I guess she decided she needed more people around her in training and switched to the boys program. She probably did what she felt was best for her own development and success.
Still a shame though...I know the boys' coaches are great too but Mitchell is one of the best and was doing a terrific job with her. Seems like there's a little tension between them now.
It's a good guess but I think she was already doing that before the split. My daughter did boy's workouts in HS, but did not quit the team. And one thing she has learned since is that you need to hit your splits in workouts, not try to race people, boys or girls.
I know bits and pieces of the story, but don't want to speculate too much, all the people involved are nice, smart people, obviously taking different positions.
jglakjfglkajshl;kaj wrote:
I guess she decided she needed more people around her in training and switched to the boys program. She probably did what she felt was best for her own development and success.
Still a shame though...I know the boys' coaches are great too but Mitchell is one of the best and was doing a terrific job with her. Seems like there's a little tension between them now.
So a soph decided that's what she needs? Since when is that ok?
If you are that good you are going to spend most of your time racing alone, might be a good idea to learn how to run alone and learn how to pace yourself. Racing boys on a daily basis is not going to work in the long haul.
Discuss
Not a whole lot *to* discuss, is there? To quote somebody or other, it is what it is...
But I am pleased to see that, earlier in the thread, the thread title's statement was corrected by a number of posters, who reminded us of Kim Gallagher.
Perhaps the National Class Record she set yesterday at 4:39
MaryMary wrote:
Mary Cain as a freshman has already established herself as a legend in high school distance running. The amount of talent she possess is mind boggling, not since Mary Decker have we seen this kind of talent in such a young female.
2:03.7 relay leg
4:17 1500m defeating Aisling Cuffe
and certainly could run sub 10 in 3200m
amazing range and one in a generation type athlete just like Mary Decker.
I think that title goes to Kim Gallagher, Kim didn't get a chance to run fast in a lot of individual races becasue she always ran a lot of relays and tripled at most meets. Kim's senior year, she was the anchor leg on the nation's top 4x4, 4x8 and DMR. In the 1982 Penn Relays 4x4 COA, Kim walked down Diane Dixon, a 51x 400m runner. Before Kim started H.S., she held ever age group record in every event she competed in, including relays. From memory, I can only recall Kim losing one race in 4 years of H.S. in an individual event and I think that was to Gina P who is now the coach at Villanova. (She was scary good!) Kim's 2 flat 800m was one of the few times she was able to focus on one race. At one point Kim was at or near the top of the list in the 800/1500/mile/3k/5k/4x8/DMR and if given the right opportunity she could have run 'much' faster in individual events. Even though she won 2 Olympic medals, she had a lot of regrets and her biggest one is that she did'nt get a chance to run a faster mile in H.S., which was actually her best event.
With that said, Kim is with out a doubt the most accomplished H.S. t&f athlete male or female and should be the athlete used for comparisions and not Mary Decker who focused primarily on individual events and open races. Also, Kim generally did not run for time, she usually got out front and ran whatever it took to win. One of reasons she liked relays was because she always got the baton way behind and was forced to run hard and she enjoyed walking people down. People use to always miss getting her relay splits becasue they would be so amazed watching her that they would forget to stop their watches.
TrackCoach wrote:
With that said, Kim is with out a doubt the most accomplished H.S. t&f athlete male or female and should be the athlete used for comparisions and not Mary Decker who focused primarily on individual events and open races.
Ok, so why should Kim be the standard to compare to? If Mary Decker ran primarily in the individual events, isn't that a better comparison than Kim (ran primarily in relays)??? Or am I reading this wrong?? If Mary Cain is running primarily in individual events, comparing her to a relay competitor, regardless of how great she was, is not really a good comparison. It seems to me Mary Decker is the better basis than Kim for comparisons to Mary Cain.
Here's a thought for you wrote:
TrackCoach wrote:With that said, Kim is with out a doubt the most accomplished H.S. t&f athlete male or female and should be the athlete used for comparisions and not Mary Decker who focused primarily on individual events and open races.
Ok, so why should Kim be the standard to compare to? If Mary Decker ran primarily in the individual events, isn't that a better comparison than Kim (ran primarily in relays)??? Or am I reading this wrong?? If Mary Cain is running primarily in individual events, comparing her to a relay competitor, regardless of how great she was, is not really a good comparison. It seems to me Mary Decker is the better basis than Kim for comparisons to Mary Cain.
You are correct when you think of it like that.
Although running as part of a team limits your chances for individual success, but for the overall experience of being part of a group and the social growth outweigh athletics.
She summed up her career by saying: ''I needed to run for all the wrong reasons. I needed to run to keep my shoe contract. I needed to run to pay my bills. I learned a huge lesson. When I ran in the 1984 Olympics, I was going to be a star. I was going to make so much money, and I did.
its a shame what she thought of running and she (Kim) did not love it. If she had been healthy and loved the sport, who knows what she could of run
Has it ever occurred to any of you that Cain didn't switch teams because of the coaching situation, but rather because she would have training partners with the boys' team? Everyone keeps on bringing up the fact that she is a HS sophomore, implying that her choice is more like a prima donna pro-athlete than a teenage kid. It gets really lonely running repeats, tempos, and training runs everyday when everyone else is far behind you. Give the kid a break. Sounds like she did what was best/most fun for her.
It's alright to say an athletes performances can amount to another 'such and such' but when your say she is 'another such and such' is negative programming because the athlete in question lives up to false expectations. So stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
bronxzoo.. wrote:
jglakjfglkajshl;kaj wrote:I guess she decided she needed more people around her in training and switched to the boys program. She probably did what she felt was best for her own development and success.
Still a shame though...I know the boys' coaches are great too but Mitchell is one of the best and was doing a terrific job with her. Seems like there's a little tension between them now.
So a soph decided that's what she needs? Since when is that ok?
If you are that good you are going to spend most of your time racing alone, might be a good idea to learn how to run alone and learn how to pace yourself. Racing boys on a daily basis is not going to work in the long haul.
i'm sure her main focus is on rinky dink high school races so your strategy of working on running solo sounds great. i bet it will work even better when she runs against national class women. also, can you name one truly elite high school runner who ever had a hard time destroying lesser high school runners? it's a good thing you aren't calling cain's shots.
I saw that this retrieved thread was from 6/19/2011, so I wanted to point out that I made the Mary Decker comparison on letsrun a month before this thread started.
"That's Mary Decker level talent, not Hasay."
Wow, dude, you're like so super cool.
nosebleeder wrote:
Has it ever occurred to any of you that Cain didn't switch teams because of the coaching situation, but rather because she would have training partners with the boys' team? Everyone keeps on bringing up the fact that she is a HS sophomore, implying that her choice is more like a prima donna pro-athlete than a teenage kid. It gets really lonely running repeats, tempos, and training runs everyday when everyone else is far behind you. Give the kid a break. Sounds like she did what was best/most fun for her.
No, she no longer runs relays with the girls team, this is all about her.
that's right, bro. listen to me and you'll go places.
It's interesting seeing this a couple of years later. I think the issue seems settled for the time being. She's probably a more versatile runner than even Decker was.
Matt Gilliam wrote:
It's interesting seeing this a couple of years later. I think the issue seems settled for the time being. She's probably a more versatile runner than even Decker was.
As far as a prodigy, definitely Cain takes it now. Amazing.
Nevertheless, Slaney was very versatile in her career with lifetime PRs of 1:56.9 800 m, 3:57.1 1500 m, 8:25 3000 m, 15:06 for 5000 and a 10K somewhere in the mid 31s. This of course is assuming she was clean back in the 1980s.
What hormones?