Battles of the Ages

Today's New York City Marathon proved one thing.
You can't discount experience.
Nor can you set limits on what age is the oldest where you're still competitive.

They didn't win, nor did they run as fast as they'd hoped.
(Nobody did, with winds of 25 MPH testing the troops!)
But 41 year old Deena Kastor, 39 year old Meb Keflezighi, and 36 year old Kara Goucher all ran tough gritty races in the horrific conditions.

The winning times of Wilson Kipsang and Mary Keitany were slow, relatively speaking.
Pre-race talk (before the weather reports came out!) were all about breaking the Course Records.
But that was blown out the door (pardon!!  LOL) race morning!
In fact, winds were so strong that the Wheelchair racers, including multiple champion Tatyana McFadden, were forced to start their race on the Brooklyn end of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, thus cutting their race distance down to 23.2 miles!!

Nonetheless, I have some incredible Marathon news to report of a much happier nature!!
And this news gave me my title for this post!

For in the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, run the day before NYC, the other end of the age spectrum produced an incredible record-breaking performance.

Alana Hadley, a 17 year old 11th grade HS student, ran the race in 2:38:37.
And she WON it!!
And the Course Record she broke was held by Olympian Colleen De Reuck, who'd set it (2:39:22) at Age 49 at last year's edition of the race!
(With Alana setting her old PR of 2:41:55 in 2nd!!)

Hadley's time is NOT a HSR.
That's held by Cathy Schiro O'Brien, with her 2:34:24 from 1984.

But there's another reason it's not a HSR.
Hadley turned Professional last year!
And Pro's aren't eligible for HS records or lists!
(See my post of September 21st for my explanation!)

Another High School Pro had a good day on Saturday!
Alexa Efraimson ran a 5000 meter Cross Country race in Portland, and beat back some Oregon Track Club Pro's, her winning margin being 23 seconds!!
(Note: The distance was longer than 5000, due to a wrong turn----that everyone took!---so her time means nothing!  The added distance might be as long as 500 meters!  Details in a future post, if they become available!)

And this gives me a chance to comment on this recent change.

Eleven years ago, Allyson Felix decided to turn Pro immediately upon graduating from HS.
She would never run Collegiately!

Then, Ajee Wilson did the same early in 2012.
In the early fall of 2013, Mary Cain followed suit, except that she didn't wait for graduation!
Mary went Pro just as she was beginning her Senior year of HS!!

Also in 2013, Alana Hadley went Pro!
In her case, she'd already decided against competing for her HS, as her focus was on much longer distances than HS'ers run!
(Although, as a Frosh in 2012, Alana ran a track 10000 in 34:59.38, which still ranks her 9th A-T HS, and remains the Frosh Class record!!)

Finally, Alexa Efraimson essentially followed Cain's path to the Professional ranks!
She signed her contract before her Senior year at Camas WA HS began!

Is this the end?
Or the first hints of a trend?

Notice that all of the HS'ers who went Pro, either before they entered college, or while still in HS, are women!
That opens the question of who from the past might have gone Pro in similar fashion to the above group.
Gerry Lindgren and Jim Ryun from the 60's?
Steve Prefontaine?
Michael Carter?
Mary Decker?
Suzy Favor?
Lynn Jennings?
One of the Crousers?

And who might yet make that choice among those still doing their teenage trekking through the muck and mire of HS Hell??
(Sorry for getting carried away!  Blame my 49 years of being a writer!  LOL)

I'll make a few guesses.
Based on how they do in the upcoming T&F season (both Indoors and Outdoors), I could see such athletes as....
Hannah DeBalsi
Stephanie Jenks (based on her Track exploits, as well as her Triathlon accomplishments & goals)
Kaylin Whitney
all going Pro!

In fact, I'm a bit surprised that Sarah Baxter, Desiree Freier, Trentavis Friday, Trayvon Bromell,  Elise Cranny, or Ed Cheserek haven't gone Pro yet!

The victories of Hadley and Efraimson yesterday perhaps might influence other talented HS'ers to make that choice.
Of course, the story of Mary Cain, with all her HSR's and famous (INfamous??) coach and charming personality, has set an example of how to do this successfully.
But future HS'ers should keep in mind that there's only one Mary Cain, no matter how many follow her, or how successful they are!

I'm happy I made the decision to open up a new category of records for High Schoolers, that being the HS Pro.
It will be interesting to see if Ms Efraimson can break any of Cain's HS Pro records from her 2014 season!
And I hope Alana runs a 5000 and a 10000 (and whatever other distances she chooses!) on the track before she graduates, thus setting HSR's in the HS Pro division at those distances.
(Efraimson might take a shot at the 5000 in 2015!)

Speaking of HS wunderkinds (as well as recent former HS greats), there's a few tales of woe to report.

Wesley Frazier finished her HS career by tripling at 2013's NBN in 4:39, 10:12, and 15:55.
Everyone was predicting she'd be an instant star at Duke.
But injury and illness have intervened.
She's come nowhere near her HS accomplishments, and she's now a Duke soph!

Sarah Baxter might have lost that fabulous NXN race last year (to Efraimson and Cranny), but she was still considered a major prospect for stardom in the uniform of the Oregon Ducks.
She hasn't even run one race yet this fall!!
(Injury?)

Erin Finn isn't exactly a tale of woe!
After a fantastic HS career ended in 2013, she went on to run the 5000 in 15:26.08 Outdoors this past season, and won a double at the Big 10 meet, and performed well at the NCAA's.
This fall, she began as not only the star of her Michigan team, but a strong contender for the NCAA's.
This morning, however, I found out through Twitter that she's injured, and will miss the NCAA Championship, just 20 days away!

Another injured former HS great is Aisling Cuffe, out for the season at Stanford.

One thing's for sure!
The battle of the ages continues, with all of the examples noted above, "old" and young!

My T&F Record Book MIGHT be greatly affected by a MAJOR drug bust reported a couple of days ago!
Rita Jeptoo, the 33 year old Kenyan Marathon great, was busted for the use of a performance enhancing drug!
She hasn't been banned yet, but indications are that she will be.
The World Marathon Majors Awards gala, set for today, was postponed, pending the outcome of Jeptoo's case!
(She'd been expected to win the $500,000 prize!!)

She's currently 4th on the World A-T list with her 2:18:57 from this year's Boston race.
(Remember, I consider Boston times as eligible for records and lists!)
She's also the Age 33 record holder for that same time!

She could lose both!!

I'll end with a bit of good news from the Marathon front.

Mark Kiptoo ran the Marathon in 2:06:49 recently.
This is the Age 38 record!
It broke the venerable Carlos Lopes's mark of 2:07:12 from 1985!

Except for my World and US Athletes of the Year posts, coming December 31st, this is my final OUTdoor  blog from 2014!

Beginning next week (No date set!), I'll open up the 2015 INdoor season with a series of posts.
I'll look at some Age records which might go down.
I'll also look at Class records, as well as who might make it onto my DDD (Top 24 Performers) lists in the next few months undercover.

All this, and as they say, much more!!
See you soon, super excited for the return of INdoor Track and Field!