Was I robbed of the school record?

............... wrote:

If he's over a second faster than you in April, he's gonna take that record down in May. So raise hell about it now, then forget it.

And who is this kid? Not too many 1:52 HS kids around.

As a point of clarification, it is all past tense. The splitter was some years back also.

I don't believe the splitter did much of anything collegiately whereas I knocked close to 5 secs off my high school time.

Maybe a polite note to the school is in order and see if they do the right thing for the integrity of the sport.

Well, then only one thing to do: go back to your high school and break the home stadium record and tell them to announce that time every meet

No, you never count a split.If that kid is that good then he can run it open. Your HS coach is a disrepectful moron.

rippy rappy wrote:

Flagpole Willy wrote:

let the kid have his glory. You had yours.

Your probably right Flagpole, I guess I am being selfish.

You got robbed. A relay split should never count as a record. When I was in HS, i broke my school's 800m record. I first did it with a 4x800 relay split. My coach was smart and knew that this did not count towards the record. It took me three weeks to run the same time in an OPEN 800m, but I did finally get it.

The anchor leg of a relay gets a RUNNING START going into the 800m, something you dont get in an open. You're getting screwed big time. It sounds like this kid will probably break your record in an open sometime soon anyways, so you're screwed anyways.

dfgsdds wrote:

good 'ol flagpole willy, practicing the art of the flip-flop. how does it feel, mr. willy, to be a flip-flopper?

You've got to be kidding, right? Have you ever seen FW flip-flop because it was the popular thing to do? The guy is the king of taking unpopular stances, voicing them, and sticking with them unless (and this is rare) someone appeals to his intellectual sense. IMO, this was not a "flip-flop" as the term has come to be known. Most people here would never come back to say they changed their mind, would they? Regardless of what you think about the guy, I think his willingness to do what he did in this thread.. his "flip-flop"... is to his credit.

Two Buck Chuck wrote:

You got robbed. A relay split should never count as a record. When I was in HS, i broke my school's 800m record. I first did it with a 4x800 relay split. My coach was smart and knew that this did not count towards the record. It took me three weeks to run the same time in an OPEN 800m, but I did finally get it.

The anchor leg of a relay gets a RUNNING START going into the 800m, something you dont get in an open. You're getting screwed big time. It sounds like this kid will probably break your record in an open sometime soon anyways, so you're screwed anyways.

I agree that the new runner seems able to break the OPs record but he hasn't done it yet so our OP should retain the school record until the new kid actually breaks it.

To answer an earlier Q I find nothing in my 70's rule book that either permits or allows lead legs to act as Q time for NCAA's. I believe that would be covered by a Games Committee/Seeding Committee 'for that meeting' ruling.

I'm almost 100% sure as a '70s era IC4A/ECAC Clerk lead off splits for 800 were OK for seeding but not for meet entry if that entry was restricted by time.

My wife was a sensational runner - ran really fast all her life. Her high school cross country course records were untouchable so what the coach did was to change the course so that someone else might get a course record as he thought hers was out of reach.

Now, the shame of that is that it belies the facts that someone from that school could run that fast once and that someone else could match or beat it. And even if no one ever did, it would still stand out as a great performance.

I know from reading the posts that responded to the bogus relay record that the majority of posters would agree with me.

You do no honor to the present day athlete by erasing the accomplishments of the past athlete.

I think something definitely should be said. I could just see the school decides to just totally wipe out all record keeping. A similar thing to this happened at my high school. We had a "golden gallery" which was sort of a sports hall of fame, but it wasn't based on performance. Anyways, a few years after I graduated someone bitched because they didn't get in, so the school got rid of it.

JEH wrote:

dfgsdds wrote:

good 'ol flagpole willy, practicing the art of the flip-flop. how does it feel, mr. willy, to be a flip-flopper?

You've got to be kidding, right? Have you ever seen FW flip-flop because it was the popular thing to do? The guy is the king of taking unpopular stances, voicing them, and sticking with them unless (and this is rare) someone appeals to his intellectual sense. IMO, this was not a "flip-flop" as the term has come to be known. Most people here would never come back to say they changed their mind, would they? Regardless of what you think about the guy, I think his willingness to do what he did in this thread.. his "flip-flop"... is to his credit.

Thanks JEH. I agree with you there. I've been told that my opinions are unwavering, but as you can see here in this thread, that is surely not the case. Many times I have changed my stated opinion on things when someone presents a good argument or gives me another view I hadn't considered. I'm always open to that. It just doesn't happen all that often, but you did it in this thread, and once upon a time a few Boston Red Sox fans convinced me that Pedro Martinez deserves to be a first ballot Hall of Famer (I still wish he'd be a little more durable). Of all the things said about me though, being a "flip-flopper" is about the furthest from the truth. That guy just wants to stir up trouble which is why (in case he hasn't noticed) I've not been responding to him. I think he's got me mistaken for someone who just likes to trade jabs on a message board. That's not true. I will discuss and debate if a topic interests me, but just trading insults is not the way of Flagpole Willy.

Peace and Love to all,

-- Flagpole Willy

slighted 800 guy wrote:

Maybe a polite note to the school is in order and see if they do the right thing for the integrity of the sport.

I recommend writing to the athletics director. You could even cite this thread. If that fails, you could try going to the next school board meeting. If it gets to that point it will take a lot of effort, and preparing your arguments in advance and anticipating counter-arguments will help your case. I could have done this, but it wasn't worth it.

You could suggest adding a new record type for relay splits that would leave your record alone, yet still give the coach what he wants-to be able to brag that he's coached a record holder. Both times are very impressive, by the way.

ha ha. now that's funny. good 'ol flagpole taking the high road, after so many years of instigating and general crap-spewing on this board. i'm all about peace and love, brother. whatever, dude. you're all about having an addiction to a message board where you can come and feel better about yourself, and then you get caught up in playing your characters, step over the line, and then take a self-imposed exile before returning and starting the whole cycle again. you're like an addict. i know you're game. and it's not about peace and love, brother.

perspective wrote:

My wife was a sensational runner - ran really fast all her life. Her high school cross country course records were untouchable so what the coach did was to change the course so that someone else might get a course record as he thought hers was out of reach.

Now, the shame of that is that it belies the facts that someone from that school could run that fast once and that someone else could match or beat it. And even if no one ever did, it would still stand out as a great performance.

Thats what they did on the Mt. Sac course. The mt.sac people changed the course (its now shorter)but didnt change the all time list's.

A relay split isn't a record, so I feel bad for the school that is not adhereing to common practice. The coach is either unknowledgable or lacks integrity.

Picture this. A runner can come along next year in an open race and break the legitimate record but not the "relay leg" record.

He would get no recognition. That's what you'd really call getting screwed!

Could be worse, you could be a Stanford swimmer and have the coach take away your record just because you pissed him off.

you didn't piss off the coach did you?