15 seconds (!) over 1500 after age 22, breakthrough in her 3rd year with BTC:
Houlihan, born February 1993, 1500 and 5000 m progression 2013 4:13.64 16:15.85 age 20 2014 4:10.89 16:11.63 age 21 2015 4:09.62 15:49.72 age 22, moved to BTC 2016 4:03.39 15:06.14 age 23 2017 4:06.22 15:00.37 age 24 2018 3:57.34 14:34.45 age 25 5000 m American Record 2019 3:54.99 15:15.50 age 26 1500 m American Record 2020 4:02.37 14:23.92 age 27 5000 m American Record, popped for roids (and banned from January 2021 - 2025)
Had not seen her progression before.
Remarkable.
Yep. Here's when I started to get suspicious of Shelby. It was in 2018 when she broke the AR running 14:34 when her PR the year before was 15 flat. Read this article written by none other than Erin Strout...
"On the topic of the 5K, [coach] Jerry [Schumacher] knew he wanted me to run at Heusden and have Shalane pace me. At the beginning of the year, he told Shalane, “You’re going to help Shelby break 15.” Then as the season got going, he said, “Okay, let’s try to pace her for 14:50.” Then it was 14:40…and then it was, “Let’s just go after the American record.” And Shalane was like, “What the hell? You’re giving me no notice and I have to cram this fitness into three weeks to pace her to this time!” She did an awesome job—I know she was scrambling and pretty nervous about it."
It's not that she had the fitness to take down the AR it's that her sudden improvement surprised even her coaches and her teammates. The original goal was to break 15 and then, the AR...
Shelby was not a newcomer to BTC at this point. This was her third year as a pro. She was a contender before but this is when she became unstoppable. So unstoppable that even her coaches had to readjust. Progression to dominance isn't usually that sudden.
Shelby always comes back with a bevy of excuses.
"I was a 400 meter runner in high school, I hadn't built the endurance yet!" Really? You were a 400-1500 meter runner and ran four years of XC qualifying for NXN as a senior. You had plenty of endurance. Many pros focused on the 800 in high school because when you're that fast why go up in distance? Emma Coburn, Emily Infeld, Courtney Frerichs, all had great 800 member times.
"I ate a poor diet and when that changed I started seeing improvements!" Man. Just stick to the Salazar running form excuse why don't you? You had nothing to eat but cheesecake the day you were busted and got a burrito from a food truck that night. Your diet didn't change that much.
"I don't wear the shoes"--sure, then don't. It keeps your superhero cape shiny, and your stock high. Running incredible times WITHOUT the shoes. What a LEGEND. Great way to make fans proud that our girl doesn't NEED the shoes to magically keep up with everyone else! Just get a little insider help to keep up. What fans don't see won't hurt em. Really helps with your tough homegrown girl image. I get it.
And people wishing they all died by falling over and smashing their faces.
This post is weird and gross but I think that some things are worth clearing up since people calling out Shelby and BTC are called "haters" and "trolls".
We don't want anyone to "die" or any harm to come to anyone. We are not hoping for that. We are frustrated that Shelby has been treated with kid gloves by the running media and by BTC itself. Here's what I want.
Running media needs to be transparent about why they are choosing to believe Shelby, enable her or why they are not reporting this story the way they would if it were Sifan, a Kenya runner, or someone they don't like, like Galen. If there is actual tangible evidence that she was screwed, then show it in plain text. More likely than not the answer is "I like her", and that's not good enough to get tight lipped on a serious issue like clean sport when you are so forthcoming about cleansport when it's someone you don't like. Fans CARE about clean sport. Seeing running media respond this way frustrates us to no end and we want better reporting around it.
BTC's support of Shelby HAS crossed a line and they were crossing lines from day 1. It's one thing to believe and support your friend through a difficult time but making a mockery of clean sport at the Olympic trials, forcing your competitors to stand beside you in interviews while you waxed poetic about an "injustice" you couldn't articulate when pressed about it was disgusting. They made Shelby's problem everyone's problem. That wasn't fair to the rest of American distance running. Then we find out more--we find out she's still training alongside BTC, that Shalane is probably still writing training programs for Shelby. Shelby is posting times using a stopwatch on her instagram. She's allowed to use Nike facilities. she is asking the running community for money. This is gross, since there doesn't appear to be any injustice that has happened. She tested positive. She gave a ridiculous excuse and was subsequently banned. BTC is now just openly defying rules. They need to pay the price and that comes with their reputation.
