12 vs 9 to finals....

[Historian]

Can anyone explain (other than "that's tradition' or "that's the way it has always been") why IHSA brings 12 800 meter individuals, 12 1600 meter individuals and 12 4X8 teams to the finals ? All other track events have nine entries, which corresponds to the number of lanes and places. Many championship level meets use individual lanes to start the 800 as well to avoid hassles at the start.

It makes sense to me to reward the top nine runners with a spot in the finals and a state place, rather than give a second chance to the 10th-11th-12th places in the prelims.

Any thoughts ?

[ChicagoRunner93]

Originally Posted by Historian

Can anyone explain (other than "that's tradition' or "that's the way it has always been") why IHSA brings 12 800 meter individuals, 12 1600 meter individuals and 12 4X8 teams to the finals ? All other track events have nine entries, which corresponds to the number of lanes and places. Many championship level meets use individual lanes to start the 800 as well to avoid hassles at the start.

It makes sense to me to reward the top nine runners with a spot in the finals and a state place, rather than give a second chance to the 10th-11th-12th places in the prelims.

Any thoughts ?

I dunno, maybe because there's a lot more variability in the performance of distance runners than there are for sprinters.
Meaning that in the prelims, there is so much strategy (sit and kick, just make finals barely to conserve energy, don't stack the relay to save your top dog for later), that the top 9 aren't necessarily the 9 fastest guys/teams, so it makes sense to get in more bodies to the finals so the REAL top 9 get awards at the end.

[jpac511]

The only reason is because they have 9 lanes. If they had 12 lanes to sprint in, I'm fairly certain that they would take 12 to finals in each sprinting event. Field events all take 12 as well. It's so the top of the pack still have an opportunity to get all state if they falter a bit in prelims, in essence a second chance.