Yeah, but I believe Decker got her 800PB for high school as a sophomore. Age 15 and around two years younger than Cain is now. Decker then suffered a string of injuries for the next couple of years. Strictly speaking from the standpoint of high school performance I guess you could argue Cain is better. But generally as far as who was a greater prodigy at a young age, its still Decker.
TrackCoach wrote:
Not sure why Decker's names keeps coming up when discussing Mary Cain, remember, it was Kim Gallagher's 31 year old record that was just broken. In terms of the greatest, there a lot of ways you can look at it, but I personally think Mary Cain is America's greatest high school aged athlete. But, before Decker is used as a comparison again, remember this, Gallagher ran faster than Decker in EVERY event in H.S. Gallagher was also a regular high school athlete, she ran cross country, relays and multiple events at meets and she always won. Gallagher went 3 years with out losing to a high school athlete in an individual event and pretty much accomplished everything possible during her high school career. Gallagher's 800m record was the only time I recall her focusing on one event, running for time and having competition; she almost certainly could have run faster in other events under the same circumstances as her 800m record run.