Meet Central

The purpose of the "Meet Central" page is to help you better understand how a track & field meet is structured. Scroll down to see what the Qualifying Standards are for the IHSA State Meet. 

What is the difference between a "heat" and a "section?"

When a running event is timed finals only, each race in the series of races is called a "section." Athletes from any section can place in the event.  

Sometimes at meets there may be prelims and finals, such as the state meet.  These athletes run in a "heat." The winner of each heat will move on to finals to compete against other heat winners plus the next fastest times. 

What is a "limited" vs "open" meet?

Most Varsity meets, such as Invitational/Invites, Conference, and Sectionals will have a limit on how many participants can be entered in an event from each school. These meets are "limited" because we can only enter our top athletes. Open meets allow for more participants, this may be unlimited entries or a higher entry limit. Many of our meets are invitationals which means our top 2 (sometimes 3) for each event.  For open meets, those who do not compete in "limited meets" and are in good academic and team standing will compete.

Here are the order of events for outdoor meets:

• Field Events (Shot, Discus, High Jump, Long/Triple Jump, Pole Vault)

• 4x800 Meter Relay

• 4x100 Meter Relay

• 3200 Meter Run (slower section may run before 4x800 at invitationals)

• 110 Meter Hurdles

• 100 Meter Dash

• 800 Meter Run

• 4x200 Meter Relay

• 400 Meter Dash

• 300 Meter Hurdles

• 1600 Meter Run

• 200 Meter Dash

• 4x400 Meter Relay

Field events are typically set up where the varsity or F/S level will go first before the other groups competes. Long jump usually goes first before triple jump starts. At varsity invitationals, field events will be grouped by flight which is based upon each athlete's best mark. Athletes with lower seed marks will go first. Pole vault sometimes runs F/S and varsity at the same time if there are a small amount of competitors. Most meets that are in will be co-ed and will run girls heats before the boys heats. In cases were there are only a few competitors, they may group the boys and girls together.