Mary Cain To Run Fifth Avenue Mile

The 18-year-old won the world junior 3000m title in July.

Mary Cain is heading to New York.

The 18-year-old University of Portland freshman, who runs professionally for the Nike Oregon Project, will jet across the country to compete in the Sept. 13 Fifth Avenue Mile. Cain will join what is typically a strong field for the annual race in New York City, according to Oregon Live.

“She’s had some great workouts,” Oregon Project coach Alberto Salazar told Oregon Live. “She’s healthy. She’s ready.”

Cain last made headlines when she won the 3000m title at the IAAF World Junior Track & Field Championships in July. She was scheduled to compete at Diamond League meets in Stockholm and Zurich last month but she and Salazar decided her fitness level was not high enough for Stockholm. She pulled out of Zurich because traveling across the Atlantic for one race did not make sense to the pair.

“She told me she didn’t want to miss school,” Salazar said of the decision to skip Zurich. “In the end, I didn’t want her to get stressed out and miss classes. She would have missed five days of school.”

Cain finished sixth in the 1500m at the 2012 World Juniors, and a year later she ran to a 10th-place result in the 1500m at the IAAF World Championships.

Cain turned professional last fall.

For More: Oregon Live