In our newest feature, MileStat answers your questions! Check out what questions we answer this week and who asked them.
Photo by: John Herzog
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, Why don't all states have something like Border War? I totally want a chance to get a super cool singlet that says Virginia on it and race against Maryland/North Carolina.
by: Alex Haight
Alex, the fan answer is: I know right! but the the real answer is that just some other states do not have their act together as a whole community. So to put things in perspective, Virginia as a whole has a pretty legit and serious track/xc scene. We have competitive meets, tons of officials, and great coverage of the sports.We do not have though a great coaches association or a nationally significant meet (one that brings in talent from the whole country). Those factors play a large part in having these type of races workout and people actually attending them.
I think the Battle of the Potomac is one of the best versions of this style of race but unfortunately not a lot of the Virginia athletes and coaches feel that way. I think it would be awesome if we focused more on events like this and Meet of Champion style races then some other meets. The Oregon/Washington one is probably the biggest and best on the XC front... but then again it is held at Nike HQ... who wouldn't go to that.
MileStat, What do you think is going to be the most anticipated/most competitive event this indoor season and why?
by: Paul Keurajian
Paul, I see you, like everyone else, are very excited about indoor season quickly approaching. No worries though, we are excited as well and happy to give you a sneak peak at some of our previews. I think the most competitive and most anticipated events will be completely different to be completely honest. I think the most anticipated event will either be Blacksburg running the 4xMile or a 4x800 with both Blacksburg and Western Branch in it. We could legit see the national records fall in both this year and wouldn't it be awesome if they raced!? Can we just have a 4x1200 event at a major invitational and have these two teams race in between their specialties?
I think the most competitive event though will likely be the boys 55m dash. I think in any other race or event you can really pinpoint someone who is the favorite but in the boys 55 dash it is impossible to do that. We have some ridiculous talent returning and athletes who have shown they are a lot faster then we thought (Noah Lyles) combined with nearly 10 guys that could legitimately win the event. The girls 55m hurdles in 6A will be close as always and historically important as will the high jump competition on the boys side... it will likely take 7+ to win that.
Nolan, Do you have any siblings? I think I may know one of them.
by: Travis Krickovic
Travis, great question. Yes. I have three siblings. One that is older, his name is Cory, and two younger brothers named Jordan and Chandler. Cory moved to Austin actually the same week that Brandon Miles did. Funny how things work like that! All four of us competed in sports ranging from Baseball to Soccer to Golf. Though that is all interesting and stuff, the really interesting thing is how we all got our names. My parents decided not to know the sex of us prior to our birth and named us after whoever was on the front page of the sports section the day we were born... So you could say we are a pretty avid sports family. If you were wondering, I was named after Nolan Ryan the day after he won his 300th MLB game.
So long story short, yes I have siblings and you probably know one of them.
MileStat, Will Matthew Novak (Deep Run) break 4 minutes in the mile this school year (2014-15)?
by: Cole Caminiti
Cole, Great way to put me on the spot! The honest purpose of this feature is to have candid and honest responses from me and that is what you will get. If I go with my intial reaction I will say no. I think he has by far the best chance to out of anyone in our state this year, including Andrew Hunter. If I was a gambling man I would put the over/under for Matt at 4:09 indoors and 4:04 outdoors and I would take the under in both.
I really think he will end the year as the best miler in Virginia and should realistically run for a national championship and Millrose championship this year. He is going to have his work cut out for him though nationally and locally too with Andrew Hunter training all indoor season for potentially a huge showdown in Philadelphia. Though, Hunter could save himself for the 3K again and that would mean we would have to wait for the Southern Track Classic (my personal favorite VA Outdoor meet).
Ok... so my words mean little without some empirical data backing them up. If we look back at his progression a lot of his events, not only the mile, we can get a good guage on how he has improved throughout his high school and how much he improves by when he does. He has a best of 1:52 in the 800 and 4:09 in the mile. To break four minutes in the full mile, you need sub 1:48 speed in my mind. Yes, in theory you could run 1:59 and 1:59 but let's remember that there are a few extra yards between a mile and 1600. We can safely assume he will run 1:50 in the 800 this year if not better but will we see a 1:47.9? If we see that then we could very well be in store for some history.
All in all, Matt is a phenom and UVA is probably elated to have him now that he has won a State Title in each of the three running sports but it will take a bigger improvement then what we have already seen this XC season to break 4:00. If he runs at Foot Locker and shows us another gear then we may have to ammend our answer.
MileStat, Are indoor tracks faster or slower then outdoor tracks and why?
by: Matt Wajsgras
Matt, technically speaking almost everything is faster on an outdoor track. There are many reasons for why but only three main reasons. The first and largest reason reason is its size. Though you feel so much faster on an indoor track, you are actually going much slower and likely cannot get up to the same speed as you could on an outdoor track. Banked tracks help to keep the speed up but still lack what an outdoor track has. If you look at Virginia Tech Invitational you will see athletes run times they likely will not hit the rest of the season and that is because of the steep bank. There are also a ton of physical properties going on that cause an indoor track to be slower.
The second and third reason is the surface of the indoor track. Most of these tracks, most, are designed for multi-use facilities and thus are not competitive surfaces. What is meant by this is that they are softer and made to be extremely durable which in turn creates slower times. Though it makes something that lasts much longer and is better for long term training, it is not the best surface for racing. The final reason is that indoor tracks that are banks and some jump runways are raised surfaces and thus have bounce to it. The best comparison is between a squishy grass XC course and a asphalt 5k. Which is going to be faster? It is the roadway because you get little absorbtion of your steps and thus get more push off of the ground with the least amount of resistance.
So, outdoor tracks are almost always faster for a number of reasons but also all of those reasons make indoor tracks feel faster based on relativity nearly all the time.
MileStat, What are the requirements for you to visit a practice at a high school?
by: Nick Weber
Nick, I make that decision on a number of fronts. First the timing has to be right. I want to visit as many schools as possible and sometimes can visit two on a trip somewhere but a lot of the time it is very difficult to match up my work schedule with a team's practice schedule. Aside from the actual logistics of working it out, the only real requirement is that I know it will be worth my time. That means by creating content and viewership on MileStat.
With all that being said, that means I usually will visit one of the top programs in the entire state. That type of talent and access create a buzz and people want to see what other teams and coaches are doing and what their secrets are. I also will visit schools and teams that are very popular or active on the site. Turner Ashby killed it on twitter and thus I will be doing a practice visit with them this year as well. So in short, if you want us to do a practice visit you either have to show us on the track or on twitter,facebook, the site with tons of participation and viewership.