Is this really a problem? Didn?t all the legendary HSers of the mid 60s to mid 80s do this just as much as folks did in the down years since? Haven?t people generally always survived it? Sure, maybe the time might be more productively spent training, but is it really as much of a problem as is being stated on other threads?
Well, I think the best counter-example to that is the fact that Seb Coe was carefully handled throughout his HS years, didn't race on a team, and soared to some of the greatest heights ever seen.
On a side note, while Jimi is the master, I play a pretty good version of you in concert sometimes. Milwaukee '95 and Seattle 2000 stand out in my mind.
Heck yeah its a problem. When kids race over 30 races over an entire season that can contribute to over taxing ones self during the season. Also, like you stated, it is better use of time if you actually train instead of race. The best teams in the nation dont over race. A good example is York High School. They race seldom in CC until the state series. When you are trying to really develope as an athlete it is key to not overstrain yourself in having many races, rather building a base to work from in the future should be your focus.
Generally, during that period of time, kids were more active in early life and had more background with which to race upon. THere were more PE requirements and no Nintendo and no 70+ channels on the TV to let kids sit on their ass. during that time Amrican kids sat on their ass less and were more internationally competetive in this sport. Furthermore, he few stellar athletes that come out of this country these days (ie Webb) were very active in childhood, as he was an age-group swimmer for many years. American kids sit on their butt or get driven in cars to wherever they need to go, whereas Kenyans and Ethiopians run.
I don't think overracing is a problem providing kids train correctly. Racing frequently is one way to keep things interesting enough to train consistently. If a kid is running year round easy distance in the off-season he can recover from 1 to 3 mile races quite easily. I ran 70 to 80 such races a year in high school and my last two years never went below 70 miles a week until the last week of the season. I improved every year up until age 24 when I hit a plateau and probably reached my ceiling due to average talent.
I also ran doubles and triples every meet even the state meet. I ran doubles of 8:54 and 4:12 or better 5 times my senior year. I swear I don't remember getting stale until I started running longer races in college and yeah, definitly you can race two much. And post-collegiately as well especially when running 10k raod races 2 to 3 weeks in a row. Thats tough. But high school I think people worry a little too much about overracing. Kids just don't train enough in the offseason so for many a bunch of races during the season might shove aside a lot of aerobic work.