800m Debate: Endurance vs. Speed

Jun 02, 2020

Metroplex Powerhouses

Below are two very well-known programs in Texas. One regularly qualifies for Nike Team Nationals for cross country and the other regularly has national top 10 sprint relays so how do they match up at the 800m distance?

	School A	School B	School A	School B	School A	School B
	2019	2019	2018	2018	2017	2017
800m	01:55.3	01:59.8	01:54.9	01:59.9	01:57.8	01:53.4
	01:59.1	02:01.2	01:57.9	02:00.9	01:58.9	02:00.2
	02:00.5	02:01.3	01:59.0	02:04.4	01:59.7	02:00.4
	02:01.5	02:01.8	02:01.8	02:04.9	02:00.0	02:00.5
Composite	07:56.4	08:04.1	07:53.6	08:10.1	07:56.5	07:54.5

Can you tell which is the sprint school and which is the distance school? Let's keep going.

	School A	School B	School A	School B	School A	School B
	2019	2019	2018	2018	2017	2017
1600m	05:02.9	04:19.7	04:32.2	04:20.1	04:39.7	04:02.5
	05:04.0	04:25.9	04:45.8	04:21.6	04:55.9	04:16.9
	05:04.1	04:26.0	04:46.4	04:23.7	05:05.5	04:18.1
	05:06.0	04:26.3	04:55.8	04:25.7	05:05.7	04:21.4
Best 4x4	03:11.1	03:29.8	03:11.3	03:32.5	03:11.4	03:24.8

A little more clear now. "School A" is Desoto High School. "School B" is Southlake Carroll and that 1:53 and 4:02 you see from 2017 is Reed Brown.

Relays are worth double points in Texas and since they don't compete in the 4x800m Relay at the state level there is a heavy emphasis on Sprint Relays. At about the same time the National Milesplit Network was debating "Speed vs. Endurance" there was also some discussion on Texas Milesplit to expand their events to include the 4x800m to hopefully help tip the scale in the favor of more distance minded programs. With information such as the tables above, I would be wary to do that as it may just put another weapon in a school like Desoto's arsenal rather than a school like Southlake's. I think adding the DMR instead would help them reach their desired competitive balance.