much and the lifestyle that comes with it. SHE may decide that Reed College provides her the mental stimulation that someone like her probably would thrive from. Oh yes, SHE and Alberto left the East Coast after competing there last weekend...returned to Portland, Oregon where the weather was much better for training, then returned to the East coast to race the next weekend. Training during the winter can be miserable in many parts of the country, just as training in the Summer can be miserable in many parts of the country. Weather for distance training probably couldn't be better anywhere in the country than in Portland, Oregon. If she's as smart as many say, she will likely stay in her current fantastic situation and go to somewhere like Reed College.

get back on your meds, learn how to write and do a better job learning at least some of the facts of MC before posting again.

You are funny, I did not have a problem with any aspect of the meet.

I see Mary Cain's situation being closer to Mary Decker and Kim Gallagher's than Jordan Hasay. Decker and Gallagher floundered as college freshman and eventually dropped out because the NCAA system was anticlimactic. Not that Cain would drop out of school, but it is difficult to run in a system where you have already beaten most of the top athletes before you get there. With that said, unless Cain continues to make major improvements, I think she could benefit from running in the NCAA one season because right now she would have competition in every event.

This may give you an idea of where she's headed:

Wanamaker Mile

WOMEN

Sarah Bowman Brown, New Balance

Mary Cain, unattached

• Emma Coburn, University of Colorado

Abbey D'Agostino, Dartmouth College

Delilah DiCrescenzo, unattached

Kate Grace, Oiselle/NJ-NY TC

Jordan Hasay, University of Oregon

Ashley Higginson, Saucony

Emily Infeld, Nike Oregon TC

• Sheila Reid, Nike (Canada)

• Nicole Sifuentes, Saucony (Canada)

• Hilary Stellingwerff, New Balance (Canada)

Renee Tomlin, Nike

Sara Vaughn, Bowerman AC

If she can run with these people--and I think she can--as a SOPHOMORE, well....

Why wouldn't she take the Galen Rupp route and go to the University of Nike. Salazar showed he has the clout to coach individual athletes on their team, so why not? She gets a free education, has access to multimillion dollar facilities, keeps her professional coach, and lives like royalty. Win Win Win

Selfish Webb wrote:

Webb would have learned how to RACE had he stayed in college. That has plagued him his entire career. How can people put down Warhurst when it comes to middle distance running? DMR anyone? Diemer? Sully? Brannon? Willis? And many others. I wish I were subjected to such lousy coaching and training!

What happened to Wheating? Was the class on race tactics full?

University of Nike wrote:

Why wouldn't she take the Galen Rupp route and go to the University of Nike. Salazar showed he has the clout to coach individual athletes on their team, so why not? She gets a free education, has access to multimillion dollar facilities, keeps her professional coach, and lives like royalty. Win Win Win

I believe they are intentionally "throwing her to the wolves" to see if she can survive competing as a pro.

I expect Cain to BEAT Hasay at Millrose.

Morgan Uceny went to Cornell

Shannon Rowbury went to Duke

Jenny Simpson went to Colorado

So much for the "advantages" of the sucky academics at Oregon. I expect Cain to go to Princeton. The question is whether she runs for them or runs for herself (pro).

Look what College did to ALAN WEBB and GERMAN FERNANDEZ and many others.

It will do the same to her.

When college comes to mind so does three other words... Sex, drugs and alchohol

MY_OPINIONS wrote:

Look what College did to ALAN WEBB and GERMAN FERNANDEZ and many others.

It will do the same to her.

Not college. High mileage and cross country.

It will be hard for Mary Cain not to make an excellent choice. Her personality will be revealed. She may want to stay close to home and attend Princeton which is a favorite of Bronxville preps. Running and studying in the world's 24/7 fishbowl at UCLA is unnerving, unreal, and a total rush. The atmosphere and academic tradition of Penn, Harvard, Michigan, Stanford, Colorado, and Duke would be an awful disppointment if refused. The contradictory, chaotic, coexistence of antithetical thought in violation of every law known to mankind is why many choose UC Berkeley.

coach d wrote:

If she can run with these people--and I think she can--as a SOPHOMORE, well....

If she can run with them as a sophomore I'd like to know, I definitely forgot to file taxes last year and her time machine would be a big help

Training with guys? wrote:

Any such college come to mind?

Dartmouth.