Longer races help girls cross country catch up
South Dakota’s high school girls competing in cross country will have to dig even deeper when the fall season begins.
The reason is that from now on the races will go 5,000 meters — replacing the 4K standard. That will equal the boys distance and inch closer to the 6,000-meter mark seen in college women’s cross country.
The change became official at last week’s annual June meeting of the South Dakota High School Activities Association board of directors meeting.
According to the activities association, support for the change was overwhelming among Class AA and A schools, while Class B schools voted in favor by a 29-25 margin.
While the change could be a challenge for rural, low-enrollment schools that depend on younger athletes to fill their cross country rosters, the new distance will affect athletes at all schools.
“For probably every female cross country runner, initially their reaction could be, ‘Oh no. Now we have to run even farther,’ ” said activities association Board of Education representative Sandy Klatt, whose daughter, Courtney, finished fifth last year at the state cross country meet.
“But I really think once they train properly that they’ll be able to handle the additional distance with grace.”
Girls in other states seem to have adapted positively to longer races.
South Dakota no longer can count itself among the shrinking list of states wherein boys and girls run different distances: Only North Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas lack the 5K standard. Even still, Oklahoma and Texas run 5K races at their bigger schools — small-school athletes run a two-mile.
As with other changes in other sports changes — including the major and the minute — college recruiting seems at the least a secondary motivation.
“It’s hard to compare races and course times in cross country,” said Roosevelt cross country and track and field coach Jason Wagoner. “But at least a 5K gives college coaches something to compare as far as consistency with the times.”
Lincoln cross country coach Eric Pooley echoed that sentiment, saying the previous 4K distance might have hindered South Dakota athletes.
“We’ve been kind of neglected in terms of college recruiting in the past,” Pooley said. “If you’re a college, you want to go with somebody you have hard data on. Now that guessing game has essentially been eliminated.”
One of Pooley’s athletes, to-be junior Katie Patrick, embraces the added distance.
“It broke the barrier between cross country and track,” Patrick said. “In my perspective, the people who really enjoy running and want to get better are going to embrace it and go after it, and for some people it’s going to be really hard and will be another wall to push through.
Patrick finished 11th at state last year and, as a nationally renowned triathlete accustomed to running 5Ks in competition, she sees the added distance more in line with the roots of cross country.
“The last 1,000 meters (in a 5K), that’s where your legs get heavy and the sport gets really hard,” Patrick said. “This is going to show us who has the endurance — who can be a distance runner and have the stamina.”
The rural divide on the issue isn’t without reason, though.
“It will be a tougher transition for (small schools) because their demographics are different,” said Wagoner, adding that his roster is mostly made up of girls from grades 9-12. “Those schools can tend to pull up younger kids to fill their teams, and they’ve also got a lot of girls that are in multiple sports.”
Similar changes have been made before, though, and athletes and coaches adapted.
Brandon Valley cross country coach Larry Beesley recalls the 2.2-mile race (about 3,500 meters) he competed in during the late 1970s before the boys adopted the 5K standard — in addition to Class B girls running 3K races until recently.
“This will be a unique transition for the kids in South Dakota,” Beesley said. “It might take them needing to run a few more miles during the week in the summer, but overall I think that those athletes and coaches are ready to make that switch.”