Will college coaches accept relay splits if I can prove them?

Flagpole wrote:

Slowapriringcollegiate wrote:

So I have a difference of about 3.xx seconds between my 4x8 and my open 8 prs my junior year, which (I feel) is pretty substantial difference for recruiting, since I don’t have many other events to back it up. Thing is, I’ve heard that college coaches don’t really care for relay splits due to them being unreliable, but would they accept it if I have video evidence that I did it?

Also, unrelated but say the split didn’t matter, if I get big drops on my times senior year, would it make a difference in my chances, even if it’s later on?

I didn't even read your entire post, and I don't care what rationale you give for wanting your spilt to be accepted.

Coaches don't care about splits, and any coach who ever would is an idiot.

Mistakes happen in splits all the time...batons are handed off at different places in the zone, and so you could have a running start when the split begins.

Run a fast time in an open race. If you want a split to be emblematic of your ability, then you should be able to run that time in an open race.

runthecountry wrote:

Slowapriringcollegiate wrote:

So I have a difference of about 3.xx seconds between my 4x8 and my open 8 prs my junior year, which (I feel) is pretty substantial difference for recruiting, since I don’t have many other events to back it up. Thing is, I’ve heard that college coaches don’t really care for relay splits due to them being unreliable, but would they accept it if I have video evidence that I did it?

Also, unrelated but say the split didn’t matter, if I get big drops on my times senior year, would it make a difference in my chances, even if it’s later on?

Hmm, maybe. If I were recruiting you and saw the video of the 4x8, it would depend a little bit on how it played out. Did you anchor your team to a win, either running from the front or passing guys? Or did you get dragged along by a faster runner/pack, and not make any moves?

The fast relay split shouldn't hurt you, though I don't know if you'd get all that much more scholarship money because of it. More likely situation is that coaches would be intrigued, but would hope to get you at a "discount" (lower scholarship or walk-on) since you have shown potential but don't have the official marks to show for it.

Slowapriringcollegiate1 wrote:

Flagpole wrote:

I didn't even read your entire post, and I don't care what rationale you give for wanting your spilt to be accepted.

Coaches don't care about splits, and any coach who ever would is an idiot.

Mistakes happen in splits all the time...batons are handed off at different places in the zone, and so you could have a running start when the split begins.

Run a fast time in an open race. If you want a split to be emblematic of your ability, then you should be able to run that time in an open race.

I get what you mean, but in this case the baton was handed at the very end of the zone, and the handoff in a way where there was effectively no running start. Obviously this doesn’t make it more valid to coaches, I’m just responding to what you said to clarify, and that if I happened to run an open that day, it probably would’ve been a similar time. But I agree, I do need to run faster times to prove it

Flagpole wrote:

Slowapriringcollegiate wrote:

So I have a difference of about 3.xx seconds between my 4x8 and my open 8 prs my junior year, which (I feel) is pretty substantial difference for recruiting, since I don’t have many other events to back it up. Thing is, I’ve heard that college coaches don’t really care for relay splits due to them being unreliable, but would they accept it if I have video evidence that I did it?

Also, unrelated but say the split didn’t matter, if I get big drops on my times senior year, would it make a difference in my chances, even if it’s later on?

I didn't even read your entire post, and I don't care what rationale you give for wanting your spilt to be accepted.

Coaches don't care about splits, and any coach who ever would is an idiot.

Mistakes happen in splits all the time...batons are handed off at different places in the zone, and so you could have a running start when the split begins.

Run a fast time in an open race. If you want a split to be emblematic of your ability, then you should be able to run that time in an open race.

been there1111 wrote:

Slowapriringcollegiate wrote:

So I have a difference of about 3.xx seconds between my 4x8 and my open 8 prs my junior year, which (I feel) is pretty substantial difference for recruiting, since I don’t have many other events to back it up. Thing is, I’ve heard that college coaches don’t really care for relay splits due to them being unreliable, but would they accept it if I have video evidence that I did it?

Also, unrelated but say the split didn’t matter, if I get big drops on my times senior year, would it make a difference in my chances, even if it’s later on?

First of all, spelling does matter: so spell better in any applications than you have here.

Second: no, this is really irrelevant. A real time is one you perform on a track in an individual event. It is a discrete and meaningful number. An anchor leg especially (essentially anything other than leadoff) has a running start. And there are just so many points of potential inaccuracy. If you can't do this in an individual race; then you just can't do it from the POV of coaches considering admission/scholarship.

Have a good senior year: who knows what will happen. Good luck.