In our newest feature, MileStat answers your questions! Check out what questions we answer this week and who asked them.
Our newest feature seeks to answer and talk about exaclty what you want to hear about. We had numerous questions sent to us and of those we chose these to answer. If you are interested in having your questions answered then just shoot us an email at njez@milesplit.com for a chance to be featured next week!
MileStat, If someone lashes out at you in a cross country race, for me I was ran into a tree at NXR, is there anything you can do about it if you can identify the athlete? Or is everything fair game after the first 200m?
by: Anonymous
There are two answers to your question. First, there is something you can do about it but also nothing can be done about it per se. If you are running in a meet, NXR for example, then they are sanctioned by someone, NFHS or USATF, and both of those have rules prohibiting excessive contact and/or inhibiting another runner. So by the rules what the other runner did was against the rules and furthermore disqualifi-able. More specifically though it does not matter if it happens in the first steps or near the finish, the entire race has the same rules.
Nothing can be really done about it because it is all he said/she said. What you would do is file a grievance with the meet referee and they would take the proper process to weigh all the information and then make a decision if the evidence was there. This all means you could try but it would likely fall short of actually invoking change.
MileStat, Where will you be this Indoor Season doing Live-Coverage?
by: Justin McKinney, Nygil Johnson
Justin & Nygil, We will be at quite a few places. A lot of our schedule though depends on certain athletes and where they are competing in a certain week. If a big top level athlete is competing at a meet for the first time in the season then we may head over to that meet or sometimes we will choose to stay at the meet with the largest numbers. All of that aside though we have certain meets that we just have to be at. Not because we necessarily are obligated but because we are just so excited about those fields that we cannot miss a second of that action nor allow our readers to miss out on the action!
Thus far though we have a few meets set in stone for our coverage. Starting with States, and some regionals as well. Then the invitationals we will cover are Virginia Tech, St. Christopher's, and Liberty Flames Invitational. All three of these meets we will be bringing the full force of coverage! That means you can expect from those meets: thousands of pictures, full video footage of the races, results posted as quickly as they give them to us during the meet, and live updates on the site and twitter including in-race splits and pictures of all the winners!
MileStat, Why are some conferences much harder to win then regionals or sometimes even states?
by: Tyson Evans
Tyson, some conferences are harder just because they have some really good teams in them. It is just as hard to place at some conferences as it is to place at states. The only instance where I think you would have a better shot at winning a state title then a conference title is in Western Branch's conference. Historically they have moved around their runners to get the most points, which in turn sometimes moves some really good runners out of individual events. They will though likely run them at conferences in some different events then states so in that case you would have a better shot at states then conferences.
Basically, some conferences are stacked! Some Northern Region conferences are so distance heavy and then some Eastern conferences are ridiculous in the sprints and hurdles. Even though that may be true, it all depends on what those athletes run at states as to whether it is easier or harder to win at states.
MileStat, You really should do the job that you love, I am just curious as to how well it pays?
by: Bryce Williams
Bryce, It all depends on the way you look at things. If you want to live your life basing it on monetary gains then you will be dependent on that for your happiness. I on the other hand do not base either my success or happiness on monetary gains. I personally judge myself not against my peers but against a strict standard of being the absolute best I can be at everything I do. I think at the end of the day the most important thing is that you tried your hardest. That way when I look at my current role, I do not judge it on the pay but judge it on how successful I am nationally and how happy it makes. I wouldn't do a job just for one thing. Any job is a combination of stability, happiness, and pushing yourself to a higher standard.
This type of mindset comes from high school when one of my teachers told me I should major in something I enjoy and worry about jobs and a career as it comes to me.
I took that to heart and majored in Cultural Anthropology (study of people) where I wrote my thesis on the disenfranchisement of black Lexitonians to local sports teams (UK Basketball team) doing both participant observation and case studies on it. From there I went to Georgetown for my Masters in Sport Industry Management. So as you can see, I did not set out to become the MileStat webmaster but simply studied things I liked and tried to learn as much as possible. And because of that mindset I was able to excel at school and reach my current position.
All of that being said, the best advice I can give to anyone is to work as hard as you can in everything you do and trust in the process that everything will work its way out in the end.
