what??? no wrote:
Thanks for letting us know how you feel, Centro.
Merber has the record and deserves it. He ran the time in season, in his school jersey. Good for him!
Lots of random thoughts so here goes.
Actually, he didn't actually run the record in season. The meet at Swarthmore was the day after the qualifying for D1 regionals ended.
So if people are going to use the other sport analogies, Merber ran fast in the equivalent of an all-star game. He scored 100 in an all-star game but not an official NBA game. So by your logic, it shouldn't count.
And actually by track and field news' logic as well as this race was "outside of the regular collegiate season" which is why they had ruled out Ryun's 3:31.
Read more:
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?board=1&id=4579196&thread=4578816#ixzz1vB2xKSetLook Merber is the man and I don't want to come across as some 65 year old complaining about how it used to be back in the day but that Swarthmore meet is in many ways the definition of what is wrong with the sport today.
There is no set schedule the guys/teams have to do. Everyone at all levels of the sport does what is in their absolute best interest - not the sport's best interest.
Back in the day, Sydney Maree ran 3:37 at the ic4a meet in front of what I assume was a big crowd. Now the guys are skipping that meet to run in front of 50 people at swarthmore.
To me, what makes track popular is the significance of the race. This swarthmore race is significant only because Merber ran 3:35. If Brannen had run 3:35, would anyone have cared? No because he's done that before. this race is significant because an uknown did it and it was unexpected.
And I'm not sure what the solution is. I mean the focus on times comes from the IAAF which has these As and Bs. I mean in many ways the whole US Olympic Trials are a farce. In reality, 5-7 people are battling it out in a lot of events for 3 spots.
The IAAF should give the US 3 spots in most events and anyone who is top 3 can go - period.
As for collegiate records, I guess you could have different critera but to me anything done before you are done with collegiately eligibility should count - whether it's in season or not. But I hadn't thought about "wearing the jersey" idea either.
I guess you could have different things for "non tradition college season" if you wanted to list it - sort of like HS races only - but I guess by that logic Merber's would be no different than Centrowitz's as his time was irrelevant to NCAA D1 season.
In my mind, I think it's Ryun #1.
Centro #2.
Merber #3.
But was Wheating out of eligibility when he ran his 3:30? Didn't he have cross? Did he have track?