Decathlon?! Easy! Two distance athletes combined to run 19 races over 3 days to lead their team to the NAIA title

Sounds like they'll be sore tomorrow!

In the league I ran in (different country), athletes were limited to 2 track events, a field event, and a relay. Otherwise, dominant athletes could do what these ladies did. Our stud guy always won the 100, 200, LJ and anchored the 4x100. He could’ve easily medaled in the 400 and the 4x400 as well, and maybe the triple jump too.

Now that is impressive !!! Much respect.

My little high school has a girl that runs 14.77 100 hurdles, 2:10 800, and 18:00 5k xc. as a sophomore. She qualified for the state meet in 4 events and ran her best 2.

Ohio ?

Yes, the four event limit at some high school state meets is very odd, especially if 7th or 8th graders are allowed to compete:

8th grade girl:

800m

1600m

3200m

4x800 relay

Senior boy:

Shot out

Discus

High jump

100m

But adding a 5th event such as the Triple Jump or 200m is too much for a fragile senior boy?

Makes no sense, especially for small schools where only two or three qualify for state without enough to even run a relay.

Hurdles400m wrote:

Yes, the four event limit at some high school state meets is very odd, especially if 7th or 8th graders are allowed to compete:

8th grade girl:

800m

1600m

3200m

4x800 relay

Senior boy:

Shot out

Discus

High jump

100m

But adding a 5th event such as the Triple Jump or 200m is too much for a fragile senior boy?

Makes no sense, especially for small schools where only two or three qualify for state without enough to even run a relay.

It's because some kids really are too fragile, and some combinations are harder than others. The thought is that it's better to just make a limit rather than trust to coaches best judgment, because some have poor judgement.

say again? wrote:

In the league I ran in (different country), athletes were limited to 2 track events, a field event, and a relay. Otherwise, dominant athletes could do what these ladies did. Our stud guy always won the 100, 200, LJ and anchored the 4x100. He could’ve easily medaled in the 400 and the 4x400 as well, and maybe the triple jump too.

Interesting allowances. In MI, there is a 4 event limit but they can be any 4 events. I had a kid do 4 field events one year and have had a few girls do all 4 relays. This allowance is the rule for ANY meet, not just the State Finals. In Middle School, the limit is 3 events.

Are you really what you say you are? If so, please describe jamin in high school.

There have been cases in small high school divisions where one kid won the state meet by themselves. I think there was one in Wisconsin like 15 years ago. Someone can google them up.

Didn't Arkansas win some national championships basically by having one dominant distance runner and one dominant jumper?

This was impressive to witness first hand. These girls never stopped running with all their warm ups / cool downs / strides. I bet they logged 10+ miles. I don’t know how they heck they trained for that but they looked fresh the entire meet.

Not just small school divisions.

Wendy Brown (Woodside) won the California state meet all by herself in 1984. Wins in all three jumps (including beating Gail Devers in the long jump) and second in the 100HH (behind Devers who set the national record in the race). National record in the TJ, also under the previous national record in the 100HH, state meet records in the LJ and HJ. And her marks would still be exceptional today.

HJ - 6'1.25"

LJ - 20'9.75"

TJ - 42-10.5"

100HH - 13.59

Ridiculous and not a team win. That you had to qualify it with “it’s just NAIA and the times pale” shows these athletes were used to do something that won’t advance their running careers. Their coaches should have encouraged them to run 1-2 events, show an impressive time, and prop themselves up rather than the Huntington coaches. Stoffel has beaten her coach Lauren Johnson in a race this season, and I doubt Lauren would run herself into the ground in a trials year.

streak wrote:

Ridiculous and not a team win. That you had to qualify it with “it’s just NAIA and the times pale” shows these athletes were used to do something that won’t advance their running careers. Their coaches should have encouraged them to run 1-2 events, show an impressive time, and prop themselves up rather than the Huntington coaches. Stoffel has beaten her coach Lauren Johnson in a race this season, and I doubt Lauren would run herself into the ground in a trials year.

