My old high school team has two new coaches and almost everyone on the team is new this year. This may be a rumor though I think it's true, but either one or both, I'm not sure, said that unless the guys all run 18 minutes(I don't know if this means 18:59 or 18:00) or faster no one will run at state. Personally, I think this is a horrible way to motivate a young, inexperienced team. I'm all about being competitive but setting a time that runners must hit to run at state seems way too far. Hopefully, these kids will be able to run 18 minutes or faster in the future, but as it looks right now only one of them looks like he has a shot at doing it. As a result of this team rule several kids have already quit and their first meet was today. Now the coaches seem very encouraging and nice, but I don't understand this rule. I don't mean to attack these coaches, I just think this isn't the way to go about encouraging a young team. Honestly, what does it hurt to have guys slower than 18 minutes run at state? If anything it will show them where the competition level is and encourage them keep improving.