Aaron Sahlman breaks the NFHS rules by pacing a boys 3200m at Arcadia

Has literally no one on LetsRun been to a track meet? This rules means a teammate/coach/parent etc. that is watching the race can’t run alongside in the infield or hop on the track and ‘pace’ an athlete. This is the same for every level of Track. An athlete that starts the race on the starting line with everyone else and eventually drops out is fine. Also, Aaron had hip numbers so was clearly entered and could have finished with an official time if he wanted too… just like those rare Marathon pacers who stay in and end up winning the race.

NFHS still has a rule no pacing. It doesn’t matter if Aaron had a hip number. You have to have a number to start the race and he did. It might be a lame rule, but Aaron Sahlman and others athletes in the race said in their interviews he was pacing. That’s against the Lame NFHS rules. They still keep the time. This has been established over and over on this thread. It’s also been established that it just won’t count as a federation HS record. Really not that big deal because it’s still their PR.

Why do we keep circling around the same question.

So obviously nothing should happen to Sahlman because of this, but what gives with this rule? Teammates aren't allowed to pace each other? I'm curious what this is intended to prevent

Pacing by who seems to be the question.

No, that hasn't been established at all. At this point it's just conjecture.

Will NFHS really turn down a 3200 national record from Arcadia, the best known 3200 in the country, just because the leader at 1600 dropped out? I doubt it.

Most likely this race will be the new NFHS national record.

Who really cares about the NFHS records anyhow? They make no sense and never have. For example, for years the NFHS has carried Alan Webb's 1600 time at Arcadia as the national record, but Jim Ryun ran 3:58 for a mile at the Kansas State HS championship in 1965. That's faster, and it's not a conversion -- if he ran faster for a distance that is longer than 1600 meters (which a mile is), then he clearly ran at least that fast for 1600 meters, so it should have been listed as the record (and he was his own pacer). And of course Gary martin's mile time from last year, also run in a HS-only race, is also faster. And the NFHS list of top 3200 times also excludes multiple 2-mile times set in HS-only races (by Steve Prefontaine and Craig Virgin, among others) that meet the same criteria. How does the NFHS decide which races count and which do not?

Because some of you can't seem to grasp what the rule is. If Sahmam's brother paced, that is different because he wouldn't be entered. Youbseem to think that anyone who claims that they didn't complete the race or didn't giver their best effort is a pacer. What is Sahmlan wasn't in the race but the winner claimed he could have run 8:20 but he laid back to help pace the other guys to fast times? Sahlman was in the race and he could have won or not started or finished 10th or dropped out.

“pacing by a teammate or persons not participating in the event”

Why do you think they include the bold part? If the rule was simply “No pacing”, it would just state “no pacing by a teammate or persons”. Instead, it is clarified by stating “(by those) not participating in the event”. So if you are competing in the event, you can “pace”. If this is incorrect, and an athlete competing can NOT ‘pace’, then the rules are very poorly written- but I doubt that’s the case.

You have to pay to read the NFHS rules (really lol) so I’m not sure if they define “competitor”, but after watching Track all my life- I’m pretty confident someone ‘competing in a race’ is an eligible athlete who starts the race on the course/track.

You are wrong. The rule says that people that are not in the race cannot pace athletes in the race. It is perfectly fine for someone who is in the race to pace others. Sahlman was a late entry and was entered as hip number 35. He was welcome to pace.

If you parse that rule, Aaron did not break it. para. b is the relevant part. the people he paced weren’t his teammates and he was participating in the event. it also may be arguable that the pacing part refers to a teammate not in the race that guns along the sideline but not on the track, which Aaron also did not do.

now it’s case closed 😀

What a stupid thread

Seriously? Do you not have better things to do?

Speaking of Sahlman his post 800 interview appears to suggest that he may be ending his time with the NPHS team. Stay tuned...

arcadiainvitational.org

ArcadiaInvitational.org - Arcadia Invitational - Videos - Aaron Sahlman 1st Place Boys Invitational 800m - Arcadia Invitational 2023

Aaron Sahlman, a Northern Arizona-bound senior at Newbury Park High in California, won the boys invitational 800 meters in 1:49.07 at the 55th Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High in California.

Link:www.arcadiainvitational.org/eprofile.p...

High School kids in High School races should race each other, not pace each other

This just ruined the boys invite 3200m at Arcadia.

My understanding, from many people, the reason Lil S dropped after 4 laps in the 3200 was to prove every poster wrong that posted he wasn’t an 800 meter runnner.

I thought it showed total sportsmanship on Aaron's part. Not like anyone paid him to do this.

From the interviews it was clear Aaron was helping his friends. Well according to him and Connor Burn’s interview. Ironically Conner didn’t hold on, but still ran well.
This is not about Aaron Sahlman being a good friend. It’s about ruining a HS race that clearly states no pacers allowed. It totally ruined the integrity of an actual HS race and apparently broke some rules / guidelines along the way .

Well the NFHS is really kind of just a made up thing. They make rules, most state associations elect to follow them, most regular season meets elect to follow their state associations rules. But none of this is binding or real. Arcadia can do whatever the heck they want with their own meet.

I would bet that every single one of those kids that ran fast (pretty much all of them) will think the world of him for doing that for all of them. "Ruined the integrity" Listen to yourself.