I consider T&F and XC to be individual sports, so the decision as to what races to run should be based on what's best for individual athlete.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

streak wrote:

Ridiculous and not a team win. That you had to qualify it with “it’s just NAIA and the times pale” shows these athletes were used to do something that won’t advance their running careers. Their coaches should have encouraged them to run 1-2 events, show an impressive time, and prop themselves up rather than the Huntington coaches. Stoffel has beaten her coach Lauren Johnson in a race this season, and I doubt Lauren would run herself into the ground in a trials year.

I consider T&F and XC to be individual sports, so the decision as to what races to run should be based on what's best for individual athlete.

I hope you’re a coach, because more coaches should be like you!

streak wrote:

Ridiculous and not a team win. That you had to qualify it with “it’s just NAIA and the times pale” shows these athletes were used to do something that won’t advance their running careers. Their coaches should have encouraged them to run 1-2 events, show an impressive time, and prop themselves up rather than the Huntington coaches. Stoffel has beaten her coach Lauren Johnson in a race this season, and I doubt Lauren would run herself into the ground in a trials year.

I agree with a good deal of this, but don’t think it’s fair to assume that the athletes were “used”. There is a very real possibility that the two athletes WANTED to do this. I personally try to help my athletes see that 1-2 events in a championship meet is typically their best bet. Especially if they are competing for a win. However, I have had athletes who WANT to do 3-4 events to help the team. In some cases, I let them. I hope (and assume... although it’s admittedly based off of no insider info) that this was the case for Hannah and Aspen.

GBohannon wrote:

say again? wrote:

In the league I ran in (different country), athletes were limited to 2 track events, a field event, and a relay. Otherwise, dominant athletes could do what these ladies did. Our stud guy always won the 100, 200, LJ and anchored the 4x100. He could’ve easily medaled in the 400 and the 4x400 as well, and maybe the triple jump too.

Interesting allowances. In MI, there is a 4 event limit but they can be any 4 events. I had a kid do 4 field events one year and have had a few girls do all 4 relays. This allowance is the rule for ANY meet, not just the State Finals. In Middle School, the limit is 3 events.

Was the same for me when I was in HS. I was the team 400/440 specialist so at most meets I did that, plus one other sprint, and both relays (4x100, 4x400)

At relay meets I’d do 400 leg of both the Sprint Medley and the Distance Medley as well as the 4x400 plus a leg in something like 8x200.

No reason to limit events for athletes. If your time doesn't have athletes that can beat people tired from tons of racing, you don't deserve more points These girls probably could run fast times if they weren't racing so many events, but the winning times are pedestrian here. I wouldn't pick those times to even win the women's events at the average invite.

streak wrote:

Ridiculous and not a team win. That you had to qualify it with “it’s just NAIA and the times pale” shows these athletes were used to do something that won’t advance their running careers. Their coaches should have encouraged them to run 1-2 events, show an impressive time, and prop themselves up rather than the Huntington coaches. Stoffel has beaten her coach Lauren Johnson in a race this season, and I doubt Lauren would run herself into the ground in a trials year.

Just did a bit of digging and found some interesting things.

Stoffel had 800/1600/3200 PRs of 2:15.72, 4:54.88, and 10:46.53 when she graduated HS. She then ran two years for Indiana University and progressed to 2:11.03, 4:45.81 (mile), and 9:47.07 (3k). This was her track season for Huntington and she ran 2:05.49 and 9:22.91 with no fast mile attempts.

Aspen Dirr graduated HS with 800/1600/3200 PRs of 2:26.52, 5:26.34, and 12:06.19. She is now a senior at Huntington and has PRs of 2:11.65, 4:48.04 (mile), and 17:12.59 (5000m). The 17:12.59 was yesterday and was her 9th race of the weekend.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that both athletes are happy with what Huntington and the TF coaching staff have done for them.