How should coaches decide on entries for a track meet?

Based on seed time and what kind of shape the athlete is in. No favorites, no privileges for upperclassmen.

Keep it on the crete wrote:

Based on seed time and what kind of shape the athlete is in. No favorites, no privileges for upperclassmen.

I dont necessarily agree. We sometimes actually skew a bit for an underclassman who is equal to an upperclassman. The older kids deserves some entries too, but if the younger kids is a freshman who I think will go on to be a team leader, I might give them a few more chances.

We do mix it around a bit though, to make sure all kids who work hard get to be in at least some weekend invites.

I think it should depend on the purpose of the meet.

My team usually went to 5-6 invites. Mine was a small team, so we rarely didn't have to worry about running out of events to put people in.

The first one was one we traveled to a warmer place (march is pretty unpredictable where I live) and the goal was for each athlete to get a PR.

I don't recall how entries were determined for the sprinters, but for the distance/mid distance guys it usually went like this. Coach started with the fastest guys and put them in their best event. From there he'd go to guys who were on the verge of being varsity level, and put them in that event. For example, my jr. year my PR in the 1600m was 5:02, so he put me in the 1600m so I could break five. After that he'd start assigning doubles. The goal was to get anyone who could be competitive to have a great meet and to PR.

The next two invites we ran the events we were anticipated to run at regional. The idea was to get us to race and to prepare us for that championship meet. So if you were expected to run the 3200/1600 double at regions, that is what you ran. With whatever slots we had left we let those kids who were not quite varsity yet, but not the mediocre kids.

The fourth invite my coach would mix it up a bit of the both. If he had an athlete who needed to better prepare for the double or triple he (or she) would have to run at regions, he'd run that double or triple. If he felt an athlete was ready for regions or was close to an qualifying time for states, he'd put them in one event at have them go for it. Other athletes he'd pick an event they'd excel at but never had a chance to focus on and throw them into that event. (that is how i found out I was a decent 800 runner)

Fifth he'd focus on whatever he felt each athlete needed in order to put our team in position to do well at regions, so much like the fourth invite.

Sixth he'd only send 1 or 2, and that is if they were painfully close to an automatic state qualifying time, and they'd go with the goal to get that qualifying time.

If I were a coach, I'd follow that model because I felt like it prepared my team well for regions.

If I were the coach of a larger team, I honestly don't know what I would do. I'd probably experiment and see what worked best, but I think I would follow the same pattern and send the kids who we couldn't fit in, but still met minimum times and could contribute at regions to another meet.

hsrunner109 wrote:

Should it be based solely on seed time and/or recent performance or should grade and progression be a factor when choosing who to enter into an event limited to a certain number of entries per school?

Unless it is a qualifying meet, HS and college coaches should select based on the incoming bribes a parent of said athlete is willing to offer them. Coaches need to learn to be businesspeople first much like the institutions that employ them!! Business first. Competition second

1. Make entries that will maximize your points.

2. Spread the love. If you get X number of entries scatter them around in the 1600, 800, 3200 and 4x800 (if you have that).

3. Close calls (within tenth) give to your best racer.