Has Stanford's Amy Weissenbach (2:00.98 pb) quit running?

These former Stanford runners should form a casual training group/team. Seems like there's enough good runners on campus to make a decent training group. As of now, the only 2 teams in the Bay I can think of are New Balance Silicon Valley and Strawberry Canyon(?) In Berkeley(?).

How many runners are there at Stanford now but not on the team anymore?

Hatton, Weissenbach, Graham, Sarah Robinson, Alli Billmeyer? Anymore? That's already a solid group.

jjjjjj wrote:

When you have an elite school where half the graduating class can make a mint straight out of college, and you have very talented students like Weissenbach (National Merit finalist, various awards, numerous programming languages), the incentive to put all your energy into non-money-making sports is going to wane for some.

Fair enough, but Ms Weissenbach appears to be an English Lit major with a minor in Poli Sci and an interest in "computational criticism", which is to say the application of computers to the analysis of literature. [see

for details.]

All interesting stuff but probably even less of a path to fame and fortune than mid-d running. It also looks like she spent last summer interning at ICM in LA, which is fine, but if that's where your interests lie, you might well be better off at UCLA or USC than Stanford.

, Sarah Robinson went to Stanford on a Soccer Scholarship.

stanny wrote:

Hatton, Weissenbach, Graham, Sarah Robinson, Alli Billmeyer? Anymore? That's already a solid group.

Did Chelsey Sveinsson go to Stanford?

However wrote:

stanny wrote:

Hatton, Weissenbach, Graham, Sarah Robinson, Alli Billmeyer? Anymore? That's already a solid group.

Did Chelsey Sveinsson go to Stanford?

Wow, if she's still there, then that could really be a sweet team.

The Cardinal Red wrote:

, Sarah Robinson went to Stanford on a Soccer Scholarship.

I thought someone on here said she's no longer on the soccer team?

Farm Animal wrote:

Amy Weissenbach quit two months ago. Milt was not the reason why Amy quit. But Milt did a poor job of tryig to talk Amy out of it.

Good for him.

You should NEVER lump Duke in with Stanford and the Ivy League

Big Pole wrote:

Yes, this is the absolute truth. Makes you wonder about athletes who go to schools like Oregon to further their xctf careers when they may have had the smarts to go to Stanford, Duke or any of the Ivies. At these you can get good coaching and a marketable education so if xctf works out great if not that's fine too.

.[/quote] Did Chelsey Sveinsson go to Stanford?[/quote]

Wow, if she's still there, then that could really be a sweet team.[/quote]

Yeah - you would have a great bunch or talented people that were either perpetually injured or have no interest in running. What could possibly go wrong?

It has been shown repeatedly, that no matter how talented you are unless you love the sport (and often even if you do) success will be fleeting. Perhaps she knew she did not have the passion.to progress to the next level and decided to cut bait.

sc runner wrote:

Maybe the combined pressures of attending an elite college with a very tough major and running for a national caliber xc/track team is too much for some. As was said above, when you are in a position to make a lot of money right out of college, giving your all in a sport with VERY little earning potential and a major time commitment doesn't make much sense.

Some runners manage to pull off a tough degree and continue running. But, overall a choice one way, or the other, is made by many runners.

Jordan Hasay managed to earn a business degree at Oregon. Galen Rupp, on the other hand, decided not to complete a business degree at same school. Same major, same school, same high-level expecations, two different degree results.

What's up with Hatton? Did she get hurt again?

stanny wrote:

Hatton, Weissenbach, Graham, Sarah Robinson, Alli Billmeyer? Anymore? That's already a solid group.

Others:

Claire Durkin

Lauryn Chetelat

Clare Flanagan

Floyd Smuthe wrote:

stanny wrote:

Hatton, Weissenbach, Graham, Sarah Robinson, Alli Billmeyer? Anymore? That's already a solid group.

Others:

Claire Durkin

Lauryn Chetelat

Clare Flanagan

I meant runners that are still currently at Stanford but not on the Stanford team. Are those that you mentioned in grad programs or something at Stanford?

My gosh. We're criticizing a coach for not talking a girl out of quitting? I used to beat myself up but stuff like that but a coach can only do so much. Why not blame the parents , siblings, teammates?

To be honest, I think ultimately the motivation has to come from the athlete and the athlete has to learn that for themself. Often in college, the sacrifices seem like a drag. "If only I could be like the normal student," they think. Yet they quit and realize they are bored as hell.

Sometimes you only learn that by actually quitting and realizing you miss it. So sure I'd try to talk someone out of it but also I think one might let them walk and see if they come back.

ARE YOU SERIOUS? It doesn't make a lot of sense to go for the Olympics and try to be an NCAA champion?

I think it makes a lot of sense to do that regardless if it pays zero.

Chris Lear recently said to me, " Do you remember what it was like to be out of college, focused only on two things - running fast and paying rent - wasn't that glorious?"

Money is overrated. Being an Olympian, NCAA champion is an experience that money can't buy. Memo to sc runner, when you die, you don't take your money with you.

But since you seem obsessed with money, i think you totally underestimate how much a big star makes. A sub-2 NCAA champ who is good looking would be making way more than the average Stanford grad coming out of college, particularly since her senior year would have been 2016 which is an Olympic year. 6 figures plus.

Now maybe she was no longer improving. If you think because of female maturation issues, youre best days are behind you, then I can easily see walking away.

Surprised it took this long for track fans outside of Stanford to notice. The updated roster without Amy W. was posted early January, while a few meets have come and gone since without her name in the results.

Regarding Chapus: she's stopped out this winter quarter but will be back in school and on the team in Spring.

Regarding Robinson: she did get a soccer scholie offer, was training with the team last August, but decided to delay enrollment at Stanford until this fall. Reasons for doing so have not been revealed.

Some of the comments above do reflect the recent state of transition in the t&f program since Milt arrived. There have been many, many team defections, mostly women runners but also including Tom Graham and a select few guys who chose not to return for their redshirt 5th year. Indeed, Cam Miller, a distance runner still on the team who writes a column for the Stanford Daily, wrote last spring that he counted a 25% roster turnover at that point.

This school year the drop-off rate slowed to a trickle, but Amy W's decision to move on caught us all by surprise, especially considering she was on the xc team last fall and actually raced her first college meet in October.

Many have twitter accounts and post instagrams . . . follow those and you get the sense that they're a close-knit group who enjoy the training and school and being around each other. Also on the positive, Atchoo, Bertolocci, Olson, and Tonn all returned for their redshirt 5th seasons, Maks transfered in from Harvard for his 5th year, and so far, all are doing really well to unbelievable.

So, whatever Milt did differently than the prior coaching staff that may have turned some off to t&f, he seems to have figured out what he needs to do to keep their attention while training them for elite-level college competition.

Interesting. How much does an ugly athlete make? And does it matter whether male or female?

Yeah, maybe running fast and paying rent is glorious. But once it's over, it's over, and being the old fat guy or gal reminiscing about the good old days while struggling to pay the bills is hardly glorious or glamorous.

cards wrote:. In terms of the future of U.S. middle distance, this is a remarkable turn of events. She was seen by virtually everyone as a future Olympian

This sort of wildly inaccurate statement occurs often on this board. I would not have given her more than a 20% chance of making the team. Look at how good the competition is; they are winning DL races, in the contention for medals etc.

rojo what the hell. Pursuing running seriously has a big opportunity cost, and it is not a career. Even Bernard Lagat has to figure out what to do after running.