One of my runners jogged the 4x800.

Don't let him run in the next meet!!! DUHH!! Are you even a real coach!??

If your kids won't even work together then why should you care?

Kick them all off the team for unsportsmanlike behavior and enjoy the summer.

Send a lesson now before the kid becomes a real shit later in life.

Highschool is about learning and growing up and obviously your kids have some growing to do.

But I see where Runner B is coming from. What if he hadn't made it in the 1600, he's been trying to get to state for 2 years now and this is finally he chance, he's good enough to do it. The 4x800 team if they had advanced would of come in dead last at Regionals. But like I said I don't know, the other kids wanted to just get the per diem for Regionals, Runner B wanted to run his best, can't blame him for that. But the way he went about it, Christ this complicated s***.

What backwater state runs the 4x800 first event?

Hoppy Largedale wrote:

What backwater state runs the 4x800 first event?

Michigan.

The Sunshine state of Florida. In reply to wowoow I don't think this is the approach I was looking for. I made him apologize to the other guys. But he wasn't sincere, said something like " I'm sorry i'm not a runner or otherwise I would of doubled for you guys". I think he could of put in a little more effort than 2:38, but he didn't get the last qualifying spot. Also im getting the feeling the other runners just wanted the per diem and are as almost selfish as Runner B.

*sorry im not a stronger runner

*did get the last qualifying spot. sorry I need to grammar check before I hit post

New York runs the 4x800 first. Your state is probably the one thats backward.

To the OP though, I wouldn't let him run regionals.

I had to post here again. I did a ton of doubling and tripling in high school. For the longest time my 3200m PR was terrible compared to my 800m and 1600m PRs because it was always my third event. At one point my PRs were 2:08, 4:32, and 11:04. My XC 5k pr was something like 17:45ish, so its that I lacked the endurance, it was that I would never dream of not giving it my all in the 4x8, where 3 other guys were counting on me. I absolutely cannot believe that someone would dog a relay like that.

I could understand if he were the anchor and your guys were way out of contention, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Coaching? It's more than just X's and O's. Got to get everyone to believe in each other. My coach was great at this. Could take a bunch of 2:04-2:08 guys who couldn't get to state and weren't all that motivated; convince them they could do something if they worked together, and boom we'ed be right around 8:00. The team was always greater than the sum of it's parts. I credit it to great coach. If your athletes don't believe in each other, good things aren't going to happen in any competition where teamwork is required.

Per diem as in money? When did high schools kids start getting per diems?

Really though, he is a coward. I had little talent but at a few meets my senior year I tripled 2:09, 4:42 and 10:03. So it sounds like similar talent. I ran 40-50 mpw. He needs to grow a set. Is he planning on running in college? 2:38 is just silly... He could have run 2:15-2:20 and been fine. He could have run 2:10 and still run low 4:40s. Let him run regionals but let him know his performance was cowardly and disrespectful to his team that he damn sure better bust ass here on out.

Despite the fact that this story results in the actual identification of a school in FL, districts was over a month ago.

"Runner A" advanced all the way to states, finishing 10th. "Runner B" lost in the next round (regionals).

Make him run laps.

The real kicker is that they probably had a guy who could run 2:30, which may have been enough for the team to move on.

First of all, he shouldn't have bagged. Inexcusable. You should have pulled him from his individual event immediately following the 4x800.

But it brings up an interesting question. Running is primarily an individual sport, and we tend to think that if you work hard you'll be rewarded. But clearly this kid feels he isn't being rewarded, he's being penalized because he has to run on a slow team that will just tire him out for his event. What do you do here? Force the kid to run a relay that he doesn't want to do? Or if he goes balls out in the relay, he's going to run 10 seconds slower in the individual event, that's not really fair to the hardest worker on your team. What is the right answer?

Hoppy Largedale wrote:

What backwater state runs the 4x800 first event?

Every state that runs the 4x800m as a regular event is a backwater state. Get with the times. The 4x800m shouldn't be run except for special occasions.

I don't really fault the kid here, if 2 of your 4 guys really are not that great then why should he feel like he should sacrifice his individual opportunity when ultimately the team is probably not that strong of a 4x8 to begin with. Now I don't think he handled it in the correct way, but he's a kid they don't think everything through - that is your job as a coach. And I'm not trying to bash you, but I think you should have talked with your athletes (especially the two who have the individual potential) about what they would prefer, and what you think they should do. Clearly you were not all on the same page and that is the coach's responsibility. Communication here is key, and has to start with the coach.