Jenny Simpson, Shannon Rowbury and Alexa Efraimson - But Not Mary Cain - Will Race in Women's 1500 at 2015 Pre

A little thanks to Nike might be in order too!

She said the amazing Nike Pre Classic. Seems sufficient.

opinions and aholes wrote:

I love how this thread becomes another prime example of LRC posters saying sh*t that they do not know to be true without any qualifier and no cited reasoning. The worst part is...other koolaid drinkers on the thread buy it without questioning.

Who said they do not know it to be true? Cogito, ergo verite, bro!

I'm a Rowbury fan, she runs with guts, tough as nails. Been running well and definitely a contendah. Go Shannon Go! Break on through to the other side!

under a bridge wrote:

She said the amazing Nike Pre Classic. Seems sufficient.

Agreed, the tweet was nothing but positive towards the Nike meet. Seems to me like she is simply excited to race in a loaded field. Glad to see another US lady in there.

I defer to her coach's knowledge, but if you think of a 2:01 (probably faster with competition) 800m runner who has a 4:07 1500m pr and has run just over 16:00 for 5000m, you would not think that her endurance was comparatively quite weak in relation to her speed, and so you would not think that she would be very close to a Jenny Simpson, who ran just a bit faster at 800m but who has run 3:57/8:29/15ish. However, Efraimson is better than last year and can run 4:04-5 clearly.

You win.

LetsRun.com wrote:

The Pre Classic wrote:

America’s Best Women are World’s Best in Pre Classic 1500]

Jenny Simpson is the only American to rank No. 1 in the Track & Field News world rankings women’s 1500 meters since Mary Slaney did it twice in the '80s.

Didn't Morgan Uceny have the #1 ranking in 2011 before she kept falling?

It's no wonder that Mary isn't running this race after what some of the people on the LetsRun forums say about her.

Tesh wrote:

LetsRun.com wrote:

The Pre Classic wrote:

America’s Best Women are World’s Best in Pre Classic 1500]

Jenny Simpson is the only American to rank No. 1 in the Track & Field News world rankings women’s 1500 meters since Mary Slaney did it twice in the '80s.

Didn't Morgan Uceny have the #1 ranking in 2011 before she kept falling?

You are absolutely correct and I have heard this error announced more than once. I'm not sure why the media keeps getting this fact wrong.

2011

1...............................Morgan Uceny (US)

2.......................Maryam Jamal (Bahrain)

3............................. Jenny Simpson (US)

4.................Anna Mishchenko (Ukraine)

5...........Hannah England (Great Britain)

6 ........... Mariem Alaoui Selsouli (Morocco)

7.....................Natalia Rodríguez (Spain)

8..............Kalkidan Gezahegn (Ethiopia)

9.............. Btissam Lakhouad (Morocco)

10...................... Gelete Burka (Ethiopia)

> Didn't Morgan Uceny have the #1 ranking in 2011 before she kept falling?

>> You are absolutely correct and I have heard this error announced more than once. I'm not sure why the media keeps getting this fact wrong.

I agree. This is shameful. Neither the PR people at Pre -- who made the original mistake -- or Rojo -- who didn't catch it -- have any excuse. Given her struggles, it's easy to forget what a big deal it was when Uceny earned the # 1 ranking. It was as impressive as Jenny B's sub four minute 1500 at Pre. After watching Simpson put it all together last year, I hoped Uceny would do the same this year. But so far, it doesn't look like she will. Maybe next year?

One can only hope.

Screw T&FN and their rankings. They have no official standing in athletics. They are not a title.

What Uceny did in 2011 was WIN a TITLE. Diamond League Champion, with a world lead in the mix. That's the achievement, not #1 at a magazine.

There's no way to compare that with Simpson's WC or say it was better or worse, even if you are a journalist. T&FN's rankings have no more authority than a David Letterman top ten list.

Bad Wigins wrote:

Screw T&FN and their rankings. They have no official standing in athletics. They are not a title.

What Uceny did in 2011 was WIN a TITLE. Diamond League Champion, with a world lead in the mix. That's the achievement, not #1 at a magazine.

There's no way to compare that with Simpson's WC or say it was better or worse, even if you are a journalist. T&FN's rankings have no more authority than a David Letterman top ten list.

Totally agree. I have also heard media announce that Simpson is the first US female to ever win the diamond league 1500m title which is also not true. That distinction belongs to Uceny.

opinions and aholes wrote:

At least one guy was savvy enough to post that Mackey Instagram photo to back up a claim.

So she posted a photo of her US uniform.

So what?

I respectfully hugely disagree. In what world is 2 flat a sign of being able to run 3:56? I ran a half second slower in the 8 and then two days later ran 4:04. I know that's a very anecdotal thing to say, but if she runs 3:56 that's 2:06 pace for 3.75 laps. Idk how she's ready for that if she isn't even easily able to break 2 rn. If she had run 1:58, different story.

opinions and aholes wrote:

At least one guy was savvy enough to post that Mackey Instagram photo to back up a claim.

A US uniform wrote:hat's

So she posted a photo of her US uniform.

So what?

It's a brilliant bit of product placement by Mackey. She arranged things so you don't see the Nike swooshes on the uniform, but you do see her Brooks trainers. Both hiding the swoosh and showing the Brooks logo violate the rules about logos and national team clothing. There was a bit of kerfuffle when she posted it. If you are looking for reasons why Nike wouldn't invite Mackey to the Pre, this picture would be a big one.

FWIW, I don't see any evidence that Nike treats Brooks differently from any other shoe company. As was pointed out earlier, Nike seems to be fine with Phoebe Wright telling people she runs for Nike and trains with the Beasts. And eventually, Mackey got invited to the Pre. That's not much of a feud if you ask me.

RunHS wrote:

I respectfully hugely disagree. In what world is 2 flat a sign of being able to run 3:56? I ran a half second slower in the 8 and then two days later ran 4:04. I know that's a very anecdotal thing to say, but if she runs 3:56 that's 2:06 pace for 3.75 laps. Idk how she's ready for that if she isn't even easily able to break 2 rn. If she had run 1:58, different story.

Probably because Jenny's already run very close to 3:56.XX as a 2 flat 800 meter runner? 3 seconds per lap makes a world of difference when you're an elite 1500 meter runner. Assuming you're a guy, you probably should know that comparing an above average high school runner to an elite woman isn't a good comparison.

You are correct wrote:

Totally agree. I have also heard media announce that Simpson is the first US female to ever win the diamond league 1500m title which is also not true. That distinction belongs to Uceny.

Totally agree with you and BW. I've even heard track insiders say Simpson was the first American woman in 25 years to run a sub 4:00 1500. I'm always a bit surprised -- who could forget SFH?

None of this is meant to diss Simpson. As BW points out, her record speaks for itself. But there's no reason to make her appear more accomplished than she is by ignoring other's achievements.

PS That Simpson's achievements are sometimes exaggerated is completely separate from BW's passionate appeal to not consider the T&F rankings as an "achievement." .

I'm excited to see this race! Taking my kids, they are pumped to go!

Go Alexa!