The Middle School Marvel
The word about a new Bronxville aquatic terror and potential running phenom named Mary Cain began spreading fast in the spring of 2009, though even before then there had been the rumors. The news was not especially cheery in a lot of schools in the area, especially those in the small towns whose daughters' teams had long suffered under the yoke of Bronco domination. Bronxville had won its 7th States XC title the previous fall, but a two-year downturn in the appearance of major fresh talent shortly before had given local rivals some hope of challenging the Broncos in the near future.
That dream died as soon as Cain started bounding around the track as a 7th grade wunderkind and pulling along a group of classmates named Courtney Campbell, Emelie Hoffer, Argentina Chrappa, and Morgan Nobles who would help propel Bronxville to five more State XC championships between their 8th and 12th grade years with the added power of Meredith Rizzo and Amelia Phillips from the previous class. But it was Cain who made the other teams most nervous, even if her status as a top swimmer in the fall kept her off the XC trails in middle school.
The daughter of Charles and Mary Cain and the second of four sisters who include Aine, Catherine, and Mairead, Cain originally dreamed of becoming the next Michael Phelps rather than the second coming of Mary Decker. A fast water bug from an early age, Cain characteristically selected Phelps' technically and physically demanding butterfly stroke to specialize in once she became a star for the local swimming club around the age of 10.
A butterflier has to master a challenging series of arm, torso, and leg motions to give herself flexibility, big lungfuls of air, and a huge propulsive force straight ahead. The workout strengthens just about every muscle in the body, and especially those doing the the pointy-toed dolphin-kicking flicks. But a swimmer has to be versatile in the pool and learn many types of strokes, and Cain must have also picked up some of the knee and ankle power rotation action of the breast stroke kick while she was making waves in the pool.
Swimming is a wonderful sport and the advantages that the less joint-pounding pool gave to her health and physique for her first 12 years would be extremely useful down the road. But Cain started to evolve from a water creature into a track rat in 6th grade when she decided to try out the after-school running sessions for young runners of both genders held by Bronxville's boys track coach Ed Stickles.
Cain was very good right from the start, reputedly the fastest Bronxville kid her age in a grade that included John Flannery, who finished 2nd in the state XC championship in 2013. After she clocked a blazing 5:47 on her first mile as an 11-year-old, her move from swimming to running gained momentum. Though Puddles the yellow stuffed-toy duck companion would be around to remind her of her watery origins, a first tough decision was made as the action in the pool was gradually cut back. Still though, the middle-school autumns of of 2007 and 2008 were given over to swimming and not cross country.
In any case, XC was not necessarily the main thing at home. Under its renowned girls running coach Jim Mitchell, coaching his 30th outdoor season in 2009, Bronxville was far more focused on the track seasons and their prized relay teams than XC, even as the fall championships piled up. The Broncos had already captured three national titles in the 4x800m and 4x1 mile relays while pitted against the biggest powerhouses in the nation, and the small team from the "Fastest Square Mile in America" had proved it could run with the best.
But though the pantheon of recent Bronco distance stars had included big names like Michelle Rorke, twins Catha and Caroline Mullen, sisters Amanda and Caitlin Hudson, Tori Flannery, Emma Clarke, and Henrietta Miers among others, they had all been frozen out of any top state individual distance title. Mary Cain was clearly one who could break the ice.
Cain arrived on the outdoor track scene at Bronxville more as a small supergirl than a towering force of domination among the older runners. Her Bronco squad was filled with very talented runners like Miers, Flannery, Olivia Bruton, and Caitlin Hudson who in early 2009 at least could still equal or surpass her in the 800 to fill out the legs of the stellar relay team that would rack up the 3rd best time in the state and 8th best in the country.
Like many small bounding middle-school runners in NY, Cain settled into the lead 3000m slot for the Broncos along with an occasional relay leg or a speed race in the 800m. In a group of dual meets against Westchester teams in April, Cain dashed to some remarkable times for a 12 year old.
