Dan Simmons retiring for two years post-HS record?

They do it in football too, as well as other sports. I didn't want to pick on any particular athlete, but if you look for Utahans on the roster, you'll readily find guys who went on a mission, and it sure doesn't hurt football players to get two years older, bigger and stronger, before coming back to lift weights and train again. It is a key to BYU's athletic success all over the place, but also a key to their more limited professional success, given that they lose two prime training years and have to catch back up to where they were for a while before moving forward. Then they typically go pro at 24 or 25 when they should already be at their peak, so it helps BYU but hurts the athletes.

byucougars.com

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Link:byucougars.com/sports/football/roster/

But I thought this was the way BYU stacks the field! He will be serving God which is infinitely more important than running. Good principled person who is willing to sacrifice something you know he loves to serve others!

They don't do any sports for 2 years, so they come back 2 years older, but smaller and weaker.

Too bad his religious indoctrination happened when he was a little kid who COULDN'T make his decisions for himself.

Bigoted post reported.

They do their mission trip before marriage.

Mission trios are about 18 months. 95% of the BYU runners are finished running at age 23. Covid changed things but guys like Olin Hacker did 7 years.

"All the victories and the cool things I’ve earned through running don’t compare with the feelings of coming to know my Savior, Jesus Christ, and I’m excited to share what I’ve learned and bring this joy to others.” - Simmons

Indoctrination? Naw, it appears he knows exactly why he's making the choice to serve a mission.

I applaud him for the decision to sacrifice running and NIL money to share about Christ with others. Hope he can back from it and reach new heights and his full potential as a runner.

u for f**kin real?

Have ya heard the news?

Ring door bells in Atlanta for two years, goes luck young man.

Just because he’s going on a mission doesn’t mean he is retiring from running.

He could be competing again if he comes back from a mission.

Casey Clinger started competing again after returning from his mission

Henry Marsh would disagree.

Classic Letsrun, bash on religions, beliefs, and decisions despite knowing little to nothing about these things. Everyone seems to think they're an expert on everything while on this site.

Let the kid do what he wants. He's arguably among the top 10 high school runners ever, and is clearly very dedicated to his religion. Personally I like seeing this side of athletes, and I'm glad Danny has a life outside of running.

I think if it really stacked the field, they’d be doing better than they are. BYU is great, but they’re getting a bit blown out of the water lately. I think the culture around their team that came from being so devout helped them for a long time, but now that other programs are getting to that level, the disadvantage BYU gets from their best kids taking 2 years off is starting to be more apparent. Casey Clinger is probably the most recent example. He hasn’t been running poorly by any means, but I expected a bit more based on that freshman year of cross country.

Also he’s not sacrificing to serve others, he’s sacrificing to serve God. Important distinction imo.

Imagine getting upset that a kid made this decision (to go do something for OTHER people) … Who is the real fanatic here?

Smaller and weaker is good in distance running

It’s always amusing to see two sides to this argument: Either BYU has an advantage when athletes choose a mission and are older or people asking why he would leave when he was on a roll.

If the priority was to maximize his success on the track - serving a mission would not be the answer. It’s a significant risk to leave the sport for two years.

BYU has had several High School national champion guys recently - Clinger, Troutner, and now Simmons. How many other NCAA schools have had 3 national champions in the last 7 years? You would think with these types of athletes coming out of high school - they would be a top 5 tier program. The excuse that their success is related to taking two years off is bogus. It’s not like they are winning Nattys left and right. With who they recruit, their level of success is on par.

Post collegians like Mantz, Young and Rooks may have a smaller window for pro careers, but from my conversations with them, they wouldn’t trade their mission experience for widening that window.

Everyone gets to choose their own adventure in life. I respect Simmons’ decision and hope he comes back better than ever when he’s done!

Yes, you must be right. 18 year olds come back at age 20 smaller and weaker.