In a message dated Tue, 27 Nov 2001 8:58:37 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> >> It's not just at the Foot Locker South course where course record lists > >have been rewritten. This year the times at Mt. SAC have been ridiculous. > >For years, anyone breaking 15 was a true stud. Now you have guys who are > >good, but not great dipping under the 15-minute barrier. > > I thought I would go to a directly knowledgeable person- in this > case my own son- who ran in the Mt.SAC HS Invational both last year and > this year. > He said the course this year was identical to last year- they didn't > change anything. > He ran about a minute and a half faster this year, but then that's > probably normal progression going from a freshman runner to a sophomore- > and it corollates to his improvement over the previous year on other courses > in the area as well, not just Mt. SAC. > As for the observation that there's a surge of runners going sub-15, > after Ryan Hall broke the long-standing course record last year, maybe > the Hall / Webb breakthroughs served to 'poke a hole in the dike', releasing > the flood. It's easier for coaches to motivate if there's somebody his > runners have seen with their own eyes, not 30-year-old black-and-white > Jim Ryun pictures. > It wouldn't be the first time. > > RT >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I too think the course this year is the same as last year. But the course as it is now is not as it has always been. They're crushing times set back in the halcyon days of SoCal high school distance running, when breaking 9 minutes for 2 miles was nothing. Perhaps Doug Speck might have some thoughts? sideshow
