Indiana Wronged Athlete for Arcadia 2026

Not to high jack the thread. Just adding to your most recent post. Noah Bontrager went 4:02 at our in state mile showcase last night going out in around 63 high.

Check out HSEccdad on YouTube for the video.

The Indiana State Meet will be quality this year. And it usually is especially for the population.

Pretty impressive to this fan.

You may be able to address this question. Was Arcadia Invitational a schedule conflict with an IHSAA or school event? The IHSAA By Laws contain the following under Rule 15 Participation section 1-1:

(3.) student may not miss an Association sponsored tournament series or School Contest for which he/she is eligible. (It is the philosophy of this Association that students owe loyalty to their school and team.);

and what does the above mean? Is the above justification for denying any requested waiver from any student athlete in Indiana?

Did not appear to be. Usually, waivers are automatically denied if the school has a conflict that day which does make sense and I actually agree with that. You should aim to be with your team.

When we were looking at national indoor meets, we made sure our school wasn’t competing that weekend for anything.

To go with other posters who have coached in Indiana, Arcadia seems to be a meet that just isn’t consistent with waivers. Instead of going with terms like archaic, I would go after the inconsistency of the rule and approvals.

I do understand why the IHSAA would have these rules. But, there are a few other rules that are odd as well. The 75% rule is one that I would bring up. Athletes can easily obtain a waiver for injury, coach’s discretion, etc. But a few years ago, a school used a kid who played soccer and helped them advance in the state cross tournament who hadn’t run the 75% and they had to forfeit a sectional championship for using him.

And Pedro, if you really want to go down another rabbit hole, Indiana is the only state without classes. I’m indifferent on this topic. I like that we see all of our best athletes on the same course at the same day. But, Indiana has larger high schools than most of the U.S. So, it becomes insanely hard for small-medium schools to make the State Meet in cross. So, I understand why small to medium schools are trying to lobby to change that. But, and I could be wrong on this, it would take 75% of the State’s coaches to approve a class argument, not just 75% of the Association. But 75% of all coaches.

However, for all of the state’s quirks, we’ve really produced some gems at the world level. So, does one meet fully matter? Probably not. Seitz is running the 3200 against Bontrager next Friday at the Carmel Showcase. And if you’re a purist with the sport, who cares about the fast time at Arcadia when the showdown at Carmel, regardless of time, is between a University of Oregon commit and a University of Notre Dame commit.

And the State Meet will be round #2. Buckle up.

Thank you for your reply and I do appreciate the invitation to watch, in person, Friday's Carmel Showcase.

Years ago, when I had a round trip voucher which was about to expire, I flew to Indianapolis and drove to Terre Haute to watch NCAA Cross Country Championships at La Verne Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, arrived at about 3am, drove the nearly 100 miles to the course, watched the great competition at a fantastic facility, and flew home at about dinner time. But I digress ...

So Arcadia was [probably] not a scheduling conflict.

Might California have too far for IHSAA to allow an Indiana student athlete to compete representing an IHSAA school? California was greater than 300 miles beyond the Indiana state line on Feb 3, yet that waiver petition was granted on Feb 3.

I’m not suggesting this, but if they go by these rules, all of those top Indiana times since 1999 should be DQ’d

Mr. Reyes,

I just checked with the IHSAA and found out that you are only allowed to show up and watch this or any other Indian HS event if you are traveling less than 301 miles to get here.

otherwise, please do not show up, because it will be unsafe and unfair for all of the other fans that followed the appropriate rules.

What do academics have to do with traveling to Arcadia. Do you think his grades suffered for doing this trip or would if he had to actually do the 3200m in order for a decline?

Maybe. Maybe not. But if every team in the state starts travelling thousands of miles and missing multiple days of school, of course many kids will suffer academically. Ask any D1 athlete how hard it is to miss class every week. Many end up switching to an easy major. Some flunk out. Some get by with lower grades. Some get by with little sleep.

I see.

The By Laws, however, ensure that NO Indiana student athlete in an individual sport, including cross country and track and field, competes beyond 300 miles of the state line, let alone every team/student athlete, without an approved waiver (forget about, for the moment, an already approved waiver getting subsequently revoked).

Yes, clearly, some students flunk out, is every students' travel limited to that distance from the state line? Is every student limited to two out-of-state trips per semester? Indiana student athletes get this extra special backstop imposed by the state body by laws.

Parents, coaches, and principals must collaborate to petition for a waiver, though the barriers seem significant, the tools for rejection appear well honed.

Sounds like this states athletics association has some questionable leadership. How do they give a waiver to a kid, then pull it? Yet they just gave a waiver to a female thrower to compete on a Sunday at a local throw meet.

Pay more attention in English class junior.

IHSAA rules for student athletes traveling to Indiana have different, less stringent rules than for IHSAA student athletes traveling outside of Indiana. Among others, does not include the distance limitation and must be a member in "good standing" with the outsider's federation.

I have gotten approval from my "federation" and am in good standing with my "federation". /s

What a race

Are you referring to his 8:41 last night? Indiana had 7 guys go under 9 minutes in a single race outside of Indy.

Sorry, that was a different Indiana kid that went 8:41 last night!

It’s cool to see that states can create their own Arcadia.

The State of the Running Uniion is fast. Very fast.

Good on Noah, good on Calvin, good on every one of the Carmel Showcase runners.

Let's not forget, though, the results from that meet in California. In the seeded race for boys, 20 runners broke nine minutes. In the historic Invitational race, 29 runners broke nine minutes with runners from western states (oregon, new mexico, arizona, colorado), eastern states (new jersey, new york, arkansas) and states in between.

Wait, hang on ... maybe there is something there, huh?