None it makes any sense to me, as a product of the late 1980s to early 1990s (high school), when we would win every DMR we entered by running:
3:20 to 3:25
50 to 52
1:58 to 2:02
4:25 to 4:30
Maybe that is still good regionally, but on a broader scale we would be pedestrian. Maybe you'd even call us slow.
There were no "good old days." Today are the good days in this sport.
I always felt the threshold for an "elite" HS DMR was 10:20. That's what you get for 3:10 - :50 - 2:00 - 4:20. If you could beat that by a few seconds in the longer legs, you'd be in the mix pretty much anywhere.
In today's race, a 1:55 800 leg wasn't fast enough to keep the 4th-place team in the hunt. All of the top three teams had a 1:52 800 leg. Considering that this would generally be each team's 3rd-best guy... that is really astonishing.
They have TC names but they are actually schools. Having them run as TCs gets around some state's regulations against out of state / out of season competitions.
I always felt the threshold for an "elite" HS DMR was 10:20. That's what you get for 3:10 - :50 - 2:00 - 4:20. If you could beat that by a few seconds in the longer legs, you'd be in the mix pretty much anywhere.
In today's race, a 1:55 800 leg wasn't fast enough to keep the 4th-place team in the hunt. All of the top three teams had a 1:52 800 leg. Considering that this would generally be each team's 3rd-best guy... that is really astonishing.
At my HS we had a 46.7 (state 2nd place) and 4:08 guy (state champ). They tried to figure out if sub 10 was possible, but a 49.2 sprinter guy couldn't manage the 800 which meant a 2:13 guy was it. For the 1200 the only option was a Freshman (brother of the 4:07 guy) but his mile was only 4:42.
You need a minimum of three really good runners to break 10 and that is rare at a school (not counting transfers and clubs).
They have TC names but they are actually schools. Having them run as TCs gets around some state's regulations against out of state / out of season competitions.
Most of the teams were TCs (Track Clubs) -- not eligible for NRs. Two sub 10:00 teams appear to be actual schools.
All sub 10 were schools. NB Nationals does not accept relay teams that are not all from the same school. Otherwise what's stopping Simmons, Griffith, Quincy, and Hilby teaming up and beating everyone by 200 meters.
They have TC names but they are actually schools. Having them run as TCs gets around some state's regulations against out of state / out of season competitions.
What "school" is the Oregon Distance Project?
Crater HS in Oregon
This post was edited 21 seconds after it was posted.
I always felt the threshold for an "elite" HS DMR was 10:20. That's what you get for 3:10 - :50 - 2:00 - 4:20. If you could beat that by a few seconds in the longer legs, you'd be in the mix pretty much anywhere.
In today's race, a 1:55 800 leg wasn't fast enough to keep the 4th-place team in the hunt. All of the top three teams had a 1:52 800 leg. Considering that this would generally be each team's 3rd-best guy... that is really astonishing.
At my HS we had a 46.7 (state 2nd place) and 4:08 guy (state champ). They tried to figure out if sub 10 was possible, but a 49.2 sprinter guy couldn't manage the 800 which meant a 2:13 guy was it. For the 1200 the only option was a Freshman (brother of the 4:07 guy) but his mile was only 4:42.
You need a minimum of three really good runners to break 10 and that is rare at a school (not counting transfers and clubs).
The 400 is by far the least impactful leg. Most of the heavy lifting is done by the 1600 leg with the 1200 leg providing some