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, What does an asterisk mean next to a name?
by: Matt Wajsgras
Matt, an asterisk next to a name denotes that the athlete has all-academic honors. For different schools and leagues this means different things but it is generally something a coach puts on an athlete's name around conference/regional time. We can add them to their name at any time. I was actually asked this during the summer by another webmaster who kept seeing this and did not understand it either, so I actually assume many people do not know this.
MileStat, How does Virginia overall compare to other states in rankings right now?
by: Troy Gustke
Troy, If we are just talking XC then unfortunately we do not compare that well to some of the powerhouse states like NY, CA, NM, AZ and the such. Though do not get me wrong, we have some teams that can compete with any in the country. This year for example we could have the best teams we have ever had in Blacksburg and Lake Braddock but they still do not rank nearly as high as some of the other teams from other states.
Though I assume you only meant in XC, if we include track and field then we actually rank quite well. Virginia is really interesting. We honestly do not have the best sprinting or distance in the country, depth wise, but we do probably have some of the best talent in the country. What I mean by this is, NY for example has some very talented runners both as sprinters and distance runners but also has teams that are stacked. Virginia has a lot of individual talent and not a ton of team depth. We have some great teams but not as many as many other states. But when we start talking about track and field we start to get more on a level of other states. If I had to rank our overall running sports against others I would say they rank in this order: CA, TX, NY, VA, FL.
I hope that helps.
MileStat, Why am I not on your homepage?
by: Max Malinksy
Max, when selecting who is in the cover photo of an article/post I usually do a couple things to chose the image. First, if the article or post is about someone in particular then they are going to be that image. If it is a more general post I either chose an athlete randomly so that new faces and athletes are featured on the front page or I chose one that is very popular and famous in our sport to create interest in the article.
Specifically in your case, you could have been on the front page for this article had you tagged pictures of yourself. I actually went onto your athlete profile and was going to use the picture as the cover for this article but unfortunately you had not tagged any of yourself from any meets.
MileStat, why is it that all conferences in a region are not consistent in the amount of teams they contain but still send the same amount of individuals to regionals from their conference meet. For example in the new proposal for the classifications conference 29 contains 8 teams while conference 30 contains 5 teams, but at both conference meet levels for example in cross country, the top 3 teams advance. because in cross country there is no autoqualification for championship meets by time, its harder to advance to a regional meet for athletes in larger conferences as they have more teams and athletes to compete against. why is advancement not based off the amount of teams instead of a set number?
by: Addison Roeschley
Addison, This is a great question and I feel a lot of people are wondering the same thing. We have these discrepancies for a number of reasons. The first and most prevalent is the fact that by in large these new conferences are not based solely on geography. For example, the old Dominion District in the AAA system was 100% based on geography. We had Cosby, James River, Midlothian, Monacan, Clover Hill, George Wythe, Hug., and a couple more. Right now though these teams are all in very different classifications ranging from 3A to 6A. In fact, only James River and Cosby are at 6A. What this did though is take James River and Cosby away from competing against schools that were literally under three miles away to now having Patrick Henry Roanoke in their conference.
What that round-a-bout answer is meant to show is how these conferences were desgined with "fairness" and "size-equality" in mind and nothing else. Quickly though the VHSL found out that this was not the answer at all and that it was going to cost so much more money then they had originally perceived. From there they have begun to make changes in the conferences and regions. One classification is switching from N/S to E/W or vice-a-versa.
So basically what I am trying to say is that the imbalance you see between conferenecs is to mitigate the rediculous geographic distances between the teams and to make things as cost-effective as possible.
Also though, the argument about one being harder then the other isn't really a strong argument. Try competing in football down in conference 1 or 2. Try competing in XC in the Northern Region and you see that things are just unfair but you can either work and compete or complain.
Head-to-head showdown in a 5K between Andrew Hunter, Matthew Novak, and Alex Corbett..... Who wins?
by: Tyler Speers
Tyler, great question that puts me on the spot! Let me first preface my answer saying all three of these guys are very talented and I respect them and their work very much. That being said the short answer to your questions is Andrew Hunter. I say that with a lot of conviction as well.
Now that you know my opinion let me explain why he is my selection. Aside from Andrew this year Alex Corbett may very well be the best runner in the state. He has the right combination of speed, stamina and race strategy. If you watched his 6A North race you could easily see why he is one of the best runners in the state. He would have a chance with Andrew on a complicated course that involved a lot of strategy. Novak, at least in my opinion is more of a 1600/800 runner. I think this year we will all get to see something special from him in the Mile. He could really win Millrose this year with his speed and upper body stregnth. The 5K in my mind is not his best event, but lets be clear he is pretty darn good at it none-the-less.
Andrew on the other hand is extremely talented. Indoors I had no idea how talented he was. Many people do not know that I was largely outside of the sport for quite a few years when I took this job and did not understand times like I do today. I only knew at Penn Relays that he was the real deal. After that race he went from a top runner to the top runner. He really turned it on in quick succession by winning Penn then Southern Track and then even states against some tough competition. After those races it was easy to see that he is a very special athlete and one of the best the state has ever seen.
