MileSplit HQ - Back around July 4th, the Battle of the Years squads from 2008 through 2015 got together at the Virtually Outofourminds stadium to decide which of the recent groups of the seasonal track stars had the right stuff in 18 different events for the boys and girls. We saw the girls of 2010 dominate their action and with the help of some decently macho guys also take the Combined Boys and Girls title over the 2015 squad with its champion guys. After the action was over, the athletes also began laying down some moderate trash talk about who would have come out on top three months earlier when they weren't nursing that strained muscle that prevented them from dominating in the outdoor action.
So here it is, the event that the winter track and field athletes were all waiting for, the Battle of the Years Indoor challenge at the Virtually Insane arena. And as we all know, this is the high point of any NY athlete's life. Sure, when Luke Gavigan is digging for the finish line of the of the 1600m in the 2014 State Championship at Cornell, he wants to get that state title and lay down a personal best indoor time and hold off that pesky James Burke and do Tappan Zee proud, but obviously the main thing he's thinking about is putting down a BotY best 4:11.21 that will allow him a big victory lap in the upcoming BotY Leaders contest. Ask any athlete at future meets what their main focus is, and if they are honest they will tell you that placing a true value on their Battle of the Years experience is just impossible to do.
Battle Formation
For the first indoors Battle of the Years meet, we've tallied up the averages of top 15 performers in each of 15 events on both the guys and girls side for the years 2008 to 2015. We have then pitted those averages against each other at a States type meet with each representative vying for the points for eight places based on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 scoring system. From these 15 events on each side will emerge one year as king and queen of the track, plus a combined winner from when the boys and girls join forces.
To pump up the drama but still keep the amount of pages relatively concise, we've split the 15 events into seven groups to review: Sprints & Hurdles (55 and 300 and 55 Hurdles), Mid Distance (600 and 1000), Long Distance (1500-1600 and 3000-3200), Horizontal Jumps (long jump and triple jump), Vertical Jumps and Vaults (high jump and pole vault), Throws (shot put only, as weight throw has a very limited history), and Relays (4x200, 4x400, 4x800).
No, this is not a Star Wars battle of rotten stormtroopers versus nice ewoks, just a good clean NY T&F showdown of top young athletes. Let the battle begin.