As you might remember, qualifying for the indoor state championships is no longer based on hitting a standard. To qualify for the championships, you need to be in the top entries (by time within the 2015-16 season) within your event. For example, there will be 24 acceptances in the 800m. Hypothetically, let's say the 24th best time in the state right now is 2:03.86. So if states entries were today, if you had run faster than 2:03.86 and entered the 800 for states, you would be guaranteed entry. Say you are the 25th, 26th or 27th guy. You could still be accepted into the state meet if some of the runners seeded ahead of you scratch to participate in other events (maybe they are saving themselves for a relay or focusing on a different individual event). In other words, this is a moving standard and there are plenty of variables in play when trying to determine who will and won't be accepted into the state championships.
That is where your friendly neighborhood analyst comes into play. I've been doing my best to keep a running list of all the fastest marks throughout the indoor season, and I will continue to do so through the state meet. Based on my own speculation, intuition and insider sources, I will give a "projected" entry list for the state meet, guessing who will and won't enter various events. I'll also provide a full list of the top recorded times so that you as readers can make your own speculatory guesses.
If you have questions on the qualifying process, feel free to ask away in the comments section and definitely read up at www.ptfca.org, which is your best bet for qualifying info. Remember, this year teams can also enter the 4x8 and DMR and the order of events have changed (meaning the way we usually think about scratches has changed as well). Also keep in mind that things like banked track conversions and 1600m/3200m/2-mile conversions will be reflected in the list using the official PTFCA conversion factors listed on their website.
In honor of the new year, I thought I would share what my list currently looks like. Feel free to chime in on your thoughts for scratches, top performers and missing times from my list. Also, keep in mind that although this is a fun projection, it's far from guaranteed accuracy wise and there is still sooo much time between now and states that this list will, in all likelihood, look almost completely different a month from now.
But who cares about that! Let's enjoy a great December of Track and Field!
Check out the full lists on LXV+ by clicking on the link. All times listed below are Flat Track Cut-Offs,
800m: ET Cutoff - 2:04.71, 24th - 2:03.86, SQG - 2:00.72
Mile: ET Cutoff - 4:39.67, 20th - 4:37.00, SQG - 4:32.43
3,000m: ET Cutoff - 9:22.58, 12th - 9:17.88, SQG - 9:00.23
4x800m: ET Cutoff - 8:33.89, 12th - 8:33.89, SQG - 8:22.06
DMR: ET Cutoff - 11:11.29, 12th - 11:11.29, SQG - 10:49.23
how does qualifying for moc work? is it the top times or is it the top places of each meet?
ReplyDeleteYou can qualify for MoC both ways. By hitting the standards, you're automatically in. In an eligible meet (any association meet and Burdette), finishing in the top 2 places regardless if you hit the standard or not gets you in. Quick example, the 800, standard is 2:05.4 roughly, in one meet, it goes
DeleteRunner A 2:00
Runner B 2:01
Runner C 2:02
even though runner C didn't get top 2, he makes the standard so he makes MoC.
In another meet, say it goes
runner A 2:07
runner B 2:08
runner C 2:09
Though no one hit the standards, runners A and B are in because they finished top 2. This helps teams get in if theres low competition at a meet, or if an association meet is at somewhere like Glen Mills, where the track is slower than Lehigh's. Hope that helps.
Either you place 1st or 2nd at a tfcagp meet or you run the qualifying standard in a tfcagp meet.
DeleteHow can you compare banked times vs times ran on a flat track. For the 800 a 2:00 run on a flat track is fast than 2:00 ran on a banked track. But how much faster is the flat track time?
ReplyDeleteThe answer for our purposes here, is the PTFCA has assigned a certain conversion amount for each race to compare flat and bank track times. For example, the 800m conversion is 0.6 seconds from banked track to flat track. So if you run 2:00.73 on a flat track, in the eyes of the PTFCA, it's the same as a 2:00.13 on a banked track. That's how they will compare times for the sake of entries to states.
DeleteOf course, if you are talking in more general terms, these conversions are far from an exact science. Personally, I think the conversions from flat to bank favor those who run on banked tracks and as I think the bank track is worth more than just 0.6 seconds. I believe the NCAA conversions are much different, favoring flat track marks more than banked track marks by at least a second in the 800m if memory serves.