You were expecting this post to have the NCAA Cross Country results.
And I will have that for you--in my next post!
SPOILER ALERT--I am going to tell you who the individual winners were!!
I've been a fan of T&F (& even XC!) for more than 5 full decades!
I've seen vast changes in the sport--most important of which has been the introduction of Women into the mainstream of the sport, and their amazing rapid rise to prominence!
What I've NOT seen---is the motivation for this "extra" post!
I will speak to a few subjects most of us have thought about, written solutions to on Message Boards or on blogs, but of which very little--or nothing--has been done!
1. Foreigners in American meets & races.
2. No Age Limits for Collegiates.
3. No agreement on when a Record is a Record.
4. The ongoing problem of OT's.
5. Why are HS'ers still running 1600's & 3200's?
5A.. Why do HS Men use different weights & hurdle heights than do the Women?
5B. Why are Men's & Women's XC course distances different?
I hope you'll indulge me--and feel this message is important enough to pass forward to athletes, coaches, and the "authorities" of our sport!
Foreigners in American Meets and Races
The NCAA XC Individual winners were from Canada and Kenya.
I speak of Justyn Knight and Ednah Kurgat.
Fair enough.
They attend USA universities, and are legally allowed to compete in all NCAA meets, if their marks are good enough.
But should they?
Many nations have either changed their rules, or didn't have to, regarding who gets to participate in events deemed a NATIONAL Championship.
The old AAU & TAC used to allow foreigners to compete in USA Championship events!
It was only in the 90's where they were banned.
But not in the NCAA or in HS!
Look at the rosters of some schools--like New Mexico, BYU, UTEP, and many others, and you'll see a litany of Kenyan names there.
Or British names, or Canadians, or those from many other nations!
In many cases, this denies medals, Course Records, Meet Records, and Awards to US-born athletes!
I have NOTHING against "foreign" athletes competing on American tracks & fields, Roads & XC courses!
Contradictory statement??
NO!!
Let them compete.
Let them "win"!
But let an American WIN, BREAK a Record, and be the AWARD winner!
How to do this?
If a foreign-born athlete wins a race, or breaks a Course (or whatever other kind of) Record--designate a SEPARATE category for them!
List them as the "First Foreigner", or the "Best on American Soil by a Foreigner".
But have the FIRST US-BORN athlete as your WINNER & RECORD BREAKER!!
T&FN does this on their US lists!
They first list the 40 top Americans--a mix of Pro's, Collegiates, and HS'ers!
Then they have a 2nd (& much shorter) list of "Foreign Collegians".
I have my arguments with their "Absolute" lists, or their inclusion of INdoor marks on their post-INdoor season Absolute lists!
But I LIKE what they do with Foreign Collegiates!
No Age Limits for Collegiates
Ednah Kurgat's birthdate is listed on IAAF as June 15, 1991.
(Although apparently in an interview today, she said she was 22!!)
If the IAAF is correct (a dicey idea!), then today's NCAA Women's winner was 26 years and 5 months old!
In 1978, the leading College runner was Henry Rono, a Soph at Washington State!
He ran times of 7:32, 13:08, and 27:22, as well as the 3000SC in 8:05.
He was also 26 that year, having been born in January 1952!
Yes, there have been several other "elders" competing for US Colleges (& HS's)!
Weini Kelati is a recent example.
She entered HS as a 17 year old Frosh!!
T&FN said she was too old her Senior year to be eligible for HS lists or records!
I fully agreed!
A few years ago, Christy Cazzolla graduated from Wisconsin-Oshkosh near Age 29!!
After graduating HS at 18, she delayed her College experience for her personal life--like having children!
OK, fine!
No Woman should deny herself a LIFE--away from her athletic life!
And no one--Man or Woman--should be denied an EDUCATION--at ANY age--even if they're 95 or 100!!
But when it comes to the venues of US T&F & XC, that's a whole other story!
As we've discussed frequently on MB's--girls go through bodily changes--beginning with the onset of puberty--that makes their forward progress seem more like regress!!
(Just read what Let's Run people have to say about why Mary Cain (& many others) left the sport, or just faded into relative obscurity!!)
But AGE is a different consideration!
Once past her "puberty probs", a Woman's only shortcoming stems from Age differences!
The older one gets, the better an athlete they become!
(The rare exceptions being those who produce "adult" marks as teenagers--like Jim Ryun did, or Mondo Duplantis, Celiphine Chespol, and several others have done!)
Is it fair that 18 to 22 year old's (the "average" ages of most Collegiates) must compete with the Kurgat's & Rono's (& even the Cazzolla's) of this world?
NO!!
While I HATE boxing & wrestling, I LOVE that they have a variety of Weight categories for their competitions!
You don't see a 130 pound person going against one who weighs over 200!!
It's unfair--and dangerous!!
While it's not dangerous for Kurgat, at 26, to be racing against an 18 or 19 year old Freshman, it is most definitely NOT fair!!
No agreement on when a Record is a Record
I won't spend much time on this.
You've been bored to tears by my rants before!
But I urge you to reconsider what I (& many others) have said about "mixed genders" competing in all-Woman events!
NOTHING such athletes as Caster Semenya does should be considered for Records of any kind!!
They should not BE in Women's events--unless they are 100% WOMEN--internally & externally!!
There is NO "measurement" or "scale" or "degree" of Womanhood!!
You either ARE a Woman--no if's, and's, or but's--or you are NOT!!
