My Cross Country Runner’s Rant:

I recently posed this question to the Minnesota High School Athletic Association: “Why do the “boys” run a 5 kilometer Cross Coutry race in competition, and the “girls” run a 4 kilometer race? The distance amounts to a mere difference of about 1/2 mile. Surely it is not the "weaker sex" argument. Local star Janis Klecker, and my personal hero, Joan Benoit Samuelson can attest to that.
If you answered “tradition”, well then I respond that in a blink of an eye they (Minnesota High School League) switched from the 2 mile in 1970 to the 3 mile distance mid season, and then again later to the 5 Kilometer. I was told that this was the National High School Federation's decision. So I wrote to the NFHS and received this response:

“The NFHS staff, at the direction of our member state associations, does not provide individual rule interpretations. All requests for an interpretation should first be directed through the proper channels at your school. If necessary, the state high school athletic/activities association should be contacted. Each state high school association adopting NFHS sports rules is the sole and exclusive source of binding rules interpretations for contests involving its member schools. The NFHS will answer questions from state association staff when they need assistance. This is done to better serve our member state associations and to ensure consistent interpretations throughout your state. Therefore, I would ask that you follow this procedure and should you need to contact the state association, you may locate the contact information at www.nfhs.org, State Association Listing.”

There you have it.