Breaking Out
On May Day in 2009 and two days shy of 13 for the Bronco 7th grader, the Cain comet began firing off its trail of sparkling times that would immediately draw media attention. Running at the major area Somers Lions Club meet in Westchester, Cain sped to 1st place in a sizzling time of 10:25.7. Five seconds behind her in in 2nd place was Pawling sophomore Sami Jorgensen who was also doubling in the 1500m that day, and it kicked off a rivalry that would pit the two in 9 races more or less head to head.
After finally entering teen territory and clocking a couple of solid 800m runs in local invitationals, Cain sped to another 3000m win in the County champions
hip in an almost identical time as the Somers meet. A 3rd place behind senior teammates Flannery and Hudson in the 1500m in the Section 1 Class C championship at home in 4:54.6 gave her the semi-official best time in the nation by a 7th grader, though the Broncos' odd 380m oval nixed the official status. It was followed by a second 3000m showdown with Jorgensen in the local State Qualifier meet.
The SQ meet dangled two tickets for the States meet among a monstrously tough small-school Division 2 group that far outclassed the entrants in the big Division 1 group of the 3000m. Jorgensen took 1st and Cain 2nd by running semi-attached and diving down to 10:12.02 and 10:12.08. Cain's time was the best by a 7th grader in the nation. With two weeks until the States meet in between, Mitchell entered Cain in the 1 mile race in the nearby Eastern States Championship in New Rochelle, NY, and she finished a close 2nd in a time of 5:03 to set a NY state record and 2009 national best for 7th graders.
At the States championship, Cain put the excitation point on a startling debut season by taking 15th in 10:14.12, one place ahead of Jorgensen. Most of Cain's race was run with only one shoe, though it's unclear whether the situation was due to
a 13-year-old's jitters while tying her laces or whether she craftily wanted to be a little lighter afoot. But all-in all, Cain's first track season had turned out pretty decent.
The competitive drive and the focused, untroubled, cheerful demeanor that Cain brought to the track seemed partly a product of a Bronxville upbringing, a village with a central square that still could look line something out of a 1940s' Jimmy Stewart movie. The community became home to the Kennedy family in 1927 that produced a future US president, and understated villagers just as nonchalantly acknowledge their connection to Jack-Bobby-Teddy as they do the setting of a new state or national record.
Competition within the Bronxville classroom or with other schools is generally a very small tad below ferocious, and giant "Pulverize Pawling" signs cover the side of the school before a football game with the Tigers, but its highly successful sports teams exude an old-style celebration of best effort over simply winning. Getting those wins is definitely still very very important, however, and Bronco girls have been known to go into a big race with say the green colors of a chief rival dangling down from their ponytail ribbons to give a little extra focus to the mission before them.
During Cain's 8th-grade year, the wins became a little harder to get and her margin over age-group rivals a bit smaller, even as she hit the track for both the indoor and outdoor seasons. She still ended up with the nation's best unconverted times in the 1 mile run by an 8th grader both indoors and outdoors, but in New York three runners of the same age were posting better times in many of the long distance events, as Cicero-North Syracuse's Maria Lamontagne, West Genesee's Laura Leff, and Northport's Brigid Brennan began to show early promise among many talented 13-year-olds. But now on the Broncos' elite 4x800m relay team with freshmen Merdith Rizzo and Amelia Phillips and senior Henrietta Miers, Cain was also directing a lot of energy to the squad.
Indoors in 2010, the individual highlight was a 5th place in the mile of the Millrose Trials run in 5:05.41, and though she did not get selected for the Millrose Girls Mile, the runner in 4th just ahead of her did, so it must have been a close call. Two weeks before the Trials she had earned a 2nd in 2:18 at the Marine Corps Classic at the Armory Track, and about two weeks after the Trials at the County meet, Cain racked up a 2nd in the 3000m behind local rival Nikki Nesi of Pelham and then anchored the Bronco 4x800m to a dominating win.
