Do many states have time-based qualifying for HS state meet?

[DrJay]

Bump. See front page story about Colorado doing away with regionals for a two year cycle. Apparently all qualifying for state will be time-based. A bone-head move if you ask me (but they didn't ask me).

edit:..and distance/height-based (you can tell I was a runner, not a jumper/thrower.)

[DrJay]

See the criteria at the bottom of my initial post. These are the criteria used in Colorado and seem fairly stringent.

[polevaultpower]

I like the addition of high performers being granted entrance based on displaying a suitably challenging performance. The toughest part of this, however, is what Cooter pointed out: How does the state organization differentiate between the real performances and the ones we all to frequently see reported in the papers? :?

By only allowing it from performances achieved at whatever meet qualifies you to State (generally a district/regional type meet)

[Kevin Richardson]

I like the addition of high performers being granted entrance based on displaying a suitably challenging performance. The toughest part of this, however, is what Cooter pointed out: How does the state organization differentiate between the real performances and the ones we all to frequently see reported in the papers? :?

[ppalmer]

As a clarification, New Mexico actually has a hybrid system. Athletes meeting event standards can compete no matter what. In addition, top 2 individuals and top 3 relay teams at districts also qualify. This means that if an event has a large number of mark qualifiers and these athletes do not compete at district (as happens to some extent), an event may wind up with a large number of entrants compared to and event in which most mark qualifiers actually competed in districts. New Mexico has 5 classes . Some events may have 20-25 qualifiers and others only 9-10.

Thanks for filling us in on the details. I think the system is pretty reasonable way to take into account large travel distances, low population, 5 classes, and large differences in altitude around the state.

Pat Palmer

[BillVol]

http://www.tssaa.org/Handbook/track.pdf

Not TN either.

[Cooter Brown]

Texas mirrors Georgia in this respect. There are 4 regions in Texas, thus the State Meet in Texas is finals only. The downside is that sprint filled Regions II and III may have sprinters or relays that are among the fastest in the nation, but finish 3 - 8 at Regional end up watching the meet from the stands. Some winners in the other Regions may run a far inferior time but they do qualify for State based on place at Regionals. The upside to the finals only meet is that the schedule is quick and run very efficiently.

Luckily TX is this way. Can you imagine all the sub 10.00 sprinters we'd have "qualifying" for state if we had qualifying marks?

[Riff80]

Georgia has it really bad.
Only the top 2 in each event at regionals qualify for the state meet.

Texas mirrors Georgia in this respect. There are 4 regions in Texas, thus the State Meet in Texas is finals only. The downside is that sprint filled Regions II and III may have sprinters or relays that are among the fastest in the nation, but finish 3 - 8 at Regional end up watching the meet from the stands. Some winners in the other Regions may run a far inferior time but they do qualify for State based on place at Regionals. The upside to the finals only meet is that the schedule is quick and run very efficiently.

Georgia can top that a little (on the bad side). They run prelims in everything except the distance races at the state meet, and it's a 3-day meet. I'm still trying to figure out why they don't let more people qualify on a standards basis.

[lilwayne1814]

Georgia has it really bad.
Only the top 2 in each event at regionals qualify for the state meet.

Texas mirrors Georgia in this respect. There are 4 regions in Texas, thus the State Meet in Texas is finals only. The downside is that sprint filled Regions II and III may have sprinters or relays that are among the fastest in the nation, but finish 3 - 8 at Regional end up watching the meet from the stands. Some winners in the other Regions may run a far inferior time but they do qualify for State based on place at Regionals. The upside to the finals only meet is that the schedule is quick and run very efficiently.

[nmzoo]

As a clarification, New Mexico actually has a hybrid system. Athletes meeting event standards can compete no matter what. In addition, top 2 individuals and top 3 relay teams at districts also qualify. This means that if an event has a large number of mark qualifiers and these athletes do not compete at district (as happens to some extent), an event may wind up with a large number of entrants compared to and event in which most mark qualifiers actually competed in districts. New Mexico has 5 classes . Some events may have 20-25 qualifiers and others only 9-10.

[ppalmer]

New Mexico use a time-based qualifying system. I think once an athlete has achieved the time/mark required, they can go to state regardless of results at districts, etc.

(I am most familiar with the smaller schools because the results are in the newspaper, and hitting a state qualifying time/distance is a big deal locally.)

Pat Palmer

[skyin' brian]

Illinois is adding a third division next year (for track, football already has eight which is good for safety i guess, and basketball has something like four).

I believe that Illinois still uses the top two from sectionals (track has only sectionals and state, many other sports have regional, sectional, state) plus "extra" qualifiers that meet a certain standard AT the sectional meet.

What I don't like about our system (I'm sure many other states do this as well) is the limit of two entries per event at sectionals. Not fair to schools with depth in events like pole vault!

[polevaultpower]

In WA you can qualify on performance if it is achieved at your state qualifying meet and you are below the number of qualifiers. The standards are super high, based on the average of the 3rd place finish at State, so it's rare, but a few get to State this way every year, especially in the smaller divisions where the talent might not be balanced.

[LongTimeSubscriber]

Those marks to qualify at large for the California state meet would probably best many other state champions. In fairness, it should be noted that there is only one division in California (and I hope that never changes).

[DrJay]

Some KY state records (my home state) are barely better than those CA qualifyng times.