Not that it’s any help in finding the solution to the problem, but choosing hurdles opened a slot for my right hand man to move up to one place outside of the over all 500 standings. Though not high enough for advancement, but if one person up the line drops out we get another team mate in for the big pat on the back.
Ah, but what success rate does a person have in a event? Just entering both doesn’t indicate a person will do well enough to place 1-2-3 or 4 in either.
(I had this happen in HS math competitions. Was “good enough” to do well and get trophies in the quick, 1/2 hour slide rule competitions at the “novice” level, but not good enough to get even top five routinely at the “veteran” level.
Cross-competed in a 3-hour science test, and did very well against the same people who were beating me in slide rule. I did well in long events, they did much, much better in “sprint” events.
So, don’t look at averages, look at “top performance” in the two events. The guy (or girl) who can get 1 or 2 place vice the guy who who “might make 3-4 is the better bet, since they aren’t allowing double entries.