Sidetracked

Uhm, are the ethiopians and kenyans going to college after highschool? Do you see them not running well? Granted, their motivation may be different (to get out of poverty), but college does not guarantee success at the pro level. The NCAA can stagnate or plateau an athlete. If she has a passion for running and the contract is lucrative enough, she should go pro and pay for college when she's ready to go. You only need 160K to go to a good 4-year college. This amount of money she can make in 1 to 2 years. Since she's with Salazar, she's at the best person in the coaching business. He'll bring her up gradually and avoid a burn out. Go Pro!

Melody Fairchild was a prodigy in high school but what happened to her in college? How much do pro runners make? Not much. College is much more than a place to make points for NCAA.
I found it interesting the guy with Ryan said something like, "You go to college to get a degree AND education." No, you go to school to futher your education. He almost made it sound like the degree was 1st and education secondary.
Most college runners barely eek by as pros. Fact.

TrackshackA...professional running is a "lonely" business as compared to attending college, surrounded by thousands of students, team members and it's extended support system of coaches, professors and counselors. In high school she may not be training with the team but she is still enjoying the high school experience. It's not all about running you know...

Sarah Baxter beat Mary Cain at NXN, I am still looking forward to seeing them compete, maybe at juniors this year. College is certainly a rougher path, but the professional route is lonely and she will be missing the college experience and the friendships that come with it.

Go Pro. it will be a better way to develop fully as a runner. Most of the good runners at the world class level did not go through the collegiate system. Its a lot of racing and peaking at different times. Make more money, sign that nike deal and tear it up with alberto.

I am confident that she will be great either way...but I think she would be better off to go Pro while in College. Running is the only NCAA sport that I can think of that has three seasons...that's too much racing! It would be better to schedule races to fit the training rather than the other way around.

Go to Oregon..get an education while being coached by a professional with professionals!

It's simple it's not what we think she will obviously follow Galen Rupp's steps because she is being coached by Alberto and he thinks she will benefit more from college!

If she is still coached by Salazar then she could compete in college and still develop well. He will work around the racing schedule very well and I don't think the training will be much different either way. The NCAA isn't the greatest system for developing athletes, but in this case I think it is the better decision. She could always leave and go pro if she doesn't like it. I think she will go to Oregon and flourish. Powell and Salazar seem to have a pretty good relationship and have worked together with athletes before.

Just an FYI Galen Rupp took a year off before going to college if i'm not mistaken.

go the galen/salazar route. Look how Rupp turned out, 10,000m silver medalist at these past olympics. Plus who really knows for sure how long she will keep improving? In my opinion it's better to get a degree at a top 4 year university for free, as opposed to turning pro and a couple years from now she ends up regretting it, or getting injured.

The decision should be made on solely one factor..... if she can be coached by Al Sal. If you look at the elite HS runners such as Webb, Lukas V..etc you can tell that they declined not because of the NCAA system but because of the coaching changes! It's just as much mentally important as it is physically important. Over and over Al Sal and Galen both say the success comes from the fact that he has been in the same system for so long. If she can run at UO and be coached by Al Sal, then go. If not, understand how important your coach is and take the Evan Jager route and go pro.... worked for him, huh?

I think she will go to college and do what Galen did. It seemed to work out very well for him so I do not see AlSal or Mary having a problem with it. Either way I think people should ease the hype a bit. Yes she is very good but she still has to keep getting better. These huge expectations could end up hurting her career. I think she should be focusing now on being better in the future and not worry so much about what she is running now. She needs to be on her game 8 to 10 years from now not right this second.

I think it's too early to tell. That was one amazing race, but don't forget she was beat a month ago. She isn't that much better. If she has reasonable improvement and she's running a little faster a year from now, then it might make sense. But I also think she's missing out on the team experience. She could do a year or two at a top college, and always pull and Evan Jager / Lucas V / Alan Webb and go pro, and still finish college.