Ellie Shea college?

A very "Ellie" answer: as generic and guarded as humanly possible!

I've been hoping she'd become part of a good, tight-knit college team, with the idea that this would help her get out of her shell. But I've started to think she is so introverted that maybe that would be psychologically impossible for her at this time in her life. And maybe that's OK -- people with all kinds of personalities, including rather extreme ones, can be top athletes.

What I do hope is that she has coaches and family/friends who know her thoroughly both as a person and an athlete and can give her the very best direction, with her longer-term career and well-being in mind.

I met her coach at last year's USA's here in Eugene, and it sounds like Ellie is very self-driven and follows her own path (he said she is a bit of an adrenaline junkie and that she's even crazier skiing than running). They have to do their best to reign her in, but she basically sets her own schedule and isn't being overmanaged by anyone other than herself. It's really hard to tell what her plans are now - most of her peers are already planning for their Freshman year, so it will be interesting to see what she settles on after she graduates.

I understand she was focused on World Cross until just recently.

BAA mile 2022 - 4:43.66

BAA mile 2023 - 4:51.37

BAA mile 2024 - 4:55.26

As she should have been - was a good result at world XC (perhaps not quite as good as last year), especially given her mediocre results in the fall and indoors (for her high standards). Not sure why so many are obsessed about where she goes to College and when - is this an American thing? Perhaps she isn't ready for the College scene at the moment and is just enjoying other things in life, what really is the hurry? If she is academically inclined, then going Ivy sometime might be a reasonable option (with fewer claims to her own training ideas), if financially feasible. Too bad that she can't aim to represent the US on the track this summer - as that seems to be more of a focus for her than College choices right now.

hmmm

Shea is entered in Section 2 of the 5000 at Trackfest on May 11.

soundrunning.run

Track Fest — Sound Running

Loud crowds. Festival vibes. The 2024 Track Fest is a World Athletics Bronze event and will be held at Occidental College’s Jack Kemp Stadium

Link:www.soundrunning.run/trackfest

And the 2 mile at Brooks PR on June 12.

She will pick a school in Boston, not run on any team, and continue to be coached by Fred Tressler. Guaranteed.

Vivien Henz's new training buddy

I imagine that she more than anyone was devastated when USATF announced they aren't sending a U20 Worlds team this year. She seems to live for making those teams -- by my count, she's already repped Team USA at 4 different championships.

I suspect she's flying to California next weekend to try for a 5000 time that will get her into the Trials (though obviously not the 15:10 auto standard).

Getting into the Olympic Trials is the only reason for her to run a 5k in mid May, as opposed to waiting until one of the post season races.

Shea's 5k PB is 15:46. She'll need to run at least 10 seconds faster than that to get into the Trials. Or to put it another way, she needs to run faster than Touhy ever did in high school, which is not an easy thing to do. Good luck to her, but I don't think she can do it.

I agree. At this point, I think this is probably most likely. She’ll go to Boston College, Harvard, or some school like that while continuing to do what she’s been doing all of high school. I don’t see her changing much of anything to be honest.

I also agree that's what she will probably do. But why keep it a secret? She refuses to tell even her running friends what her plans are. Very odd.

probably b/c she doesn't want it posted & discussed at infinitum on Let's Run, lol. I don't blame her.

No. That's not it. In fact, the only reason this thread exists is because she HASN'T said what her plans are.

If she will be in college at this type of school for 24/25, she knows her plans already, as admissions for next year are basically over already.

Of course she already knows what her plan is.

But she was recently asked about it by a reporter and she lied and said she didn't know what her plan was. Why would she try to hide something like that? Does she think that she can attend a college for 4 years without anyone knowing what college she is at? It's very unusual behavior.

I don't think it's right to say she "lied" -- rather, she chose to give a very general/vague answer, as a polite way of declining to disclose whatever specific plans she's made (assuming she has in fact made them). All this definitely is unusual, but I don't believe she should be accused of deception.

She was asked point blank what her plans were after high school, and she very specifically said that she didn't know. Do you really think she doesn't know? C'mon.