NYT&F Battle of the Years - Leaders Showdown 2008-2015 Indoors

Finally, we invite real grief by daring to compare the performances of the boys versus those of the girls in both the indoor and outdoor seasons. Physically of course the guys are stronger, faster, and more springy, and the girls have lower height hurdles and lighter shots but also use less powerful poles in the pole vault. There are also distance inequalities in the long distance events, which we have tried to equalize to some extent by converting the girls' 1500m and 3000m times to 1600 and 3200 using the standard 1.0737, and also using conversions for the girls' outdoor 100m hurdles and 2000m steeplechase. So yeah, it's not all straight head-to-head comparisons.

Overall, what can we take away from the boys versus girls comparisons except that the bigger guys have a significant advantage in all events? In the running events, the longer the distance the greater the advantage for the boys, as the girls stay fairly close exploding out of the blocks in the indoor 55m and 55m hurdles. Brenessa Thompson's 6.88 time last year would have shown up among the top 250 times for the guys last year in a very populated event, and hurdling at a lower height and in an event that is far less popular for the boys, Lateisha Philson would have slotted in at an incredible #12 on the boys list in 2013 with her 7.79 time in the 55m hurdles. As the laps for an event stretch out, the guys' comparative advantage lengthens out, while the number of participants decreases for both genders in comparisons to the much more popular indoors 300m or outdoors 200m. Still, the girls can leave their marks in the guys' ranks, as Mary Cain's indoor mile time would have placed her 46th among the guys in 2013 and her 9:38.68 2 mile time would have shown up a fabulous 11th for the boys. Her converted 1500m time would have finished much further back in the boys' 1600m that has far more participants, but it still would have placed in the top 70 in 2013.

The boys' advantage becomes greater in the field events, where physical size plays an even greater role. The shot put is where the guys are really kings, even with a shot that is about 3.2 lbs. heavier, as their distances tend to be between 1.3 to 1.35 times farther. Outdoors, the guys' lead in the discus is much less than their one in the shot put. The pole vault has about the same 1.3 times greater advantage for the guys. Along with having generally the much stronger upper arms that are needed for the pole vault, teen guys are famed for being reckless and crazy, two other things that are required for doing this event. The guys have generally about a 1.2 to 1.25 times advantage in the long and triple jumps. But it is the high jump where the girls get closest to the guys, and again like the hurdles this may also be because the girls participate in both these classes of events in equal or even greater numbers than the boys.

Ultimately, the track event where the boys will always have the greatest advantage is the race to the food stand and subsequent consumption of mass quantities of hot dogs and cheesy doodles.

Battle of the Years Events

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Group 1: Sprints - Group 2: Mid Distance

Group 3: Long Distance - Group 4: Hurdles

Group 5: Horizontal Jumps - Group 6: Vertical Jumps and Vaults

Group 7: Throws - Group 8: Relays - Meet Wrap-up

Summary by Athlete - Summary by Team - Summary by Section

Indoor Versus Outdoor Comparison - Boys Versus Girls Comparison