What ever happened to... These high school standouts!??

This would definitely be a cool discussion thread...

Always interested in finding out "where they are now"

C'mon man, a lot of All Americans/USA qualifiers and even a few on this list made international teams.

Hard work and talent go a long way...but running on the international level is extremely competitive and arduous. People seem to think that all great high school runners should go on to 13:15 and 3:34.

21. Lukas Verzbicas

22. Bernie Montoya

23. Jantzen Oshier

24. Sarah Baxter

Where are they all?

25. Jim Ryun

Where did that guy go.?

Where is MATT LEEDER???

They went the same place as 99.99% of NCAA athletes. They get real jobs and move on with their lives.

28. Matt Centrowitz

Memory Lane wrote:

7.Is

8. Mary Cain

9.Update?

Discuss

Stokke completed her time at Cal. She is an internet fitness model, casual pole vaulter, and is dating professional golfer Ricky Fowler (lucky dude).

Goes to show even more how crazy impressive it is that Hasay has continued to compete at a high level.

Chris Schwartz is on drugs in Bakersfield

DOPE24 wrote:

This would definitely be a cool discussion thread...

Always interested in finding out "where they are now"

Its as easy as making an instagram and following them... Looks like Mac Fleet has just been doing a lot of race photography, however he posts some shots of him doing workouts. Alison Stoke is still vaulting... Think Mary Cain is still at it too, heard some news from her recently but can't remember who shes training with.

The sad thing for some of these athletes is that either the rigors of college, college life, training, or real life, itself and its cruelties, take hold of many of these athletes and create a different person.

Sadly enough, many do not continue at that level or at an Olympic level, not because they aren't good enough, but because people are selective.

For Mary Cain, it was not even a fair playing field to start with. Every inch of extra (natural) weight and every second of her times were evaluated as if this mystical girl was never allowed to become a woman. I honestly think the sport itself broke Cain before it truly gave her a chance.

For Alan Webb, people expected him to always be in his younger form, even when it was clear that it was not always going to be possible. People still have the most glowing things to say about Mr. Steve Scott and how much of a pioneer he was to the mile. I agree in many ways. Mr. Scott is a great man. I have met him and he's an all-around good guy (and coach for his athletes).

Alan really deserves the same respect, if you think about it.

For Centro, it's interesting to see how people have turned on him. When Centro was winning gold, everyone loved him. Now that Matt is struggling, people have turned on him. It hardly seems fair.

A.J. Acosta.....he is someone that if he never gets to see an Olympics or world championship, it would be a travesty. This is someone whom I have witnessed go out in a sub-15 5K with a bad hamstring. The problem with AJ is twofold...or maybe three-fold.

1. AJ was not given the opportunities after college that most would have. AJs Oregon Triple would have been comparable to Cabrera's MLB Triple Crown. Any other sport would have taken a chance with AJ. He was worth the money. Because of this....

2. AJ had to try to become the worker/athlete, which is something that is difficult at best....and many more drastic adjectives at worst. It creates hard schedules, training struggles...and...eventually...

3. Injuries...AJ has had more than his share of those. We can only wish he could be healthy.

Conversely, one of the names left off of this list ended up being one of the most respected (and now hall-of-fame) runners...Michael Stember.

He got the respect he rightfully deserved as a running groundbreaker. And, what he did after HS was not really as important, necessarily, because of what he did during the time he did it.

I suspect others (like Phil Healy of Ireland) who make groundbreaking strides will get the same respect.

Honestly, I don't know what happened to many others. Why? Running and its sponsors don't advertise their athletes enough.

We all bought into Dan and Dave of triathlete fame. Why? Advertising. Runners (and non-runners) everywhere can utter the name Kipchoge like a household name...because they have advertised Kipchoge to sell Nike. Puma made it clear to us who Usain Bolt was, even if someone had no idea who he was (if that was possible).

Why do we all remember Jordan Hasay? Why do so many of us love Jordan Hasay?

That one night, on the tv, a big deal was made about a talented, long blond-haired runner. She impressed us with her ability. And, the crowd did not disappoint, cheering louder for Hasay than for even the winner. Then, since they were at Hayward Field......they chanted "Come to Oregon! Come to Oregon!" When she made the decision to come to Oregon, the nation was ready.

We have every reason to love Dan, Dave, Eliud, Usain, and Jordan.

But many of these high school standouts would have gotten more acclaim had they received more publicity and support.

End of story.

It needs to be switched.

It just does

Why don't we just come up with the list of the 4 footlocker regional winners from the 2001-2010 years before Nike tried to take it out? That would be a pretty efficient way to identify trends in activity, and isn't debatable in terms of what caliber athlete they were or potential in the future they had.

One from the 2008 edition...a big one..Solomon Haile? WTF..this guy was all over the internet that crazy season out of nowhere?

He disappeared.

10. Mel Lawrence

I think she had a long time off for injuries after college, but is now steepling for Oiselle. She regularly qualifies for national meets and dipped into the mid-9:30s this summer. Obviously she's got a way to go before (if ever) she's in Coburn/Frerichs territory, but she's pro and on a solid tear. I used to see her at the running store in Reno NV, and it's been fun to follow her comeback.

Throwing in an FL south winner, since the south isn't getting love in this thread...Colby Lowe? Seems to be mostly California people being mentioned.

The respective falls of German Fernandez and Mary Cain have been documented and discussed on these boards ad naseum.

Mel Lawrence has been having something of a comeback in recent years, getting around 6th or 7th place in the USA finals in the the steeple in the past few years. Not bad considering the current depth of the women's steeple.

It appeared that Nicole Blood was on her way to a comeback after leaving the sport for a year or two post-Oregon. She was training with the Skechers group in Portland and putting up some solid results in 2016, not sure if that's still going on now.

I'm pretty sure Kosinski is done.

The Mercado twins are done. Last I heard, Danny was headed to graduate school, not sure what Diego's doing.

The others, I have no idea.

Stoppit Smith wrote: For Centro, it's interesting to see how people have turned on him. When Centro was winning gold, everyone loved him. Now that Matt is struggling, people have turned on him. It hardly seems fair.

Oddly enough, I didn't turn on him until AFTER he won the gold medal. People can rip me until the end of time for not appreciating the tactical nature of championship racing, but I don't give a rosy red rat's rump. Winning an Olympic gold medal 1500 in 3:54 does not impress me in the least. I'll concede that a blazing bell lap is evidence of great sprint fitness, but it doesn't mean a helluva lot coming off a pedestrian pace. Run with guts or don't run.

Just my two cents... wrote:

Why don't we just come up with the list of the 4 footlocker regional winners from the 2001-2010 years before Nike tried to take it out? That would be a pretty efficient way to identify trends in activity, and isn't debatable in terms of what caliber athlete they were or potential in the future they had.

One from the 2008 edition...a big one..Solomon Haile? WTF..this guy was all over the internet that crazy season out of nowhere?

He disappeared.

I'm from Moco and graduated HS in 2008... Solomon has basically just had a lot of injuries, he's still running but IDK if he's trying to compete. Nice guy though.