Do I think these two guys could beat Andrew? Yes. I think there about 5-10 guys in our state that could beat him in the right race but if Andrew is healthy and if it is on a fair course then Andrew would be my selection to take home the victory.
MileStat, Why do you buttom your shirt all the way up?
by: Timothy Ward,
Tim, first let me say I am impressed by your perception and attention to details. This past week was the first time I covered your team this season so this is stemming from the 6A North Region or outdoor season. The funny thing is that it could be either because I always button my top button. I am not sure when I started doing this but I have been doing it for quite some time on all shirts with a top button.
The short answer to your question though is I like the way it looks. It is a good mix of a personal touch and business casual. I am big proponent to being myself within the realm of being appropriate. I think more people should be that way and be comfortable in their own skin being their own unique. If I had been the type of person that tried to be "normal" I would never be where I am today.
MileStat, Are these bowling scores an accurate prediction of the state's outcomes?
by: Nick Viado
Nick, great question! Let's take an indepth look at them though to see how fruitful and progrnosticative they are...
So as you can see we have five runners who should stick to running. My father and I, who I might add are not great at bowling, roll much better then these scores on a regular basis. Aside from being polar opposites of Chris Barnes (one of the best professional bowlers-don't ask how I know this type of stuff), we can assume these guys are quite whitty by using different athletes' names as theirs in bowling. They chose the names of five of the best runners in the state: Libby Davidson, Andrew Hunter, Colin Hahn (spelled incorrectly), Baron Kieffer, and Peter Seufer.
Let's start with the final results. Obviously of these runners Andrew has the highest score which we can say is pretty accurate. Following behind him by 20 points (this could be seconds) is Peter Seufer. Then behind Peter is Collin Hahn but I feel this could and will be a lot close then 16 seconds separating these two. Baron should be right up there with them too, so his score is not too far off how he should place at 4A states. The only real flaw here is Libby is not half as good as Andrew. Whether you look at comparing percentiles to time or percent to a perfect time, she is simply too good to only be at 50% of Andrew's score. Though in all reality she will likely run a minute slower then Andrew if not 1.5 minutes.
All that being said, I would say this bowling match has a 80% level of accuracy for predicting the order at states this year.
MileStat, Will VISAA separate D1 and D2 for outdoor T&F States?
by: Logan
Logan, VISAA will likely not separate those two divisions. XC is such a different monster from every other sport for how short it is. Track on the other hand is the complete opposite and is extremely long (we are talking in length of time). You have prelims and finals for nearly half of the events and alreayd two of everything since they are divided by genders. Events like the high jump already take very long and if you divided it by divisions you would have to add another day just for the high jump and basically any other field event.
In summation, if VISAA divided the competition like this then you would have way too long of a meet and not enough competition in each classification. So unfortunately it looks like VISAA will not separate the divisions for track anytime in the forseable future.
Have you thought about creating a "Fantasy VHSL XC/Track League," basically the same concept as Fantasy Football except with runners in the VHSL?
by: Josh
Josh, We actually did have a fantasy draft for the outdoor state meet. I may try doing one in indoors this year since it was so much fun for everyone involved. Though it was fun, a lot of these things are user-driven. What this means is they are as successful as the viewers make them. If I get a lot of positive feedback and people really like something then I continue to do. The problem though with this type of thing is it is very hard to get participation consistently.
All that being said, until I see consistent participation in smaller things I will likely not scale it up to a league and just stick with making fantasy teams for the state meets. If you did not see the state meet fantasy draft check it out here: http://va.milesplit.com/articles/129816-2014-state-meet-fantasy-draft#.VGDr3V5H2FI
What are the rules when it comes to uniform as an individual at the state meet? Can you wear any color shorts since there isn't a team that you have to be uniform with?
by: Nick Gill
Nick, I have helped clerk the state meet a couple times (in track) and there is only one rule I know that affects your choice. That rule is "the uniform must be school issued". What that translates to though is that as long as your coach has issued it to you, it is legal. That is all assuming you are the only one competing for your school. If you entire team is competing then you all have to match under the same guise that it be school issued.
XC is way more relaxed though then track and field with a lot of these rules. Think of XC as a team just like a relay where you really should match to show that you are a part of the team. But to answer your question, I seriously doubt you will have any issues wearing any color shorts you want at States. Remember they just need to be "school issued" wink-wink-nod-nod.
MileStat, I am wondering which counties in Virginia do not offer indoor track as an official sport? I am also wondering if some counties have some schools that offer it, and others that do not.
by: Joan Hunter
Joan, Whether a school district has this sport or not is really up to the school district and has very little to do with the VHSL. That being said, there is only one county that I personally know of that has not had it because it is was explicitly stated and that is Loudoun. Many other counties do not offer it but I am not sure if it is because there is an unspoken rule amongst AD's and principals or if there is a written rule about it.
There are though many counties where some schools have the sport and others do not. That is actually extremely common down in the southern part of our state and why in indoors we do not have 1A and 2A as separate classifications. If you look, 1A and 2A are actually combined for indoor track because so few schools participate in it. This lack of participation stems from a multitude of reasons including lack of facilities, lack of interest, and lack of funds.
I hope that explanation helped.
