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

Add Thomas Graham to the list.

Add Franklyn Sanchez to the list...

Cory Primm ran at UCLA and was an all-American multiple times. Had some pretty fast times, think he might have even run 1:43 but definitely 1:44. Last I heard he was training with team run Eugene but not sure if he is still there or still competing.

Michael Cybulski went to UCLA but never really raced for them due to injury and I think he just gave up on running when he couldn't get healthy. I never heard anything about him attempting a comeback.

Mark Matusak went to Cal and was an all-American but that may have been DMR only, not sure about individual. According to an [out of date?] twitter account I found he went to med school.

Some of these athletes are still competing.

Alison Stoke did not flame out, she had a pretty decent career at Cal and last I heard she's a fitness wear model and I recall hearing somewhere that she was dating a pro athlete. Keep in mind that less than half of the kids who do youth or middle school sports will do those sports in high school; less than half of those kids will do those sports in college; less than half of those kids will do those sports after college and less than half of those kids will get a pro contract. All things considered, it takes a lot just to get a college scholarship. Overall, less than 1% percent of the population of athletes will turn pro in any sport. Obviously the percentages are much higher with talent level of the athletes listed above, yet still the pathway for successful career is narrow.

Chad Hall has had some good cycling results. 2nd at the hill climb national championships recently.

http://coloradospringssports.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=403&Itemid=324

Not This Guy wrote:

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.

Hahahaha! Run with guts? You mean sacrifice your own race to set the pace? Isn't the whole point of running: to win the race? Think there will be an asterix next to 2016 Rio Men's 1500m in the history books? Dude, lay off the Pre juice. Look no further than that OTC dude with the ponytail (can't remember the his name right now) at usatf this year to see what "running with guts" gets you.

Elias Gedyon is a JuCo national champion.

https://www.tfrrs.org/athletes/5979468/Trinidad/Elias_Gedyon.html

18. Nicole Blood

19. Alex Kosinski

20. Alison Stokke

OP, you listed these 3 beautiful people and did not include a single pic; this is perhaps the worst post ever.

Just my two cents... wrote:

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.

Colby Lowe and German Fernandez (as well as Ryan Prentice and others) went to Oklahoma State University. No further explanation needed.

Not This Guy wrote:

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.

Echoing 'Drop the Chalupa' here:

What did you expect Centro to do? He ran at the front the entire race, winning 'gun to tape.' Your problem is that you're blaming the wrong person.

With respect to the slow pace, Centro is the least culpable person in the whole field; it was everybody else's responsibility to push the pace. Centro was leading and not drafting. When Kiprop finally challenged, Centro would not let him by, nor would he let anybody else by for the entire race.

I suggest you change your perspective. Yes, it was a slow race - painfully slow. It would be a bit different if Centro had hung around the back of the pack to win at the end, but that was not what happened. Don't blame the gun-to-tape winner for a slow pace; blame the multiple sub-3:30 guys who tried - and failed - to let Centro be their rabbit.

He didn't lead this year at Worlds did he.

PoisonIvy wrote:

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

She is (or was recently) still training with the Altis group in Arizona. Same group that Aries Merrit and Ameer Webb are a part of.

20. Stokke was still competing at least as of a couple years ago. She was like in the 30s or 40s best height in the nation, but making a lot more as a model than a athlete.

No, and obviously that was a poor choice and a bad result for him. Nor am I some huge Centro fan - I'm guessing that we've already seen his best days.

My only point is that it is silly to get angry at Centro for the pace at Rio. The pace was slow and Centro gets all the blame, but only because he won it - that makes no sense!

If you didn't like the pace at Rio, blame Kiprop, Mak, and the other sub-3:30 guys who failed to push the pace. They tried to play the leaders (not just Centro but the other guys at the front) for fools and got burned.

Agree - criticizing Centro because he won a slow race is silly. Do they run to win, or do they run for a time? Maybe he doesn't do much from here on out, but you can't take that win away from him...

Memory Lane wrote:

18. Nicole Blood

Discuss

Blood was coaching at Columbia but I don't think she is there anymore.

29. Josh McDougall

30. Aisling Cuffe

31. Cayla Hatton

32. Ed Cheserek

33. Laurynne Chetelat

Interesting post. Your overwriting never fails to amuse. I was a big fan of Steve Scott back in the day and even threw my support behind him at the last minute, rooting for him to win gold in the '84 1500m in L.A. Too bad it wasn't his day. I'm curious, though: in what way do you consider him a pioneer? Great guy, phenomenal athlete. But pioneer?As to your comments about Hasay, I think you need to tone things down a bit. We're fans of a marginal sport. "The nation" was not ready when she committed to Oregon--the tiny corner of America that follows US track was. And not entirely in agreement about the wisdom of her choice, either.

Stoppit Smith wrote:

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).

When she made the decision to come to Oregon, the nation was ready

Lukas Verzbicas (Triathlons)

Bernie Montoya (Heart Disease) A lucky one to find out before it was too late.