The County action was followed by a Sectional championship where she doubled in the distance events for the only time in HS, winning the 3000m and then earning a 3rd in the 1500m while finishing about two seconds ahead of Sami Jorgensen. Eschewing any individual races at the State Qualifier meet, Cain helped her team to a big win, though the Broncos were beaten by three seconds by a more veteran Shenendehowa squad at States. The year was wrapped up at the Armory Track in the Nationals as she slipped backed to a 5:15.87 in the 7th and 8th Grade Mile, finishing 3rd behind Lamontagne and Leff.
Cain's 8th-grade outdoor season had a somewhat similar cast to the indoor one. She started out on fire in mid April with a personal record of 4:47.3 while winning the 1500m at the Fulton Invitational and next struck it rich by breaking through the 5 minute mile barrier in a Clarkstown Gold Rush meet win. The Somers meet was again hospitable in 2010, but this time in the 1500m as she won with a 4:42.8 time that would be the best in the nation by an 8th grader for six weeks until Lamontagne went 11 seconds better at the States meet. Cain also ran her only recorded 200m race at the Somers meet, and it is probably the only time that 31 runners will ever be able to say that they bested her in the results.
Cain continued her streak of distance event wins with a 1st in the 3000m race at the County championship while getting down to 10:16.08. Five days later she had her 7 1/2 lap duel with Jorgensen at Sectionals, which led to rematch at the State Qualifiers where Megan Young and Jorgensen dashed Cain's chances for a repeat States spot in the 3000m race. But the SQ meet was also where her season-long turns with the 4x800m team started really becoming important, and the Broncos breezed to a win to grab the Division 2 qualification spot. But though Bronxville dropped 17 seconds to get down to 9:08.56 at States, they were still beaten by six of the bigger Division 1 schools, and that ended the year for Cain.
For Cain the years of middle-school running on the track was a quest for fun and adventure, and if a couple of goals had been missed by a little bit, it was still a time of big fun with friends from all over the area. But ever precocious, she had her eye on some goals and records for her upcoming high school years, and she seemed to be in perfect position to dive in for them.
A Role Model Appears
Fnally entering high school in the fall of 2010, Cain bid goodbye to swimming contests and entered the brave new world of XC running. Learning to run the hills and master the different pacing requirements of XC took her awhile to settle into, and the older, more experienced runners had advantages on the trails. Even on the Broncos she was sometimes the number 2 runner across the line as Meredith Rizzo was rated among the top runners in the state on a team that was favored to win the States title in the small Class C.
After opening in 4th in the Randolph Invitational in New Jersey, Cain ran in five more races before earning a win. Included in the group were a tough run on NY's showpiece Bowdoin Park hill at which she took 5th behind the nation's top runner, Aisling Cuffe of Cornwall, which would be the first meeting between the two standouts. Two weeks later Cuffe won the prestigious Eastern States race at the huge Manhattan Invitational in Van Cortlandt Park, while Cain finished 5th in the C race there that the Broncos won.
Cain was only the 8th fastest freshman in the Manhattan races, but though she had some solid runs during the first two months, it was not until the end of October that she earned her first 130+ Tully Runner speed ranking to reach elite status while finishing 2nd in the County meet to senior Gina Talt of Mamaroneck. A week later Cain picked up her first XC win while leading the Broncos to their 14th straight Sectional championship.
Sectionals set up a showdown with the Broncos' longtime bitter rival Greenwich at the 2010 host site of Pawling. Cain and Rizzo finished 1-2 in a 48-51 Class C win that was clinched only because of a late-race charge by senior JV callup Serena Saari. The championship was the Boncos' 9th, but Cain's title was the team's first.
A week later at the Federation championship for statewide powers, Cain helped her team wrap up the season as the best of the little teams as the Broncos took 6th of the 27 teams. Cain was 14th and the top runner from her section.
Cain had a rewarding ride toward the top during XC season while earning the ranking of the 6th fastest freshman harrier in NY, but she also gave a lot back. Whether it was cheering on an ailing oft-time rival and longtime swimming buddy Megan Young of Nanuet in a Class B qualifier race, delivering quiet rookie leadership to an extremely young Broncos team, or providing effusively chipper interviews for the media, she left her mark.
