Ajee Wilson..Why don't I know anything about her?

She's from New Jersey. She gets a lot of attention in the Middle Atlantic states.

Many of us know plenty.

I would have rather seen her go to college. I hope she got some big $$ for going pro..

If she stagnates (so to speak) at 2-flat +/- with an occasional 158-high or 159, and is no better (so to speak) than Wright or Gall or a dozen other really good 800 runners...she might wish she had talked to Oregon or whoever and gotten the free ride while it was on the table.

Hopefully she continues to improve and gets to the 157-8 level level where skipping college is more justifiable.

Amazing what a 1-2 seconds means in an 800. And that is the danger of being a one-trick pony.

I like her running she has an odd look of going slow yet running 2 flat consistently. In the few races I have seen she doesn't seem to front run or have a huge kick, but she there at the end.

Im actually embracing the idea that Cain should go to college for a year at least. Its too bad she didnt graduate this year so she could "burn" the dead year running college and enjoying life. She should go to college through '15 at least I think. If she smokes the field in '15 at the WC, then make a decision to get ready for Rio as a pro or not. If she is struggling, she has college to fall back on and enjoy and improve.

are you nuts? if you stagnate at 1:58/1:59, you can make every world or olympic final and medal most times. she's 19 and hardly in danger of stagnating at this point. she also has not run 2 flat "consistently." going into des moines this year, her PB was 2:00.91. her 1:59.55 to make the team was a huge breakthrough. she then ran 2 more 800s in july in 2:00.2 and 2:00.9. why do you post when you clearly have no idea what you are talking about?

to the OP, how closely do you follow track in the USA? she has been very well known for years because she was ripping up the track in high school and anchored a DMR her junior year iirc in something like 2:01. you probably don't know anything about her because you don't follow track. i wouldn't go over to a golf board and ask why i don't know anything about one of the top golfers in the world. it's just plain asinine.

Everyone in the NY-NJ area who knows H.S. track has known about Ajee since she was tenth grade. She has had two match-ups with Cain, both in 2012. One indoors at the Armory was the most hyped indoor h.s. showdown this area has ever known. It was the only 800 Cain has run in the last two indoor seasons. Wilson won and made it look closer than it could have been. She ran about 2:05 to Cain's 2:07. I have never seen Cain so whacked out after a race as she was then. Ajee was standing around afterward about five feet from Cain, waiting for Cain to straighten up so she could acknowlege Cain's effort at a distance Cain rarely ran. Cain was just bent over, gasping for air. Finally Wilson walked over and tapped Cain on the shoulder and Cain got upright. Ajee said a few words but it looked like Cain was so out of it she could not say anything. Outdoors, about a month later at the Penn Relays, they met again in the h.s. mile -- not Ajee's distance. Cain destroyed everyone. I think her time was about 4:38. They have great respect for one another.

Ajee Wilson is a mature racer with no flamboyance. She rarely show emotion and reminds me of Buster Keaton. She is not afraid to run on the rail in a pack. She was the best h.s. middle distance racer I have ever seen.

Ajee could have run sub-2 a year ago but she always ran for place, not time. Her semi at the WC was a typical Ajee race and finish. She always makes it look easy. Her 2 flat in the semis looked like a jaunt in the park. Around here talk of Ajee and 2016 has been going on for two years at least. Around here Wilson's Gold at Lille and Barcelona were almost taken for granted. Wilson was the only one of the three h.s. girls at the Olympic Trials to get to the semis. In the final she was in contention for third place through the first 600 and then hit the wall.

Can she set an American Junior record in the WC final? Yes, but if she sees she has no chance to medal with 30 meters left she is likely to ease up and forgo the record. I'd say Ajee Wilson is capable now of around a !:59 flat to 1:58.8.

She will be attending Temple University this fall. Derek Thompson is her coach.

For whatever it's worth I think she is an under the radar knockout.

1. Shes not cute

2. she has no charisma

3. ?????

4. bad marketing?

I said stagnate at 2 with an *Occasional* 159. Like the one she has occasionally gotten this year. Learn to read.

Maybe she'll keep improving, I hope so, I said I'm a fan, geez.

And you better check the record.

London 157.53 got bronze

Beijing 156.68 got bronze

So, yeah. Girls that can pull off the odd 158-high once a season arent winning medals.

ajee is a little under the radar considering her talent but people know who she is.

i thought it was complete bs at the us trials where i think they mentioned her name once during the race as an "up and comer" nevermind her two golds at world youth or that she made the team.

she does have that centro gait thats so smooth it looks like shes jogging

kgpremed12 wrote:

1. Shes not cute

2. she has no charisma

3. ?????

4. bad marketing?

You're right about #1. She sure is no Mary Cain in the looks department!

#YOBRO wrote:

i thought it was complete bs at the us trials where i think they mentioned her name once during the race as an "up and comer" nevermind her two golds at world youth or that she made the team.

Absolutely. Embarrassing I would say.

I actually sent a complaint to NBC over how bad their coverage was and how knowledgeable their crew seemed.

