In reading the bios of the inductees, you will come across the terms below. Here are some definitions to help offer clarity to what is written in the bios. These are in no particular order:

“KingCo” – KingCo is the league in which we compete in sports at IHS. The number of schools in KingCo has varied throughout the years. The charter members of the league at the time of the first league cross country meet in 1965 were Newport, Bellevue, Sammamish, Mercer Island, Lake Washington, Redmond, Bothell, Inglemoor, and Issaquah. Current members Interlake, Juanita, Woodinville, Eastlake, and Skyline joined when they opened. Other schools that originated in other leagues have joined over the years; some are still members, some are not. Beginning with the 1997/98 school year and the revision of the WIAA classifications, KingCo broke into 3A and 4A divisions and beginning with the 2008/09 school year, our league has involved 2A, 3A, and 4A divisions. For both cross country and track, there is a league championship meet where an individual league champion is determined in each event and a specific number of qualifiers are determined that will advance to district competition.

“District” – One step above competition within our league is district competition. Our league has typically joined with one or more other leagues to form a district. The purpose of district competition is to further narrow the field of athletes for advancement to state. District competition was first used as a determining factor for the state meet in cross country in 1967; earlier for track. Our district has changed many times over the years as the alignments with other leagues has changed, thus, the generic term ‘district’ is used here rather than the actual names of the various districts IHS competed in when each hall of famer competed.

“Triple Crown” – The Triple Crown is won when a runner wins the individual title in cross country, the mile/1600m, and the 2-mile/3200m in the same school year on the same competitive level. There are three competitive levels where it can be done – league, district, and state. An example of this is Shane Moskowitz from Central Kitsap in the 2009/10 school year. He won individual state titles in cross county, the 1600m, and the 3200m – thus winning the state Triple Crown that year.

“Pre-1988 Era” – Prior to 1988 in cross country, only the top five (on rare occasions the top ten) finishers in the district meet would qualify individually for the state meet if their team did not. Since 1988, the number of qualifying individuals has been based on the number of qualifying teams multiplied by five. (E.G. – If four teams qualify, then the top 20 finishers also qualify individually regardless if their team did not.) So, from 1967 – 1987, if you were on a bad team, you needed to be in the top five in your district in order to run at the state meet. Needless to say, it was much more difficult to qualify for the state meet in those days as evidenced by the fact that IHS had no male participants in the state meet for nine seasons from 1969 – 1977.

Individual Champion – When a runner won an individual league, district, or state title in cross country or track.

Top 3’s/Top 5’s – When a runner finished in the top 3 or top 5 in the league, district, or state meet in cross country or track. Top 3’s are included in the number of top 5’s.

PR – Personal Record. Athletes can have season PRs and/or lifetime PRs.

Yards vs. Meters – Between 1979 and 1981, the league, district, and state meets in track all converted from yardage distances to meters. All marks presented in the hall of fame are in meters and any applicable yardage marks have all been converted. Below are the applicable yard events with their metric counterparts:

440y – 400m
880y – 800m
Mile – 1600m
2-Mile – 3200m