I have heard that sentiment shared in regards to the 4x8s. And I don’t think for a second that you are pointing any blame here, but I wanted to address that I have gotten some hate-mail, suggesting that I am responsible for the purge of the 4×8.

First, I set no agenda. I don’t have a vote. And I wasn’t I there. I have been harping at the coaches about fan-friendliness for years. I’d do it at the Games Committee meetings while copies were being made and nothing else was going on.

Nor have I ever suggested the demise of the 4x8s. Here is a revised list of what I posted as my wish list on April 25:

1. All Indoor Heps take place at The Armory
2. No more Outdoor Heps at Franklin Field
3. No more three-round schedule for sprints/hurdles
4. Adapt to webcasting
5. Kill the men’s 500m and 1k runs indoor; add the men’s 200m for the men and the women’s DMR
6. Kill the women’s outdoor 3k
7. Release Championship start lists earlier
8. Bring back the mile; record en route times for 1500
9. Bring back Army & Navy
10. Multi events contested at Penn Relays

I got half a wish on No. 3 and the full wish on Nos. 5 & 6, but I never addressed the 4×8.

I am a fan of the 4×8 because it: 1. has been a really fun race to watch over the years; and 2. it allows 64 middle-distance athletes an opportunity to run.

We’ll see how this plays out. I don’t think we’ve heard the last about the 4×8.

The 4×8 is always a battle. It is never won in the strategic manner of championship races with runners jogging the first few laps. It is ALWAYS a balls to the wall, all-out ordeal that perfectly summarizes what the Heps is all about. Sure the event has been dominated by a few select programs in the past years (teams that were also the dissenting voices in the official coaches’ vote), but this is an event that doesn’t require purely recruited stud athletes. Many of the ‘big names’ have already emptied their tanks in individual events, leaving room for some 1:51-1:54 guys to make their names known.

It’s a genuine shame that teams resort to voting for the removal this wonderful relay event rather than cowboy up and rising to the challenge of competing for an event they haven’t won for a few years. No one is going to hand you that trophy without requiring you to earn it first.

The part that I disagreed with BY FAR the most was the loss of the 4×8. Especially because in this league, no team has the definite advantage in it. Teams have different strategies for how they want the race to play out, positions change drastically throughout the races, and it often comes down to the last few exciting meters.

In my opinion it is better for the league to weigh the stronger event groups more heavily. Otherwise, the schools will lose their incentive to recruit as heavily in the middle distance events. Also, the indoor championships, which are widely considered to be less important than the outdoors ones, gave the younger middle distance runners a chance to compete in (and possibly impact) the conference championship. This will be increasingly important in the next few years as all of the scorers at last year’s Outdoor Heps 800 were freshmen and sophomores.

Finally, the choice to abandon the 4×800 makes absolutely no sense. It is one of the best measures of a school’s strength or weakness in middle distance. Despite having one or two stars, a school wouldn’t be able to compete successfully in the 4×8 without having the third and fourth men to finish out the relay. I understand the choice to keep the DMR, as it is competed at NCAA’s, and would give the teams one more chance to qualify, but in reality it does little to demonstrate middle-distance depth in a program. The first three legs of the DMR are rarely run at top speed, almost never separate from one another, and bear little-to-no impact on the outcome of the race. The DMR is just a showcase of which school has the miler with the fastest kick.

Honestly, since when has the Ivy League decided that it needed to follow the NCAA meet?