WOW! HS Senior Katy Zang runs a 3200 in 9:42!

Rules? What are you talking about? This is not an NCAA Championship or The Olympic Trials. This is an invitational run by New Balance. They can do whatever they want.

Not to mention the fact that Katy Zang ran a 4:42 mile as the first half of her 2 mile. She is plenty fast enough to be in the championship heat of the 1 mile.

Such sour grapes. I would guess that she's in that heat because she deserves to be and can clearly hold her own with anyone. Stop looking at the rules and look to the spirit of the rule or the reasoning behind it.

What are you talking about? Katy Zang doesn't have a "projected mark". New Balance timed her 1600 in the 2 mile yesterday.

I'm not going to get in the weeds of what's fair or not, but she technically did qualify for the championship with her first mile of her 9:42 at Ohio Indoor State. And probably the second mile of that race.

I think they are referring to her technically not running a 1600 (only) qualifying mark before the deadline. Which is false. She did do it, just within her 3200 at Spire.

They can do whatever they want. Totally their right. But this is a competitive meet to get into. For an athlete (who probably didn’t even register initially for the mile) to be moved to the front of the line goes against the spirit of track and field. Rules are there to ensure fairness to the athletes. I’m sure she could rip a 1 mile but she should have done that in a recent meet like everyone else was required to do.

Yea-that’s not how track works. A 1 mile split in your 2 mile race doesn’t count. Just like relay leg times wouldn’t count.

Katy Zang did "rip a 1 mile" as the first half of her 2 mile. That race happened yesterday so I think that meets your definition of a "recent meet."

I am confident that you have never competed as a track athlete. National meets are not free for all clown shows.

Dude she split like low 4:40s in the first mile of the 2 mile yesterday

A split time in a longer race is a valid time. Split times even count for record purposes.

A split time from a standing start is NOT the same thing as a running start in a relay. You are using a false equivalent.

Indiana Univ got a huge bargain. They got her before she blew the track doors off.

I am confident that you are a jealous parent.

And you're also confused. The high school "national meets" that you are talking about are in fact invitationals run by the marketing department of shoe companies to promote their brands. They are NOT official national championships like the ones run by USATF.

Was she already entered in the mile and they simply bumped her up to a different heat? Or she wasn't even entered in that event in the first place? If the former, who the heck cares. If the latter, maybe a slightly different argument but as long as she didn't bump anyone out of the meet also not a big deal.

She said a few days ago that she was only planning to run the 2 mile, so I don't think she was entered in the 1 mile at that point. I think New Balance put her in the 1 mile after her 2 mile national record yesterday. And some parents want to whine about a national record holder running a second race. Ridiculous!

I’m a parent and a coach but I don’t have kids or athletes quite at NBNI. But I did compete at a high level in college and love the sport. I love New Balance Nationals (it’s my Super Bowl) and the 1 Mile is my highlight. I thought it would be cool to see Katy in the top heat but at the same time i know how the qualifying/seeding process works. There are rules and they are strict about qualifying times and registration deadlines. But as I said originally-it’s their prerogative…just not a good look in my opinion. Done with this convo

Something feels weird in this thread and I cant lie, this wowser guy with all the pics and entendre seems pretty disturbing

She's cute and extremely funny. I'm a fan.

I remember looking at entry standards a few years back and it said athletes moving "up" but don't have the mark in an event (e.g. 1000m for mile, 300m for 400) need to be some of the top in the country and that's the only way they'll accept it. Needless to say she is – and in this case, she's moving down.

if you’re going to be a stickler for “rules” this literally on their site:

Seeding
Seeding is done with preference given to marks made during the current indoor season.
Lane preference in relays will be given to teams with actual marks from this season as opposed to composite times or times from previous seasons.
If a composite time is significantly faster than an actual time the seeding committee may use the composite time instead.
The seeding committee reserves the right to use an extraordinary mark in a similar race distance for seeding purposes (i.e. an athlete who is ranked top 3 in the US in the 800 may be considered for the seeded section the 1 mile).