And then there was that oddly powerful and effective running style that seemed like an IT band injury waiting to happen until you saw on film the total fluidity of a level inward knee motion and a front foot that touched down, jack-knifed inward, flipped around to turn outward, and then continued the rotation forward for another explosive flick of a step.
Describing Cain's running style to Debra Ulrich Field, mother of local team Irvington's top runner Annie and wife of the noted meteorologist Storm Field who usually insured decent weather for the races, she immediately asked, "Is Cain a swimmer?" When I said that it had been her previous fall sport, Field said, "That's the reason. She runs like a swimmer." Ah, all shall be revealed.
By the time Cain entered her freshman track seasons, she was already a veteran and her earlier rivalry with Sami Jorgensen had begun to fade as the senior Tiger runner concentrated on the 3000m and her outdoor specialty steeplechase races and Cain dropped down to shorter distances.
Other rivalries would increasingly come to the fore for Cain. At the Yale Track Classic in January 2011, she finished 3rd in 5:07 while Jorgensen placed far back in 27th, but the Pawling star also picked up a 6th in the 3000m. Three weeks later they raced together for the last time indoor in the Section 1 Class Championship's 1500m race and Cain won by 24 seconds in a fast PR of 4:36.3 that would be the US 2011 freshman best. Jorgensen won the 3000m in the S1-C meet, and three weeks later she won the event at the section's State Qualifier meet and went on to place 8th in the NY State Championship.
Cain's 2011 indoor season was devoted mainly to the 1000m distance along with her relay duties. The 1000m was also the event that the powerful Anima Banks from nearby Mamamoneck would choose to specialize in, which was a bit of bad luck for Cain's winning tally but also a useful spur. Cain captured the County championship 1000m as Banks ran the 600m, but Banks would win the 1000m over Cain at the State Qualifier meet as both runners smashed their PR's by running 2:50.05 and 2:50.84, again for Cain a 2011 freshman US best.
The States meet was close to a repeat as Banks held off Cain for the title by almost a second. Cain was also running in the 4x800m relay event as the young Broncos had taken their state qualifier race in a fairly fast time, but at States the team finished well back in 6th place.
A week later Cain and her team did well at the Nike Indoor Nationals as the Broncos finished a strong 3rd in the Distance Medley Relay, and Cain again ran a US 2011 freshman best in 2:09.62 in the 800m while finishing two places behind Banks, with the winner being Ajee' Wilson of Neptune, NJ. With three freshman national top marks for 2011 in her pocket, the season had again been a good one for the rising Cain.
The 2011 outdoor season for the freshman Cain was the time the hammer came down, records started being smashed on a weekly basis, and she nailed the attention of the national running services with a long series of wins. She started somewhat modestly at the Harrison Invitational in mid April with a 55.74 in her first officially recorded 400m, a national elite mark that would be tops for NY freshman and 6th overall in an event that is more a sprint than a distance event.
The day after running the 400m she was at the New York Relays at Icahn Stadium on Manhattan's Roosevelt Island to add a lap with an 800m workout. Blasting out early, she sped to a 61 second time on the first 400m, and though she couldn't quite believe the clock, she also thought, "I'm not that tired." Coming home in 2:06.44, she posted a time that was the fastest in the nation at that April time point, and it would stand up through the season as the tops for freshman nationally and the best in New York overall. Two weeks into the track season and anticipation was mounting for more eye-poppers by the Bronxville freshman.
A Sign Of Records To Come
Cain's status as the super phenom became settled on the first weekend in May 2011 when the Somers Lions meet again proved a beautiful place to hang out. In the last race that would line up Cain and Jorgensen at the starting line, Cain again sped out fast and never looked back as she won by a huge 15 seconds and edged under Chris Curtin's 29-year-old record for the 1500m by one-tenth of a second in 4:23.1. Jorgensen was a half minute behind in 4th place, but after having sizzled to 1st in the 3000m about three hours before, the Pawling senior was happy with her day too as she got set to move into the steeplechasing part of the season.
