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Feature - Girls Running Equal Distance - Dyestat -2013Published by
DyeStat Editorial Closing the gap: Are Minnesota's girls ready? By Doug Binder, Dyestat Editor On Saturday in St. Paul, Minn., many of the girls who participate in the Roy Griak Invitational will get their first and only 5,000 meters race of the cross country season. Minnesota is one of eight states in which girls run shorter distances than boys at the district and state meets (and generally throughout the season). But there is widespread discussion going on in Minnesota among coaches and administrators that perhaps the time has come to level the playing field between boys and girls. Some coaches are digging their heels in, citing concerns about a drop in participation numbers or “burnout.” Those concerns ring hollow. For three decades, states have been slowly but surely been making progress by allowing girls to run the same 5,000 meters distance (a few states still use 3 miles) as boys. In Texas, which offered 5,000-meter races at the Class 4A and Class 5A level in 2012 for the first time after many years stuck at 3,200, the results have been positive. “Here’s what I’ve seen in Texas, and it’s scary,” said Southlake Carroll coach Justin Leonard. “This move (to 5,000) has significantly dropped our track times.” By “scary,” Leonard means it should have happened a long time ago. “Coaches have increased mileage, teams are getting better and kids are getting better from it. They are doing more in the summer time and time are getting faster on the track,” Leonard said. “It used to be that breaking 11 minutes on the track (for 3,200) was a big deal. Now, it won’t win your district meet.” Leonard said the move from 3,200 to 5,000 has made no difference in participation numbers. “(That concern) was overplayed,” he said. “One mile or 5K, whatever it is that’s what you run.” In fact, Leonard said he didn’t mention the change to girls coming into Southlake Carroll this fall. Most freshmen don’t know what the distance is when they join the team anyway. “What we’re finding now is that smaller schools want to move up to the 5K,” Leonard said. “What’s helped us, I think, is that it’s the best thing for the kids to be honest with you.” There are several reasons why it’s better. First, getting in line with the majority of the states means it is easier to compete at Nike regional or Foot Locker meets where the standard distance is 5,000 meters. Anecdotally, at least according to Leonard, there is wholesale improvement during the track season. And that correlates to scholarship opportunities. But more than that, there is also a gender equity issue at play here. There is a reason why in eight states the boys run farther than the girls in cross country. (Oddly enough, there are zero states where girls run farther than boys). It is a remnant of sexist thinking that female athletes can’t handle the same workload as males when it comes to distance running. It wasn’t until 1972 that the Olympics offered women a race longer than 800 meters. It wasn’t until 1984, that women had a marathon in the Olympics. Forty years past Title IX enactment, and Billie-Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs, there are still states that don’t offer boys and girls the same distance for cross country meets. You can cross Nebraska off that list. This fall, girls in Nebraska are running 5,000 meters just like the boys. In Minnesota, progress may be around the corner in the near future. At the Roy Griak meet, it happened 20 years ago. Meet organizers wanted to offer an opportunity for Minnesota girls (as well as Wisconsin and Iowa, etc.) a chance to run 5,000 meters prior to any post-season meets they might run. Sarah Hopkins, an assistant coach at the University of Minnesota and the director of the high school portion of Roy Griak, said she is personally in favor of increasing the distance for girls. “I’ve always been a proponent of it being 5K for girls,” she said. “But I was a longer-is-better person. The longer the race the better I did.” There is admittedly a more practical reason why the Griak meet has remained 5,000 meters for girls: It’s easier to set up the event to have all of the high school kids do the same course. (There are also college races, which are longer). In Minnesota, the issue is also somewhat complicated by the fact that seventh and eighth graders are permitted to run on high school varsity teams. So a move to 5,000 meters involves taking that – separate – issue into consideration as well. “Sometimes I think there is a fear that when girls run 5,000 there is a direct comparison to the boys, that you’ll see how many boys a girl would beat if they went head to head,” Hopkins said. Hopkins said there are schools in the area that don’t come to the Griak meet because they feel it’s “too challenging” for the female athletes. In spite of the discrepancies, Minnesota has a rich cross country history. Olympic marathoner Kara Goucher, who grew up in Duluth, loves her home state and said she is well-versed in the issue. “I was a junior in high school in 1994 when Minnesota (girls) switched from running 3,200 meters to 4,000,” she said. “I was a senior in college when the NCAA Division I changed from running 5,000 to 6,000.” However, even Goucher is on the fence about what Minnesota should do. “I do understand the reasons that some people don’t want to see a jump to 5,000,” she said. “Some A schools are very small and are already limited on the number of athletes they have and fear the farther distance would discourage girls from running. Also, I started running for the high school in seventh grade and that probably is a little too young to be running 5,000 meters.” Goucher also sees the positives. “Running 5,000 would put Minnesota girls on a level playing field nationally,” she said. "(Running 4,000) does make it tricky for comparison on a national level. While I’d like to see Minnesota go to 5,000, I see the reasons for staying at 4,000.” Slowly, states are sorting out their reasons. If small schools in Wyoming and Montana – or Nebraska -- don’t have a problem with 5,000 meters, why does Minnesota? If seventh and eighth graders can run 5,000 meters in New York and Florida, why can’t they in Minnesota? The Star-Tribune article stated that most coaches in Minnesota don’t view this as a gender equity issue. And judging by her viewpoint, neither does Goucher. But the challenge is to look a little deeper. High school girls basketball and soccer games are shorter than boys games – no place. Yet in some states, the girls cross country teams have fewer minutes to execute a race strategy. It does appear that the differences between boys and girls will eventually disappear. The holdouts – Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma and Mississippi – will join the rest of the country. The only question is, How long will they wait? More news
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