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

There are probably three main considerations for the high school star who is deciding whether to go pro:

(1) Athletic: is the pro or college path more likely to lead to success. Here the question is debatable, but I would argue that college is better because they get a lot of experience racing people at the right level (NCAA not pro), and there's a better support system so it's easier to get through the inevitable rough patches (think of Cranny or Tuohy). Alan Webb had a fairly successful pro career, but he never learned to race. Surely he would have benefitted from 4 years of racing rounds indoors and outdoors at the NCAA.

(2) Life development: there's a clear benefit to going through a normal developmental process and getting the team and college experience. Plus, that Stanford degree sets you up for future life in a way that going pro and maybe getting some random degree at the local college does not. Remember that most high school stars will not grow up to be world beaters.

(3) Money: This arguably points toward going pro, though I would argue that many people put far too much weight on the short term money gain, given the lifelong benefit that accrues from healthy emotional development plus the specific lifelong benefit of a good quality college degree. But without knowing the details of the financial deal that someone is offered, as well as their family financial situation I hesitate to criticize anyone for taking this.

You're missing the point. My opinion is not an argument, it's a FACT. You clearly stated that "NCAA participation is an impediment to success". How do you define success? A global championship? A world record? What about a Conference championship?, NCAA championship?, USA national title?, making a USA National team. These all seem to be a "Success" in my book. Each of the above could lead to a shoe contract for a handful of years while doing something you truly enjoy while getting paid. Your argument really takes a hit with regard to sprinters. The list of USA, Olympic and WC medalist is off the charts.

Again! the NCAA is not for everyone, but it is ideal for many athletes.

Some athletes just peak young. She peaked in HS. If she went to college she wouldn't have gotten as big of a contract afterwards when going pro. She maximized the amount of money she could make. She had a solid career. She should be proud of her accomplishments.

I think she ran a few 3000m races but was not as good as in the 1500m. I suspect she became too tall and heavy to seriously try the longer distances.

If one races a DL or next level below like Berlin (the one race I remember seing her on TV was ISTAF Berlin 2018 in the Mile when she was 4th ahead of McColgan and Mageean), Ostrava etc. race as a ca. 4:04-07 runner and wants to get a good time one has to hang on as almost always someone will push the pace after the pacers leave. Unless one has a very good kick and even if such a 1500, race goes "only" around 4:07 (and they are rarely slower) there is not much one can do vs. runners in sub 4 shape.

No. They graduated like 10 years before her.🤣 Don't compare her with the girls that got better in college. Compare her to the ones that stagnated and weren't running faster than their HS jr times.

Go down the all time list of 1500m girls and note how few got better. Cranny is the success story of that group but she basically didn't improve in college. College didn't make her a success . Bowerman did.. now if she could have joined at 18? Who knows..

Alexa also went to Prom with a sub 4 minute high school miler.

The current - after decades - Men's 1500m and Mile WR record holder and his coach said that. Presumably Webb, his agent, and Raszko also think similarly - and Webb actually tried it, so he knows what collegiate running is all about. We may not have perfect quotes from team Webb like we saw a couple pages back from El G, but actions speak even louder.

Posters have thrown out Flo-Jo. A few posts above this one points out the 'NCAA is worthless' theory breaks down when you look at the history of sprinting. This quoted post list Ashton, Mondo, and a bunch of sprinters. And a few distance runners. The longer the event, the fewer NCAA alumni you see. Sure, sprints and throws will feature them. And to a lesser extent, distance runners. There of course have been some who ran NCAA and went on to international significance. And a whole lot who didn't but did. And a whole lot who did but didn't.

I think she did the right thing. What I meant above is that nobody mentions the greats who never went near a college but took over the world in their event(s). (Didn't but did.) Nor do we list the hundreds and thousands of collegiate runners who did nothing of significance outside of the NCAA. (Did but didn't.)

Neither of those are the names or grouos thrown out to prove she made a mistake because neither of them proves that point. She blew it because Rupp, Jager, Flanagan and Sisson went to college and still rocked. We have to find the list that did it that way to discredit her. Mentioning Haile, Mo, YY, and Keitany doesn't suggest she blew it. They didn't go to Stanford or Colorado.

Neither does listing all the good NCAA runners who win races then but haven't been heard from since. That doesn't prove she ruined her career. Those runners did go to college and never did make it big. By the way, that is a big enough group that it's tough to name a few. Ches stands out. Many other D1 champs are names unrecognizable to Gault.

Attempting to invalidate or discredit Alexa requires finding that overlap of 'ran in NCAA' and 'competed at the top internationally.' Sure, Rupp is in that category, and at long distances. There will always be some examples. They are more numerous the shorter the event. Coach Kada admitted the college system works for sprinters. For jumps and throws, it's even better. So yeah, Eaton was great in college and after.

I fully support youngsters who just don't find their way into the NCAA or who consciously shun it. Even Hunter. I have a hard time believing they would have been Gold medalists if they had just gone to college.

A better comparison is Cranny. Cranny took 2nd at NXN that year and went to Stanford. Alexa was a year younger and passed on Stanford to go pro. Now Cranny has a Stanford degree AND is one of the top US distance runners.

Yeah I’m sure Jakob and El Guerrouj and Bekele and Kipchoge and Cheptegei and Farah and Komen and Kiplimo and Haile benefited a lot from their NCAA development.

I was so disappointed to find out that Baxter got beat by her at NXN 2013. Could have been a 3-peat. At least Tuohy did!!!!!!!

This was my first thought too. Spent the last 2 years wondering why Alexa was still even gunning for the big time when she was clearly not going to make it. She is from my town, seems a nice person, and watched her all the way up. I don't think she really did anything wrong - you just don't know when you'll peak. With hindsight, she should have gone NCAA, especially since the financial stakes in running are so low.

Alison Felix...

Alison Felix?

I agree. It was a great race, super cold, probably 15 degrees. Cranny, Baxter and Efraimson pulled away from everyone and Efraimson and Cranny used their great speed to kick and take 1, 2. Baxter tried to use her strength to pull away in the last mile, but was not able to.

Being a pro in college permits time for a more normal college experience than participating on an NCAA team because they are travelling nearly every week from Wednesday through Saturday while as a pro she could run just a few meets. And that also negates your 3rd point because She and Hunter earned degrees.

More than 1 guy on the M's 200 team alone. Probably USA's 2 best sprinters apart from Syd. Then again, that doesn't really prove any point about 5k and up. But it does prove that NCAA is not essential for sprinters. It certainly is not for distance runners, as the post above sarcastically suggesting that it benefitted Haile, Bekele, et.al. would tend to prove.

Letsrun get a bad reputation but 95% of us are atleast decent people lol. Your post wouldn't pop off so much if what you said was completely true :p

Troglodyte, they’re women and Deena definitely didn’t progress significantly in college after being a prep phenom.

Topped out at 400m, we’re talking about US distance running development. That’s why we’re not bringing up Bolt, either.