For Cain, the achievement of one of her top goals so quickly was a little disorienting as she, Coach Mitchell, and the rest of the running nation tried to puzzle out what that small frame with the powerful kick was capable of in the future. Cain mused that one of her goals now was simply to throw up at the end of a race so she could know what it was like to push herself beyond her limits, a feeling most runners know from wretched and retching experience but that Cain in her seemingly tireless mode of locomotion didn't really feel.
There were a few things to keep Cain grounded though besides her down-to-earth seen-it-all coach and the what's-for-an-encore? social group around her. First of all, some of the events like the 1500m and 3000m (and Jorgensen's steeplechase) were mainly done only by NY girls among the track-power states, so though Cain's converted times for the 1600m or 3200m would rival the best times, they weren't the same events that the vast majority of high school distance runners were running.
The other big grounding element for Cain was that there were a lot of other good runners in NY and the country, and one of them from the one-hour-distant town of Cornwall was the most acclaimed high school runner in the country, being the Footlocker National champ and 3000m indoor Nationals winner, the senior Aisling Cuffe. From the first weekend in May on when Cuffe at the Crusader Relays ran a 1500m just seven-tenths of a second off Cain's time, a heated battle for the best was on as they drove each other to ever higher marks..
The mid May weekend saw Cain go out to Cuffe's territory in Orange County to run in the Warwick Games while Cuffe traveled to Cain's area in Westchester County to run in the huge Loucks games. Both enjoyed good success, as did Sami Jorgensen who finished just off the Loucks meet record in the steeplechase while Cuffe smashed Molly Huddle's NY state record in the 3200m with a time of 9:56.16.
Out west of the Hudson in an evening race, Cain was smashing another record, this one the NY 3000m freshman record previously held by Nicole Blood. Cain ran 8 seconds faster than Blood had 8 years before with a time of 9:28.6. The mark was 40 seconds faster than the last time she had run the 3000m while finishing 3rd the year before at the State Qualifier meet.
Cain was a little dizzied by her stunning new level. "To drop that much time," she said, "It's weird." Then she lightly shrugged it all off by quipping, "I think I'm more of a 100 meter runner." Whatever event she was going to run, she was happy if she could stay away from having to splash with Jorgensen. "As long as I don’t have to run the steeple then I don’t care. That looks pretty hard." Torpedoing through the pool in the years before as a swimmer had been a blast for Cain, but jumping in the water now five times was one task too many for the busy runner.
Breaking distance records looked pretty easy for Cain though. For the next three weeks after the Warwick and Loucks weekend, both Cain and Cuffe settled back to build up their stamina for the postseason meets by taking care of business with more restrained runs in County and Sectional championships, with Cain also putting in more time with Bronxville's elite 4x800m relay team.
By the time the State Qualifiers rolled around in early June, Cain was settled on the switch to the event that she owned the state record in, the 1500m, which she won this time by more than a half minute while also anchoring the relay team to an easy qualification. Jorgensen in her final SQ captured wins in both the 3000m run and 2000m steeplechase, and she set a PR by breaking a barrier with a 9:59.21 in the 3000m. Out in Section 9, Cuffe decided to try a distance double by qualifying for States in the 1500m and 3000m. The showdown between Cuffe and Cain in the outdoor season was set in the 1500m.
On the first day of the States meet, Cuffe captured the attention by breaking her own state record in the the 3000m with a 9:16.32 time in a 10-second win. Jorgensen finished 12th overall and 2nd among the small-school Division 2 runners in her final high school 3000m.
With the next day's battle with Cain looming, the question was whether Cuffe could snap back completely from the huge effort in the 3000m. The 1500m classic had incredible sets of legs as it also included multiple times state champions Courtney Chapman of Fayetteville-Manlius and Kelsey Margey of Friends Academy.
