Where does Little Mary (Cain) go now?

[ExCoastRanger]

Schiro-O'Brien qualified for three trials, made two Olympic teams and placed 10th at the Barcelona Games.

[Dutra5]

Schiro-O'Brien qualified for three trials, made two Olympic teams and placed 10th at the Barcelona Games.

She did all of this but what may be pertinent to the discussion, is that she did this after "failing" in a collegiate sense.

[Marlow]

Schiro-O'Brien qualified for three trials, made two Olympic teams and placed 10th at the Barcelona Games.

She did all of this but what may be pertinent to the discussion, is that she did this after "failing" in a collegiate sense.

no runners that were dominant at the next level (college) or competitive at the levels above that (National open and International).

[26mi235]

I almost but did not except Schiro from that list but did it the simple way in haste. Yes, Schiro was successful after college, not dominant during college.

[aaronk]

Those other names you listed...with the possible exception of Cayla Hatton...do NOT fit the parameters of my "obsessions".

I am willing to entertain an obsession with Hatton!
Her 10K last spring knocked my socks off (back-to-back 16:40s in one race!).
I see she was 3rd for SU at the NCAAs in 20:06, 28th place overall. That's a 'decent' (sic) start as a frosh, but I'm anxious to see what happens at 10K in the Stanford Distance Orgy in the spring, where everyone shows up and runs the best 10Ks of the season. I'm a little under-whelmed by former phenoms Cuffe and Kroeger's overall progress at The Farm, but this could be the one!

Have you seen the video of her 10K??
Don't have a link, but just google "Cayla Hatton 10K race" or something, and you'll come to it.
It's the entire race, and all during it, the "announcers", or the guys doing the taping, are wondering "Who IS this gal that's staying with these collegiate men??"
They keep saying they need to find out her name....and are STILL doing so at the end of the race.

She wasn't wearing her school uniform, so she just seemed to be some girl in the race.
She'd only run one 10K, and that was in 37-something....so lap-by-lap, these guys (and ME!!) became ever more amazed at her staying up with the guys!!

And it looked sooooooo easy!!
She just strided along, never looking stressed or tired.
And, like you said, she ran nearly even splits!!

And wound up the 2nd fastest HS 10K girl EVER!!!

[Bruce Kritzler]

I almost but did not except Schiro from that list but did it the simple way in haste. Yes, Schiro was successful after college, not dominant during college.

I don't think Schiro attended college.
Schiro would have to rank very high among successful hs athletes who achieved things on a national/international level.

[Master Po]

I posted the list of other prep female xc times on the Van Cortland Park 5k course simply because when I saw Cain's time, I thought it looked pretty good and I wanted to compare it with others. Turns out that it is pretty good, historically speaking, at least as far as I can tell -- only found 2 so far who were faster.

My Nostradamus powers are very limited, so no implied claims about how dominant Cain will be at any level beyond what we've already seen. Each of these athletes is pretty much a singular experiment. I hope she does great, but who knows?

All that aside, I do think Cathy Schiro O'Brien and Janet Smith are deserving of some note, at least to avoid inadvertently dismissing them as having done nothing much beyond their prep careers. Iirc, Schiro O'Brien ran 11 marathons in her career. Eight of them were of some national or international consequence (OG, USOT, major city events). She finished in the top 3 in 5 of those 8, and 9th, 10th in two others (including the 10th at Barcelona, as noted). That's a solid, consistent record in some major national and international competition. Her 51:47 win at the Crim 10 miler in 1989 was a world record ('til 1991). Also silver in the Goodwill Games 10k in 1990. Not a world beater, but a very solid record. I recall less about Janet Smith, but iirc, she was a 10-time All American at NC State in track & XC, and was on the 1987 World xc team that earned a team gold. She finished 23rd in that race. Again, not a world beater but a very solid performer. Both Schiro-O'Brien and Smith did well beyond their prep careers (especially if we consider all those who struggle to get beyond great prep accomplishments). (And Neely Spence has done pretty well, so far, beyond her prep career, too.)

[ExCoastRanger]

Lambie was a many-time All American at Stanford, helped win NCAA XC team titles, was Pac-10 XC champ three times, part of a NCAA team track championship and an AR 4x1500 squad. She went sub 15:20, ran with Salazar's Oregon Project for two years, suffered injuries, had a bout of self-described burn out, and retired in 2010. She was a good racer and probably could have had a decent pro career but for a twist or two of fate and her own desire to get on with life.

[Dutra5]

I almost but did not except Schiro from that list but did it the simple way in haste. Yes, Schiro was successful after college, not dominant during college.

I don't think Schiro attended college.
Schiro would have to rank very high among successful hs athletes who achieved things on a national/international level.

Didn't she attend Oregon right out of HS and then return to the East Coast after a semester?

[Blues]

I almost but did not except Schiro from that list but did it the simple way in haste. Yes, Schiro was successful after college, not dominant during college.

I don't think Schiro attended college.
Schiro would have to rank very high among successful hs athletes who achieved things on a national/international level.

Didn't she attend Oregon right out of HS and then return to the East Coast after a semester?

Schiro was Oregon's top cross country runner as a freshman, but did relatively poorly (for her) at NCAA's, finishing as the 5th Oregon runner and 88th overall. She then decided that college wasn't really for her and withdrew, supposedly so she could devote more of her time towards concentrating on running rather than having to split time with academics. Not sure if she had problems with academics at Oregon, or if it was more due to frustration from feeling that she didn't have enough time to train the way she wanted to...

[aaronk]

Mary won the NY Regional Championship race!!

She ran 17:42.6, with 2500 meter splits of 8:56 and 8:47.

Bella Burda, a soph, was 2nd in 17:55.2, her 2500 splits being 8:55 and 9:01.

With Burda ahead at the half, looks like Mary ran just to win!!

Added later:

For some perspective, here's some results from the 2010 and 2011 races.

2011: Jillian Fanning, a jr., won in 17:47.4.
Mary was 3rd in 18:19.4!!

2010: Fanning won this one too, in 18:00.0

This year, Fanning, a senior now, finished 11th in 18:50.8, more than a minute behind Cain!!

[Friar]

Fanning, a senior now, finished 11th in 18:50.8,

I think she's been inj/sick and packed with the FM front-five today.

Some odd things happened between the two Org's (NXN/FL) races. You have to wonder about how some were recruited to which particular race (I think I saw one sandbagger out there)?
Could Cain have run @VCP today if she wanted to or is that out of her hands now? A few really good kids apparently didn't race at all.
While it looks like the talent edge goes to NXN I guess it depends on how much FL values having Baxter in its race who would certainly be favored over "Little Mary."

looks like Mary ran just to win!!

Whether she has the chops to do that against a more talented (Neale, Frazier, Knight et. al) field is to be determined. But it would be nice if there was one race (not both).