I heard about her when I was in high school as the highschool girl about to break 2 for the 800m

*unknowledgeable

Sorry I ruffled your feathers Mr. High and Mighty track statistician... I'm familiar with the majority of her highlights but am immersed in coaching/evaluating talent from the area for which I live(west coast). Point is with her talent she should be more than a stat to be glanced over in the results section... Where is the excitement? Example: Here(California) as well as on t.v. and LRC Amy Weissenbach in her senior year received so much acclaim for her efforts even though she wasn't the best 800m runner in the country. Why is Ajee under the radar? LRC is my track source and they've done terribly in promoting her efforts unlike the foreign girls. Again I don't care if NBC or the major networks deem her unfit to promote. They care nothing for the sport but I do expect more from LRC than O'yeah she finished 3rd or made the final....we didn't expect that! As a coach I want to know what makes her fast, mental state(killer instinct?), her training regimen etc. I know more about Amy, Jessica, and Anita than her.

Sorry I ruffled your feathers Mr. High and Mighty track statistician... I'm familiar with the majority of her highlights but am immersed in coaching/evaluating talent from the area for which I live(west coast). Point is with her talent she should be more than a stat to be glanced over in the results section... Where is the excitement? Example: Here(California) as well as on t.v. and LRC Amy Weissenbach in her senior year received so much acclaim for her efforts even though she wasn't the best 800m runner in the country. Why is Ajee under the radar? LRC is my track source and they've done terribly in promoting her efforts unlike the foreign girls. Again I don't care if NBC or the major networks deem her unfit to promote. They care nothing for the sport but I do expect more from LRC than O'yeah she finished 3rd or made the final....we didn't expect that! As a coach I want to know what makes her fast, mental state(killer instinct?), her training regimen etc. I know more about Amy, Jessica, and Anita than her.

Read more:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=5351862#ixzz2cBxYuWRc

800 analyzer wrote:

I said stagnate at 2 with an *Occasional* 159. Like the one she has occasionally gotten this year. Learn to read.

Maybe she'll keep improving, I hope so, I said I'm a fan, geez.

And you better check the record.

London 157.53 got bronze

Beijing 156.68 got bronze

So, yeah. Girls that can pull off the odd 158-high once a season arent winning medals.

i can read and this is what you wrote:

If she stagnates (so to speak) at 2-flat +/- with an occasional 158-high or 159, and is no better (so to speak) than Wright or Gall or a dozen other really good 800 runners...she might wish she had talked to Oregon or whoever and gotten the free ride while it was on the table.

she has broken 2:00 exactly once in her life so "occasional" isn't exactly the word i would use for breaking 2. she's 19 and has had slow but steady improvements that past several years so why in the world would you even think about using the word "stagnate" with respect to her? there's absolutely nothing in her performances that would give even the slightest whiff of stagnating. and she's 19. fwiw, i think she breaks 2 for the second time in the final.

what kind of an excuse is that? you are so busy watching high school track meets in california that you had no time or interest in spending the 2 seconds it takes to see that the #2 high school girl of all time was less than 1 second off the high school record and was ranked 11th overall in the US last year? and you are a coach and your sole source for track info is letsrun??? you must be one serious coach. as i wrote above, she was extremely well known by anyone who has spent more than 5 minutes following track the past 3 years. i mean if you want to completely ignore meets like penn relays, the diamond league meet at icahn, high school nationals, world juniors and USATF nationals and not look at a single list, then, yes, maybe she could slip through the crack. maybe. there also have been numerous threads about her on letsrun.

she had signed with FSU and rescinded her scholarship at the last minute to sign with adidas and turn pro. it looks like she made the right move.

I thought of more reasons.

1. shes not cute

2. she has no charisma

3. Shes not white

4. bad marketing

5. not in NOP training with Salazar

I've known about her since her age-group days but there is no getting around the fact that she's not getting the exposure that Cain or Weissenbach have gotten.

She has the appearance of being aloof and stoic for some reason. She's courteous in interviews but not engaging. I admire that she gets the job done on the track and hope that she'll eventually garner the excitement that her peers are getting

Dude I just watch the Ajee Wilson video and she is like the Female Rupp, awkward, unengaging, uninteresting, aloof, and wtfish.

1984LA wrote:

With the wave of exceptional junior women middle distance runners, I find it puzzling that so little attention/expectation has been shown Ajee's way. I understand the excitement about Mary Cain which is justifiable...she's awesome! However Jessica Judd and Anita Henriksdottir(Individuals she's beaten) aren't even American but seem to get more press! Ajee is the most decorated 800m junior runner in the world for the past 3 years. Googling her to my amazement I find that she ran a 2:00 split on a relay at Nike Nationals as a freshmen. WOW!!! We are passionate about our sport why should her performances/accomplishments be hidden in anonymity. I expect this from NBC but not LRC!!! Come on guys Lets support everyone on team USA!!!

I completely agree, Ajee is at the age of a college freshman and has made the WC 800m finals and there is hardly a peek about it. World Youth and World Jr Champ, what else does she need to do before she gets a little more recognition. I know that Mary Cain is sucking up all of the air right now and it's to her credit, but I actually heard more talk about Mary Cain than Ajee a year ago before she even started doing amazing things. The race announcers don't even know much about Ajee and that's becasue they are not seeing much written about her.