Alexa Efraimson runs 4:27 1,600 time trial

Most good US runners will have raced the 1600 30-40 times by the time they turn 19.

Special lanes should be painted around the turns, maybe in red or another bright color, to convert the track to 440yds for when they run these events.

Grassrunner wrote:

Special lanes should be painted around the turns, maybe in red or another bright color, to convert the track to 440yds for when they run these events.

Tracks are red

Good idea except you need a rail. That would be tough unless there are holes in the track to anchor it to.

Simpson10k wrote:

How long does she keep her Nike contract after not improving since she was in high school? I know personally I would be very frustrated if my best days were when I was 17... On the other hand I would be fairly happy to be receiving Nike money while staying stagnant for years.

Assuming she is still being coached by her high school coach, I am surprised Nike doesn't insist that she joins one of their training groups. She lives very close to Portland, so there would be no location problem. Four years removed from high school she hasn't improved from her high school record time, hasn't improved from her USATF 4th place finish that year, hasn't made any senior national teams. At one point when she raced Pre she was put in the featured senior women's 1500. Now she races the International 1500. She's only 23, but when does Nike step in and insist she make changes?

New name of names wrote:

Most good US runners will have raced the 1600 30-40 times by the time they turn 19.

I ran in the early 80s during the switchover from Imperial to metric. By the time I was out of high school, I had run the 880 yd, 800m 1,500, 1,600, mile, 3,000, 3,200, 2 mile, 2.5 mile xc, and 5k xc.

Road racing I ran 1 mile, 3 mile, 5k, 4 mile, 5 mile, 6 mile, 10k, 15 mile, and 1 hour on a track

bloviating wrote:

It shows the razor thin margin at the national level and international level in the middle distances. In the meets that matter, with rounds and tactics and feel and covering moves and the right time within a split second , you can have this talent but it will get you nowhere unless you’ve developed the other factors. Or can make up for some missing with a massive kick.

Sounds logical to me. It's hard to compare boys and girls but based on accomplishments alone I think we can agree that she was a better High School prospect than Centro. However, Centro has that ability to run tactical races and rounds which has led to his great success even though he was never one of the top 10 fastest milers in the world in any given year.

Alexa is still young so hopefully she can develop that. When she was in HS I thought she'd be the next Jenny Simpson. Her range was incredible. An NXN Champ with 2:03 speed? Good grief.

U sound like a p.....

I admit that I had even higher expectations for Cain than her so she has done okay with that comparison.

I'd say she is doing better than her high school contemporaries:

Sarah Baxter

Mary Cain

Elise Cranny

Anna Rohrer

Cranny is doing OK still. But yeah, otherwise.