A Quantitative Analysis of Gender Differences in the Improvement of High School Distance Runners
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v12i4.5263Keywords:
Runners, Long-distance, Athletic Performance, Gender Differences, Elite, High-schoolAbstract
This paper presents a quantitative analysis of the gender differences in the improvement of high school
distance runners to better understand the impact of gender on athletic performance. There is a lack of gender-
specific studies regarding athletic performance in existing research, especially at the high school level. There is also
a clear gap in available research comparing the improvement of males and females. To close this gap, this research
analyzes 1600-meter race times of high school runners from MileSplit, a running time database. These times were
imported and analyzed by a Python code and Excel graphs. Results reveal that male runners experience greater
improvement than females during high school and that elite runners improve at a faster rate than non-elite runners.
These results can be connected back to the difference in growth patterns and hormonal processes of each gender.
This research addresses gender-based performance differences among high school runners and serves as a basis for
future investigations on athletic performance gaps between genders.
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