Coming off her big race of the day before, the canny senior Cuffe stayed right behind Cain for the first 2 3/4 laps to see where the chips lay, but no one was staying with Cain on the last 400m as she blistered a 63.5-second circuit to break her own state record by more than 5 seconds in 4:17.84, the 7th fastest all-time nationally at that point. Cuffe finished 2 seconds back and Chapman 5, both under Cain's previous state record.
Stanford-bound Cuffe was ready to pass the torch going ahead as the nation's fastest runner over to Cain, saying "I think she can do anything." Cain meanwhile was as always just amazed at her own time, saying, "I'm not that fast." Actually, those who have watched her the last three years do think she's fast --- and getting much faster.
There was still another race for Cain though at States, and that was as the anchor for the Bronxville relay team, which was one of the favorites for the title. Having already said, "No wonder I can't feel my legs," when told her time for the 1500m, it was no surprise that Cain couldn't summon one more superhuman kick to overcome a big lead for the Fayetteville-Manlius squad that was running one of the fastest ever state championship times. The Broncos finished 3rd with a time of 9:06.48.
A week after States at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals in Greensboro, NC, Cain and the Broncos fought through storm-related airline troubles to compete in the same two events, but the order was reversed with the relay Friday evening and the 1500m (en route) - 1 mile on Saturday. The NY state champions and reigning national champion and record holder Fayetteville-Manlius team was not at Nationals, which was a boost for the other teams.
Cain's Bronco teammates Meredith Rizzo, Courtney Campbell, and Emelie Hoffer, the "three beasts" as Cain lauded them, were determined to keep it close for the anchor, and they carried out their mission with a hand-off for the fourth leg at the 6;46 mark and not far behind the leader. Cain blasted to the front after 200 meters and finished the first lap in a stunning 58 seconds. She closed with a 2:03.74 time for her 800m leg, less than a second off the Nationals record for the 800m, and the Broncos beat 2nd place Shenendehowa by more than 11 seconds. Bronxville had bagged its fourth national championship in relays, and the three freshmen and one sophomore seemed destined for many more.
Cain's second race of Nationals on Saturday was less satisfactory, though she did finish a strong 5th in the 1 mile, about two seconds behind the winner. Cain's time enroute at the 1500m point was 12 seconds slower than at the NY state championship, however, and it was hard not to wonder if the incredible 800m leg of the day before had not had some effect on her kick for the mile. Aisling Cuffe meanwhile had finished off the season by destroying a high class field in the 2 mile with a 9:54.22 time on Friday that knocked 7 seconds off Molly Huddle's Nationals record. Sami Jorgensen's final steeplechase was in the Saturday action as she picked herself up from a late stumble in the pool to drive to 5th place and an All American finish.
With Cain's remarkable freshman season complete and her idol Cuffe off to Stanford, the first half of a three-year era of middle and high school running came to an end just as her old racing partner Jorgensen headed to North Carolina.
The Cain of the Modern Era
The three years that followed saw a spectacular string of runs that led to a World Junior championship this past July a month after graduation from high school. The path to that championship wound through a thicket of record-smashing times and one huge decision that was a culmination of a series of earlier choices that finally made pretty much inevitable the selection to run unattached from her high school team as a professional under the long-distance coaching management of Alberto Salazar and on-location coach John Henwood.
The huge set of factors that played into Cain's decision to run unattached are too complex to delve into here, and will be followed up upon this coming Wednesday. In short, the issues were deliberated with her and her family through a group of people representing some of the best and brightest in the running world. At the end of it all, she simply made the choice to pursue the path she felt best designed to push her to the top limits without impediments, a level unattainable under standard paths for a high-schooler. It is hard to argue with the decision based on Cain's experiences over the last two years and the fact that both the fire and smile still remain burning bright for her.
