What if we thought of *individual* sports less as competition but more as personal growth (and scored accordingly).

In running we already do this. While the overall competition is important, every person is just trying to hit their PR, and not necessarily trying to win. Most runners know they won't win, so it really is about individual growth. The people who are trying to win are the ones with a chance to. In high school level track, it's more about getting whatever target the coach set for points. They'll go through the list of events and the PRs of people on both teams and try to find the easiest way for you to win as a team. Sometimes that could mean just beating your PR by a few seconds to come in 3rd, or even being a bit slower than that depending on the team. Sometimes it's not relevant because you have no hope of winning as a team or are pretty much guaranteed a win. Ultimately, most people just try to beat themselves or their rivals.