What age would be the oldest for any high school competitor to have participated in the Dream Mile?
The qualification guidelines are basically, "whatever is legal for competition in keeping with your state's age restrictions for high school athletics is cool by us."
I know that some states allow near 20 year olds to compete. Some cut you off at 18, or just past it. Florida has an age eligibility of 19 years and 9 months, on of the oldest accepting ages (seems crazy to me) but I believe that rule changes fall of 2014. I believe California, Louisiana, and several others allow seniors who are 19 by a certain point in the senior year to participate.
I have heard of 19 year old sophomores and juniors in various high school sports (not just running, in fact mostly not running).... so that would be a 20 year old senior?
Now obviously, they can't compete their senior year to keep it fair (in any of the 50 states that I am aware)... but it seems somewhat misleading to refer to a 19 year old sophomore, as a sophomore.
It seems more and more 19-20 year olds are seniors these days. Not sure if it is strategic in some way, or just that kids are struggling that much in school.
So what is the oldest athlete to compete at the Dream Mile... and is an athlete who is 19 a fair competitor? what about if they are almost 20?
How much does a couple years matter in the sport of running anyway?