buttus nuggetski wrote:
I keep hearing how Jordan Hasay is a "brand", has Twitter followers, is the closest thing to a household name, etc. But can somebody explain to me, exactly WHAT IS this brand? I seriously don't understand. All I see is a moderately talented second-tier elite athlete who has nice hair. She seems nice enough, but then so does everybody. She's never run a shockingly fast time, like Mary Cain, and she's not flat-out gorgeous. I think Jennifer Simpson is better-looking, and a way better runner.
So what is the appeal? Is it just that she built up so much momentum as a high school phenom that it hasn't run out yet? If you were one of her hugest fans, and I was a newcomer to the sport, how would you explain to me why I am supposed to be a big fan of Jordan Hasay?
As someone who has been following her running for a while, tenacity is one of the biggest things that I really like about Hasay. You could see this way back in high school in numerous cases, the biggest one being winning FL as a 9th grader, not giving up/giving in to the critics after 10th/11th grade and coming back and winning again as a 12th grader.
There are also numerous examples of how she always comes back from an off day/off race, and always keeps at it. Sure she may not be running as fast as Jenny Barringer Simpson just yet, but I think a lot of people forget that she's still only 22. She's consistently chipping off time and improving each year, and this combined with her great work ethic and determination shows a lot of promise down the road.
She also has a huge following of people who saw her show this grit in high school, and she ran times that hadn't been run in ages (and was also excellent at BOTH xc/track). In a way, one could even say she is one of the reasons behind the current golden age of HS girls distance running - talk to all the top runners today and many will say Hasay is one of their favorite runners. She broke through some barriers and showed that you can run fast young and stay fast. On top of all this, she is a likable athlete and fun to watch/cheer for.