Keeping track of Cain's accomplishments over the last three years takes most of the resources of a supercomputer crunching the numbers nonstop. The amazement of earlier times has changed to simply an expectation that she will smash a record every time she runs at six or more different distances, indoors and outdoors, for high school (previously), US, and World junior or elite marks. She appears currently to be the high school record holder for eight different marks, but her change to pro runner status in November 2013 may leave some of her marks listed as US Junior records. She did not participate in cross country events as a senior, but as a junior she finished 2nd at Nike Cross Nationals and as a sophomore picked up a second state championship while on a mud run.
Sometimes as with the 3000m mark at the World Junior Championships this year, the records have come when Cain finishes 1st, including the 4:24.11 one-mile mark at the Boston University Terrier meet in January 2014 and the 2:35.80 time for the 1000m she ran two weeks later at the New Balance Grand Prix.
But more often as Cain has gone up against the top professional runners in the world, her smashing performances have come when she finishes 3rd while running the 2 mile in 9:38.68 at the New Balance Grand Prix in February 2013, or 2nd while going to 4:04.62 in the 1500m at the Oxy High Performance meet on May 17, 2013, or 5th two weeks later when she blazed the 800m in 1:59.51, or even in 6th when still another week later she leaped up to the 5000m to run 15:45.6. Both practice and competition make perfect.
And though Bronxville has not won another national relay title since Cain became first unattached and then a professional, the cross-country team has rolled on, much to the consternation of other NY small schools who saw the Broncos pick up their 6th straight state championship last fall. Some millennium the cruel reign must end.
Cain's freshman year sparring partner Aisling Cuffe has gone on to some notable feats at Stanford, including a USATF championship in the outdoor 3000m in her college frosh year, a 4th at the NCAA D1 XC championship last fall, and a 2nd in the NCAA D1 outdoor 1500m in June.
Sami Jorgensen ran with the Tar Heel track and cross country teams her first two years at UNC and had some success as one of the team's top 7 in XC and working back down close to the 10 minute mark for the 3000m in track. Injuries during her junior year have however forced her into a medical retirement from college action. Still, her time at a college she hated on a first visit and absolutely loved on a second has given her an affection for the balance of athletics, academics, and social life at a large school, a much different experience for the girl from the small rural school.
Mary Cain has been settling into her first year at the University of Portland and naturally training there with Alberto Salazar. Rumors that she is hatching plans there to conquer the world are probably all true. She no long uses the flipper action of the early years, and the stride is now one of the most powerful on the globe.
In today's world we can try just about every sport, we can enjoy many sports, but we can't really fully "do" a lot of sports or every event, at least not at a highly competitive level. Sometimes we may seem like the latest version of Supergirl, but we still can't be everywhere at once speeding to ultimate warp speed in every race. You set your goals and do what you can to get them, and not what you can't. Legs, schedules, and achievements all have their limits, and the most successful runners are those who can figure out how many pins they can keep up in the air while having fun and remaining of sound mind and body.
And as to the outcome of the 3000m race at Valhalla long ago in May 2010 when two runners stuck together for 7 1/2 laps until one last stride and lean pushed one girl two-tenths of a second ahead, I'll leave it to the winner to describe it.
"I've always had this tinge of guilt when I think about the race because I felt like I kind of blindsided Mary after we had been working together the whole way," says Jorgensen. "I know the nature of racing is generally to beat your opponent, but in this instance I almost felt wrong in doing so. I knew my team needed the points desperately, so I did it anyways."
So there you have it, the classic case of your team needing the points more, and you decide to go ahead and get those points. Cain's Bronxville team would win the championship by 72 points, and Jorgensen's extra points would allow her Tigers to finish in a tie for 2nd. Jorgensen's time was 10:45.6, and Cain came in at 10:45.8, and if you watch the video of the last half lap, you'll see that both runners were blasting all the way to the finish. Neither has any real reason to think twice about the decisions she had to make along the way.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to Pawling coach Adam Muroski and former Bronxville coach Ed Stickles for digging into the cranial recesses for some old info. Thanks to Alberto Salazar and John Henwood for continuing those stories. And to coaches Jim Mitchell of the Broncos and Jack Power of the Tigers for their contributions to making the story possible. And also to some runners who electrified a lot of races.
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