MileStat, What are your expectations and predictions for Virginians at Foot Locker this weekend? Who will get the last laugh between Weini and Libby? Can Andrew Hunter be our first champion in a long time? Any hopes that any of our athletes get All-American honors?
by: Ray Gillian (@rayraygilll), Cavoy
Guys, my predictions are simple. Andrew Hunter will be the national champion. I honestly believe that and have for quite some time. I just like to keep things like that hush hush until they are close because of course I don't want to jinx anyone. If you were wondering, he is going to beat Grant Fisher by 4-6 seconds.
Weini and Libby will be another great battle. I think though that Libby will remain unbeaten by Virginians this year. She is just running so well and seemingly unbeatable. She may have peaked a little too early at states (which I feel was her best race) but she could have something big in store this weekend.
I think Virginia could have a few all-americans. I could talk about any of these athletes for a long time because they are all so talented! Andrew definitely can, Libby and Weini are strong possibilities too but we also have quite a few sleepers. Of the people going to Nationals I would say to keep an eye on Peter Seufer, Ciara Donohue, and Anteneh Girma and Gannon Willcutts. All of these athletes have been peaking at the right time and will be up there at the end.
MileStat, After personally racing Drew at States I definitely have my money on Drew. But who would win a cross country race between Drew Hunter, Tanner Anderson, and Grant Fisher?
by: Daniel LaFever
Daniel, I think Tanner Anderson is the only guy in the country that can run with Drew. Not to say Drew is unbeatable, but on a consistent basis I think Tanner is a tough competitor. The thing though that has me so high on Drew is I just do not think we have seen his best race yet. He has ran unopposed all season, I don't think he has seen company past one mile in any race all year... When someone is racing that well you kinda just have to go with them. I have learned many times that these races are not won by the fastest guy but by the best competitor and I think the best competitor out there is Drew.
MileStat, a couple questions. If you could be an athlete that runs a 2:00 800m what team would you want to be on and why? What are your top three teams in 5A for the boys 4x800 in order?
by: Cole Caminiti
Cole, I think there is a misnomer that certain coaches are miles ahead (pun full intended) in their training for elite athletes. At the end of the day, 90% of your performance is based solely on your training and work ethic. If you want to be good then you have to work to be good.
Look at it this way: individually speaking the best 500/800/1000 runners have come from Deep Run, Annandale, Hermitage, Battlefield, Western Branch, Lafayette, Blacksburg, Glen Allen, Bayside, Robinson, and many more. It really isn't a matter of the team, it is a matter of the individual athlete.
Though, you want a real answer. If I had to chose, as an 800m runner, I would chose one of these three schools: Deep Run, Western Branch, or Blacksburg. Each of these schools does things I like with their training and strength building. I have also visited them and know the inner workings of them and know how these coaches are knowledgable and empathetic. My answer could of course change after more practice visits.
MileStat, this question comes up a lot this time of year. Why does Virginia run "odd" distances in indoor track (300,500,1000) when other states run 200, 400, 600?
by: Kevin Shirk
Kevin, secret is that we (MileStat) created these events back in the 70's so that Virginians would always be leading the country in these events.
All joking aside, I think it just has to do with tradition and what has always been run. I think the origins of it are so that you get in better shape for outdoor track season. I suppose the thought process is that the 300 gets you in shape for the 200 and 400 and the 500 does the same for the 400 and 800. The 1000 is also for the 800. That is always what I have thought on the origins but I am sure there are some people out there who remember when the events were invented.
You missed listing the 55 though as a weird event. It should be the 60m dash but due to many facilities being smaller we run the 55 and 55m hurdles... Go figure.
MileStat, would it be legal to wear jingle bells on your spikes/shoes at a track meet?
by: Kelly Mckinney
Kelly, you have just asked the best question I think any has asked yet in this feature. To answer your question I painstakingly looked through the NFHS's rule book and... could not find anything directly prohibiting it or anything like it. The NFHS rule book is a funny thing... it is much more strict then the USATF rule book but also less inclusive. The NFHS has not really even worried or thought about something like that so thus they have no included it.
That being said, they could always try and snag you for some made-up "Games Committee" decision or something. I would do so with caution but it would also depend at what meet you were running in. Some meets wouldn't care one way or the other and others would look to kick you out of the meet.
This is also hard to imagine, are we talking big bells or just small little ones? If they are big and very jingly then you may have bruises on your calf after they are done and also make sure they do not fall off! That would definitely get you dq'd. More or less I am saying they are not explicitly prohibited.