Official Iowa HS 2024 track and field thread

2 weeks to qualify and many big names have 3-4 events to qualify in. Some are going to be shut out.

Relax, 2 weeks is an eternity for Drake qualifying. The first 2 weeks of April is when it’s generally done. The season hardly started until a week ago, save for a few indoor meets.

Wait until you look up meet results and instead see cancelled, cancelled, cancelled.

Write this week off due to weather. That leaves 10 days for people to qualify.

Beason and Huck?

Merrick?

All should be at the top of the lists.

Still plenty of time

Many qualifiers, if not most, come from the last week prior to cut-off anyway. The weather can turn up quick and times start popping. The top guys will get their qualifiers anyway you look at it. The scramble is usually just to fill out fields and are more or less, participants and not medal contenders. Some don't improve and others pop up out of nowhere that last week but usually they aren't a factor in the meet. 400 H used to be just 8 qualify so it also depends on your event as to how much stress there can be. Throwers and jumpers can make the most dramatic improvements on any given day.

Also, it's the 1600 medley that can pull some surprises nobody saw coming out of the "slow" section. I've seen the winner come from there 3 times with some fancy rotation of lineups after getting the relay qualified. No pressure, just run fast and and loose and see what happens. In those scenarios, sometimes the "fast" section gets caught eyeballing each other and don't remember what happened just a few minutes earlier. It's the clock that's the chief competitor.

Incorrect on both points. 4:20 is 10th currently in the 1600. If you are suggesting that 1/2 of the qualifiers are still coming, the cutoff will be well under 4:20. That isn't happening. Also, not all of the top guys get in. Many run out of time. Bonnesen and Bendgen are 2 guys who come to mind from last year.

So you blame weather on the TOP GUYS not getting in? Id have to say they arent top guys then. They should be able to hit a time indoors if they are top guys. Top guys to me are medal contenders during this season, not what happened last year. No guarantee everyone improves linear from one season to the next and newcomers on the scene can bump a few returners out for sure. Also, some people just hold out longer durimg a training block and go hit that time in a recovery week prior to Drake so they are a bit rested for a big weekend at Drake, then a 2 week training block prior to State. Lots of factor to consider. Maybe a good athlete is trying to overcome an injury/illness as well. Like others have said, theres still time and the lists will change a lot between now and the cutoff.

Dozens of meets have been cancelled this week. Of course weather impacts things if your meets get cancelled. Bendgen was stste champ last year and ran 4:18/9:18 but didn't make Drake.

The lists will change but some top girls and boys will be left out of an event because they don't have enough time remaining. Meets will get cancelled and some will be held in 25 MPH wind like last night. Using your logic, Merrick isn't a top guy because his excuse was bad weather last week as to why he couldn't qualify the 1600.

Drama. The better kids will qualify. The forecast for next week looks great by Iowa standards. If dozens of meets were canceled last week across the state, they were canceled for everyone making it pretty equal for all. Who had the advantage over these so called great athletes? Sounds like a scheduling problem by coaches to ensure opportunities. They dont have to compete but its nice to have at least 2 meets a week to cover potential weather issues.

Again, it'll be fine. The better kids will make it and the weather looks great next week.

No drama but you were given 2 examples of kids who were potential medalists last year. It happens every year where kids run slow in a crappy meet and then go after relays and then some meets get cancelled and then they only qualify in 1 of the 3 distance events.

Thats a coaching decision. I would say most of the time, those kids are all in on getting relays qualified and more teammates involved the meet. The nice thing is that Drake just isnt all that important once its over and the state meet is the real prize for most. Im pretty sure thae state champ you referred to would not trade his gold medals in. There's always Drake drama for qualifying every year. Happens at all levels. Im sure by April 18th, 2 weeks, the landscape will be quite different. Take your own Forwald Relays for example. Kids respond really well when the chips are down, the competition is great and the weather has to be pretty bad for it to not be favorable for great performances.

This is exactly right.

Everything can change in one night, such as at that City High meet, and it usually does. There is still plenty of time.

That said, in early April we often don’t know who all of the top runners are. Sure, a few are totally predictable like Flori or Merrick. They will qualify. But wasn’t Bonneson a 9:40 guy his junior year? You can usually see these guys coming- often they were dealing with injuries through soph or junior seasons.. This is particularly true for girls. Not gonna name names, but there are at least two I have watched this season that are eventually going to become medal contenders. You can just see it. We often forget these are kids and still developing- not finished products at 15-17 years old.
looking forward to some great races at Drake!

1/2 of meets scheduled today are cancelled.

What Dowling returns for next year
Flori
Wolfe - 9:29
Burr - 10:01 (indoor)
Mohan - 15:59
Paulsen - 16:19 5k

Ankeny also has a sophomore who recently ran a 10:09 3200 and was not in their top 7 for XC. Could be another candidate for the 5th position on the team

results.aatiming.com

AthleticLIVE

Link:results.aatiming.com/meets/30743