Most schools do. Nothing will ever be the same across the board, and it is ok for a kid to aspire to it. It’s just one of many gauges of their personal success. It’s not a perfect measure, of course, but for a lot of kids it is certainly something they strive for.
I would guess that the majority of teams run an assortment of courses and that the matter of “getting on the board”, if they were in that range, would happen at one of the meets during the season even if it didn’t at a “harder” one. If it doesn’t it’s just like the disappointment of not hitting any other goal. There are always variables that get in the way of certain goals. In a sport like football a player can aspire to score a certain number of touchdowns, but sometimes the proper factors don’t align for it to happen. The playing field will never be completely even in any sport, but if meet directors do their best to have the course be as close to a true 5K distance as possible then it’s at least as even a playing field as possible.
I would guess that the majority of teams run an assortment of courses and that the matter of “getting on the board”, if they were in that range, would happen at one of the meets during the season even if it didn’t at a “harder” one. If it doesn’t it’s just like the disappointment of not hitting any other goal. There are always variables that get in the way of certain goals. In a sport like football a player can aspire to score a certain number of touchdowns, but sometimes the proper factors don’t align for it to happen. The playing field will never be completely even in any sport, but if meet directors do their best to have the course be as close to a true 5K distance as possible then it’s at least as even a playing field as possible.
