PoleVaultPower.com

http://www.usatf.org/Events---Calendar/ ... teria.aspx


Meet Criteria

Criteria for a Meet/Event to be acceptable for qualifying for USATF National Championships or Olympic Trials:

In order for a mark(s) from a meet or single event to be accepted for qualifying for the USATF Indoor or Outdoor Championships, USATF Junior Championships or U.S. Olympic Trials for track & field, AND for USATF to be able to verify to the IAAF and various track & field ranking agencies the validity of the mark(s) for Olympic Games or IAAF World Championships qualifying purposes, the following criteria apply:

- The meet/event must appear on an organizations’ previously published calendar of events. #

- The meet/event must be sanctioned in advance by USATF or the National Governing Body of another nation. And while not sanctioned by USATF, higher level collegiate and high school meets - such as a high school or college invitational, championships, relay carnivals, etc. – will be recognized as valid meets for qualifying.

- The meet/event must be held on a legal facility per USATF and/or IAAF rules & regulations.

- USATF certified or recognized officials must officiate the meet/event.

- In the 100m, 200m, 400m, 100m hurdles, 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles, only marks made using FAT (full automatic timing to the hundredth of a second [.01]) will be accepted for QUALIFYING PURPOSES.
In throwing events, all implements must be officially measured and certified according to USATF and/or IAAF rules.
In the short sprints (100m & 200m), short hurdles (100m & 110m) and horizontal jumps (long jump & triple jump) a wind gauge must be used and reported.

- At least five (5) competitors must participate in the event.

- Trials & finals, qualifying and finals, rounds in running event, etc. should be run according to USATF and/or IAAF rules & regulations. Duplicate events on the same day, unless they follow the World/Olympic same-day qualifying &finals format, will not be acceptable for qualifying purposes.

- Meet results, including all field event recording sheet(s) and throwing implement verifications sheets, may be requested to be sent/faxed (317-261-0514) to the USATF National Office, attn: Duffy Mahoney, if verification is needed.
Meet results should always be faxed or e-mailed to: USATF at [stats@usatf.org] and T&F News at [stats@trackandfieldnews.com].

# Meets that are last-chance in nature, or not on an organization’s calendar of events, must be reported to USATF at duffy.mahoney@usatf.org or (317-713-467) not later than three full weeks from the first day/date of competition of those Championships. Doing so will permit the USATF staff member designated by the Sports Committee Chairs, to review the proposed meet/event. If the meet/event were to be approved, this would allow sufficient time to disseminate meet information to as many interested competitors as possible. Failure to adhere to this protocol will likely result in the performance(s) being disallowed for qualifying purposes.

Does anyone have any questions about any aspect of this? I plan to send Duffy an email to clarify a few points, but would love to hear what questions people who are less familiar with the issue have.

Here are how some of these pertain to pole vaulters...

The meet/event must appear on an organizations’ previously published calendar of events. Meets that are last-chance in nature, or not on an organization’s calendar of events, must be reported to USATF not later than three full weeks from the first day/date of competition of those Championships

This means you must need to plan your meets in advance. No throwing together a meet on a few days' notice.

The meet/event must be sanctioned in advance by USATF or the National Governing Body of another nation. And while not sanctioned by USATF, higher level collegiate and high school meets - such as a high school or college invitational, championships, relay carnivals, etc. – will be recognized as valid meets for qualifying.

While generally sanctions can be obtained on shorter notice, I think official USATF policy is that sanctions should be sought at least a month in advance. Again, plan ahead. Fortunately, the sanctions process _should_ be moving online in the next month or two, which will make this process easier. I know some of you have weird sanction chairs in your association.

The meet/event must be held on a legal facility per USATF and/or IAAF rules & regulations.

This means you need legal bars, short pegs (for elites, I'm sure they'll take long pegs for HSers qualifying for juniors), temporary runways (street vaults and the like) need to be surveyed (IAAF rules say with a transit), standard box, etc.

USATF certified or recognized officials must officiate the meet/event.

I will ask Duffy if this means you need two USATF officials for the pole vault. He's talking about track meets as a whole.

At least five (5) competitors must participate in the event.

This means same gendered participants in your same competition. I've heard Duffy mention same age group, although technically "Open" starts at age 14/16 and there is no upper age limit.

I don't think this is set in stone, I think if you are competing in a larger track meet, and your event just happens to be on the skimpy side, that he won't necessarily hold it against you, but if you're doing a PV only event, or a last chance meet with only a few events, this is what he'll be looking for.

I will follow up with Duffy for some clarification.

Trials & finals, qualifying and finals, rounds in running event, etc. should be run according to USATF and/or IAAF rules & regulations. Duplicate events on the same day, unless they follow the World/Olympic same-day qualifying &finals format, will not be acceptable for qualifying purposes.

No more multiple divisions in one day. You get one chance per meet, per day to qualify.

Meet results, including all field event recording sheet(s) and throwing implement verifications sheets, may be requested to be sent/faxed (317-261-0514) to the USATF National Office, attn: Duffy Mahoney, if verification is needed.
Meet results should always be faxed or e-mailed to: USATF at [stats@usatf.org] and T&F News at [stats@trackandfieldnews.com].

Elite athletes should take a picture of the official's score sheet at every meet. Don't count on someone else submitting the results, have your own picture as a backup.

USATF certified or recognized officials must officiate the meet/event.

A strict reading of this would mean that athletes could not qualify abroad?

Coach J wrote:

USATF certified or recognized officials must officiate the meet/event.

A strict reading of this would mean that athletes could not qualify abroad?

That's not the intent, but I will ask if Duffy is concerned about smaller international meets like street vaults and such. I think the word "recognized" covers officials certified by other countries (or the NCAA).

rainbowgirl28 wrote:

Coach J wrote:

USATF certified or recognized officials must officiate the meet/event.

A strict reading of this would mean that athletes could not qualify abroad?

That's not the intent, but I will ask if Duffy is concerned about smaller international meets like street vaults and such. I think the word "recognized" covers officials certified by other countries (or the NCAA).

How about us NFHS/State Association certified officials for High Schoolers looking to qualify for Juniors?

Am I hurting Illinois' elite high schoolers when I run our "Indoor State Meet" in March?

I was not aware of any certifications for high school officials.

Out here, USATF certification is the only one we do.

We do have to know the NFHS rulebook as much as the NCAA and USATF ones.

Chukam All wrote:How about us NFHS/State Association certified officials for High Schoolers looking to qualify for Juniors?

Am I hurting Illinois' elite high schoolers when I run our "Indoor State Meet" in March?

As Wilson said, there is no such thing as an NFHS officials' certification. Some states have their own certification for HS officials and some do not.

I suspect that Juniors will generally not be held to as much scrutiny as seniors, unless an irregularity is brought to USATF's attention. I don't think they would question marks from a major meet like an indoor state meet or whatever, unless there was a reason to. I think they would want more verification of marks from say a Flying Dragons meet held at their indoor facility, those are the types of meets that they are more concerned about.