I was looking over the high school records and noticed one glaring disparity. The oldest record on the books is the boys public 500 yard free, set in 1983 by Jeff Kostoff at 4:16.39. The next oldest boys record is in 1991. The oldest girls record is the 100 fly set in 1996 by Misty Hyman. Any ideas as to why that one has stood for so long?
www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../USA_High_School_Records.pdf
Parents
Former Member
The short answer is " because it's a Bad A.. swim" - it's a very fast time - no matter what.
The longer answer has 2 parts (actually 3 now) to it:
- not sure if Kostoff was rested / tapered, but in these days few swimmers taper or rest for highschool meets - unrested, the time is even more impossible to achieve
- distance swimming is not as dominant any more in age group swimming. Most age groupers strive to get a scholarship -- with the emergence of the 50s and the 4x50 relays for colleges, there is an absolute premium demand for sprinters. A good sprinter is twice as valuable to a program than a good distance swimmer. Therefore, kids go towards the shorter distances.
- not sure about the suit rules for high school swimming, but the suits don't help distance swimmers as much. That's why the Men's 1500 is still on the book as the oldest world record (and because it's a bad a.. swim)
The short answer is " because it's a Bad A.. swim" - it's a very fast time - no matter what.
The longer answer has 2 parts (actually 3 now) to it:
- not sure if Kostoff was rested / tapered, but in these days few swimmers taper or rest for highschool meets - unrested, the time is even more impossible to achieve
- distance swimming is not as dominant any more in age group swimming. Most age groupers strive to get a scholarship -- with the emergence of the 50s and the 4x50 relays for colleges, there is an absolute premium demand for sprinters. A good sprinter is twice as valuable to a program than a good distance swimmer. Therefore, kids go towards the shorter distances.
- not sure about the suit rules for high school swimming, but the suits don't help distance swimmers as much. That's why the Men's 1500 is still on the book as the oldest world record (and because it's a bad a.. swim)
