MARY CAIN is easily the greatest running prodigy in the US since Mary Decker Slaney

Newport Richie wrote:

:|} wrote:

At XC States, Cuffe 17:19.6 while Cain got 18:42.7.

Yes, and when Bob Kennedy became the first American to break 13:00 for 5,000, Rupp probably couldn't break seven minutes for a single mile.

You do realize that high-school cross-country in New York State was over about seven months ago and that freshmen runners can improve a great deal in seven months, right?

And were we saying Rupp was better than Kennedy then? No. But we're comparing Cain to Cuffe now, even though Cuffe is much older than Cain. As much as Cain has improved in these 7 months, it's highly unlike that it's enough to have her break 18:00, much less 17:20. You do realize that, right?

And that has hardly anything to do with my point. My point is that Cuffe has far better endurance and that's why if Cuffe can only break 10 by a few seconds, then Cain hardly has a chance to break 10.

Well, that was anti-climactic.

she just got destroyed.

Opps...faded badly in the mile. Good year, but it's time to rebuild...

I had a feeling this might happen.

That fast 800 killed her legs, especially the first lap of it.

J.R. wrote:

I had a feeling this might happen.

That fast 800 killed her legs, especially the first lap of it.

Yeah. Something I noticed when watching that was that she seemed to be "leading with her feet" a bit on that first lap, rather than leading with the knee. Of course, if you're running fast enough your center of gravity will still be almost directly above, when the foot contacts the track; but if you slow down some, the foot will tend to land well ahead of the COG and be a braking force.

On the other hand,

a) on the second lap it seemed like she was actually bending the knee and landing the foot pretty well under the COG, so no big braking forces; and

b) the coaching she gets is some of the best in the country; probably is aware of all that I spouted above; and may well have a better idea (than I do) about how this particular athlete runs best. Of course, a 2:03r does tend to validate that...

The greatest running prodigy since Mary Decker was Kim Gallagher with national class range from the 400 to the 5000 in high school. And unlike Mary Decker, Gallagher actually medalled (twice) at the Olympics.

Best to hold off any declarations until after the hormones kick in.

Otherwise great Frosh year for Mary Cain and did looks like she'll have a decent set of teammates to train with throughout high school. So the potential is there for her to at least maintain her form which would actually be ahead of the curve for female high school phenoms.

classof89 wrote:

The greatest running prodigy since Mary Decker was Kim Gallagher with national class range from the 400 to the 5000 in high school.

This. Absolutely correct. "At 8, she ran a 5:37 mile, the fastest by a girl that age."

And still, unless I missed something, holder of the HSR at 2:00.07.

Mary Decker was the greatest running prodigy before Kim Gallagher.

J.R. wrote:

I had a feeling this might happen.

That fast 800 killed her legs, especially the first lap of it.

After the travel day they had(delayed on plane for 3 hrs) that 800 leg was pure adrenaline. She hung in there in the mile, just did not have her legs at the end. It was a great yr and losing this race does not diminish it in the least. If anything it's motivation for next yr. She is comparable to Decker in that she has similar speed that most young phenoms do not. Time for her to enjoy the summer! See ya for XC Mary.

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.

Greatest since WHAT? Ajee ran a 2:00 leg last year, leaving your superstar WAY in the dust.

To be the second coming of Mary Decker you better be a lot better than that. She is very good, but it is not particularly clear that she is the best high school distance/middle distance runner of her era, much less the previous four decades.

Speaking of Ajee, is she injured? She's been AWOL.

26mi235 wrote:

Greatest since WHAT? Ajee ran a 2:00 leg last year, leaving your superstar WAY in the dust.

To be the second coming of Mary Decker you better be a lot better than that. She is very good, but it is not particularly clear that she is the best high school distance/middle distance runner of her era, much less the previous four decades.

:|} wrote:

As much as Cain has improved in these 7 months, it's highly unlike that it's enough to have her break 18:00, much less 17:20. You do realize that, right?

No, as a matter of fact, I don't. If you don't think that someone who can run in the 4:30's for a mile is incapable of a 17:20 5K, even with a relatively steep performance curve, then you are deluded. You are clearly operating from a position of having decided your conclusion in advance (Cuffe is a better distance runner than Cain) and scrambling to come up with evidence to support this. This is not making you look very smart.

Greatest since WHAT? Ajee ran a 2:00 leg last year, leaving your superstar WAY in the dust.

To be the second coming of Mary Decker you better be a lot better than that. She is very good, but it is not particularly clear that she is the best high school distance/middle distance runner of her era, much less the previous four decades.[/quote] UHHMMM, this is the FIRST yr of her H.S. era!!!

Many kids have potential. Mary delivered three WC medals as promised.

actually, at bronxville, 7th and 8th graders train and race with the high schoolers. so this is technically the first year of her hs era...but not really

People this is Bronxville we are talking about! I have lived in NY for two decades. Bronxville doesn't develop their athletes for the long term. I am sure this girl is doing tons of interval and rep training. Its so frustrating watching Bronxville runners obtain quick results at their own detriment. A lot of the Bronxville girls use running as a means to get into colleges (nothing wrong with that, but more reason not to compare this 15 year old to Mary Decker).

Newport Richie wrote:

No, as a matter of fact, I don't. If you don't think that someone who can run in the 4:30's for a mile is incapable of a 17:20 5K, even with a relatively steep performance curve, then you are deluded. You are clearly operating from a position of having decided your conclusion in advance (Cuffe is a better distance runner than Cain) and scrambling to come up with evidence to support this. This is not making you look very smart.

Cuffe is clearly a better distance runner and I don't see how you can argue that Cain is better. Cuffe has destroyed Cain in XC and has a far greater 3000 PR. And as for my method of arguing, I first looked at the evidence, made my conclusion, and cited evidence to support my conclusion. If that's not a good method for arguing, then sorry. However, the fact is that Cain clearly has more speed than endurance. This is evidenced by her 2:03r 800, and her 9:28 3000. By your logic, if someone can run 4:30's for a mile, they should easily be running 9:15 for 3000. However, she ran 9:28, not 9:15. This shows that she doesn't have tremendous endurance. I agree that she can run 17:20 for a 5k NEXT YEAR, after she builds up some endurance over the summer along with her new speed. However, as of right now, Cain can't run anywhere near that for a 5k, meaning Cuffe has greater endurance, meaning that if Cuffe can barely break 10, then Cain probably can't.

Cain v. Cuffe: 4:17 ~ 9:54

...but one is a freshman,the other a senior.