NO middle ground!!
(The old "You can't be half-pregnant!" argument!!)
Also, some "drug" busts are so ludicrous & mis-leading--and just NOT what they're deemed to be by USADA, WADA, CAS, or by National bodies (USATF!)--that athletes are punished for reasons that would be laughed out of most courts of justice around the world--or should be!!
(Marijuana busts, for example!)
That's why this blog ignored what happened to Emma Coburn's (then-) AR in the SC, or to Gwen Berry's HT mark, or to Ajee Wilson's INdoor 800 AR!!
The last 4 subjects--
The ongoing problem of OT's
Why are HS'ers still running 1600's & 3200's?
Why do HS Men use different weights & hurdle heights than do the Women?
Why are Men's & Women's XC course distances different?
can be considered together.
I've commented (RANTED!! LOL) about all of these at various times since beginning this blog--and on T&FN's Message Board!
To deaf ears and blind eyes!
Oversize Tracks are good (??) for one thing--to train on when the weather is lousy outside!
But NOT for holding track meets, where records, or places on A-T lists, are up for grabs!
It comes down--again!--to what's fair--and what is not!!
Sure, we have banked--and flat--LEGAL INdoor 200 meter tracks!
And there ARE probably advantages to one over the other!
BUT--they're all 200 meters per lap!!
Why do you think Colleges send their Relay teams (DMR's) to Notre Dame & other venues where they have OT's to qualify for the "Big Show"??
Because OT's DO allow for faster times!!
But when you allow those times to qualify a team for the NCAA's, that's where I draw the line!!
And what about having Conference Championships on OT's?
Last year, there were a handful of the MAJOR Conferences held on OT's!
This year, there are fewer, but still they are there!!
(Check my INdoor Schedule for which are on OT's in 2018!)
This is NOT unfair to the Throwers, Jumpers, and anyone who races 60 meter distances, with or without hurdles!
But it IS unfair to ALL those who compete at distances from 200 through 5000 meters!!
NONE of those marks--NONE!!!--are eligible for ANY Record or List considerations!!!
That's at least HALF of any team competing on OT's!!
How would YOU feel being one of those athletes??
1600's & 3200's
Aaah, one of my "favorite" subjects!
For decades--since 440 yard tracks (or 220 yards INdoors) were converted to 400 (& 200) meter tracks--the Mile & Two Mile were changed also, to 1600's & 3200's!
Okay, I can understand the simplicity of it.
Four or eight laps of an OUTdoor track, eight or 16 laps of those 200 meter INdoor tracks!!
No having to measure & mark the extra 9.344 or 18.688 meters for the Ace & the Deuce!
But in the United States--and in some other "Westernized" countries--the MILE still reigns as an iconic event!!
(The Two Mile being accorded the same honor, in my mind!)
There is NO WAY you can quantify the time needed to run those "extra" meters!!
No formula, no matter how mathematically quantifiable, is ever "correct" for EVERY runner!!
To be fair to the 1000's of athletes who, over the past 35 or more years, have been racing over those shorter metric distances, Record keepers can create separate lists (& records) for those 1600's & 3200's!
The key word there being SEPARATE!!
A simple solution--fair to both groups?
Time runners at the 1600 & 3200 points of Mile & Two Mile races!
Yes, you'd have to do the initial measurements & track markings!
ONCE!!
Then time runners ENROUTE to their Mile's & Deuces at those metric markers!!
Different Weights & Hurdle heights?
No comments here!
Just go into my Archives & re-read my early "editorial" titled "Should HS Boys throw the 16 pound SP from Day One?".
Same basic idea for the variation in hurdle heights--HS Men using the 39 inchers, while Collegiates and Professionals use 42 inch hurdles!
(The Women's remain the same from Frosh Class of HS on!! For the Throws & the Hurdles!!)
Besides the physiological considerations, there's also the Record & List considerations!
The shorter hurdle heights and lesser weight implements DENY High School Men their rightful place on All-Time lists--& being compared to the rest of the World!!
Different XC course distances
Why do Men race over 8000 or 10000 meters in XC races, while the Women race over 5000 and 6000 meter distances?
The only word I can think of is--SEXIST!!
(And DISCRIMINATION!!)
In 1984, the longest track distance for Women in the Olympics was 1500 meters!
No 5K or 10K.
But they DID race--for the first time in Olympic history--the 26.2 mile Marathon!!
Silly?
YES!!
(Same silliness about this year's inclusion of a Women's 50K Walk at the WC's--times a million!!)
The main argument is that XC brings together many "true" distance runners--those 5K & 10K types--but also has a bunch of "Miler" types--or even those who race mainly over 800 meters!!
They say it's unfair to make those "sprinters" go up against the distance people at the longer distances!
But isn't it also unfair to put a 10K specialist up against an aerobically-trained 2-lap specialist--who can out-kick the former??
I don't really care which ONE distance they agree on--but let them AGREE on ONE distance for ALL!!
8K, 10K--heck, even 9K, or 7K!--but have Men & Women run the SAME distance!!
Women have proven themselves over & over again that they can compete--and compete well--over whatever distance is provided for them!!
(The recent victory of Shalane Flanagan in the Marathon--the 100 Mile WR SMASHED by Camille Herron, etc etc!!)
Well, folks, thank you for enduring this latest "commentary" by yours truly!
I promise I will have the NCAA XC results posted SOON!!
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