It goes without saying that the internet has certainly been a big factor and just recently, dyestat.com creator John Dye was part of the inaugural class of the National High School Track and Field Hall of Fame. He founded the site in 1995 to track how his own children ranked in their state against their peer athletes. It eventually allowed top runners from different states to track each other's progress as well as communicate on the TrackTalk forum.
During my high school days in the mid-80s, I used to grab the local newspaper every Friday to see how my league rivals did at their own dual meets on Thursdays. With the growth of that site, the bar was set for the rest of the nation and not just a small league like it was for me.
In 1997, a young high school student, Jason Byrne, started Florida Runners Zone, which eventually became flrunners.com and eventually the MileSplit national network we know today. MileSplit, according to Byrne, was the first to have a database, rankings, athlete profiles and team pages. The website really innovated and revolutionized the sport online just as much if not more than the other websites that preceded his site. With the available websites, athletes eventually connected with other runners across the nation and inspired and motivated each other.
Coaches have always had opportunities to learn from other coaches at clinics but with the internet, they could now reach out to any top coaches across the nation. While basketball and football coaches may feel like they had a winning play they didn't want to share with anyone, many track and cross country coaches openly shared what worked for their own athletes. As an example, Murrieta Valley's Steve Chavez shared with anybody that wanted to learn about his highly successful program.
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