There are people who sincerely wish harm on others, and people who do it. Fans demanding better from the media and from pros aren't it. We don't want any harm to come to Shelby. But we do not want a drug cheat to hang around the sport with impunity.
But posters did post that they wanted SH and her team dead.
After nearly a decade of USADA and CAS proceedings, I highly doubt that Ritz wants or expects to be anywhere near Beaverton ever again.
He’s got a great setup at OAC — as close as it gets to a blank cheque, a sponsor willing to pay for top talent, and real influence over product development.
I agree, if such a plan arose, it would be a tough sell to Ritz, but Nike might approach him nonetheless.
With another spot or two open on BTC, Katelyn Tuohy may join up and start her pro career by absolutely demolishing GDS and LDS in a 3k
in all seriousness college runners graduating in the next few years are probably not going to look to BTC. There are going to be new coaches building reputations that won't be as tarnished. Also--Portland is not a super ideal running place. Without all the history from Pre and Bowerman, no one would have naturally chosen Portland as a destination.
Like I said there is always an excuse or explanation for why an athlete with an extended competitive history suddenly undergoes a major improvement and discovers a seemingly latent ability to run record breaking times never previously indicated.
I think the entire sport at the top level is fueled by doping. Not a few rotten apples but a rotten barrel. You can do a similar progression evaluation for virtually every top US distance running pro. To the extent you cannot do it around the world it is because the doping started younger (eg, a number of the Ma's army runners were still teenagers) and the motive to dope in the US typically happens after college graduation when people start running for a living with college acting as a safe harbor. In Houlihan's case you have a suspicious progression coupled with an anti-doping violation that hopefully shines some light on the realities of the sport.
So I have some connections in the Portland area and I've heard (Allegedly) that Centro and one other goofball also tested postiive for the ol' nadrolone recently but it was just under the legal limit for USADA... so her and her sisters move may be more than just "contract" issues and shelby's scandal lol.
So I have some connections in the Portland area and I've heard (Allegedly) that Centro and one other goofball also tested postiive for the ol' nadrolone recently but it was just under the legal limit for USADA... so her and her sisters move may be more than just "contract" issues and shelby's scandal lol.
this rumor has been floating around since Shelby's bust.
Her sister and many family members, plus many of her sister's friends/old teammates have liked/commented not just the post but numerous comments. Lucia wasn't in any of the workout pictures or videos the team posted last week so I'd say she's probably done too. Plus Canadian track people saying she's already back in Toronto.
The fact that Lucia joined in October and leaves in April to me is a big sign that whatever they say, something happened in the interim beyond just "GDS couldn't hack the public pressure of Shelby's ban."
So I have some connections in the Portland area and I've heard (Allegedly) that Centro and one other goofball also tested postiive for the ol' nadrolone recently but it was just under the legal limit for USADA... so her and her sisters move may be more than just "contract" issues and shelby's scandal lol.
By recently do you mean this year? Or same time as Shelby last year? If so, does that have anything to do with why Centro has been M.I.A. the last 6 months?
Her sister and many family members, plus many of her sister's friends/old teammates have liked/commented not just the post but numerous comments. Lucia wasn't in any of the workout pictures or videos the team posted last week so I'd say she's probably done too. Plus Canadian track people saying she's already back in Toronto.
The fact that Lucia joined in October and leaves in April to me is a big sign that whatever they say, something happened in the interim beyond just "GDS couldn't hack the public pressure of Shelby's ban."
The anti-BTCers must be off work. My comments regarding that the real reason for her leaving was about something other Shelby were downvoted. Your's gets upvotes. This thread has little to do with GDS, and a lot to do with pointing fingers at BTC and any athlete involved with them. Amazingly, one poster wishes for the "good old days" of NOP coming back to give someone to cheer for. #sad.
So I have some connections in the Portland area and I've heard (Allegedly) that Centro and one other goofball also tested postiive for the ol' nadrolone recently but it was just under the legal limit for USADA... so her and her sisters move may be more than just "contract" issues and shelby's scandal lol.
By recently do you mean this year? Or same time as Shelby last year? If so, does that have anything to do with why Centro has been M.I.A. the last 6 months?
Impossible to tell what Centro is doing. He learned to stay under the testing radar at NOP. Maybe he voluntarily accepted a double secret probation.
