State and Regional Seeding

State and Regional Seeding

Fans and some coaches have asked me about seeding. The question normally arises because their athlete has a better time than another athlete with a better lane assignment. Well, here's the way its done: seeding is by place and time, not time alone at the Regional and State level. The 4 x 800 meter relay, the 800s, 1600s, and 3200s are all seeded randomly. The table below will illustrate how the seeding is accomplished for individual running events and the sprint relays, 4 x 100, 4 x 200 and 4 x 400.

Place finished in District or Regional	Lane Assignment
1st	Fastest 1st-1-4, 2nd fastest 2-4, 3rd fastest 2-5- 4th fastest 1-5
2nd	Fastest 2nd -2-6, 2nd fastest 1-6, 3rd fastest 1-3, 4th fastest 2-3
3rd	Fastest 3rd-1-2, 2nd fastest 2-2,3rd fastest 2-7, 4th fastest 1-7
4th	Fastest 4th- 2-8, 2nd fastest 1-8, 3rd Fastest 1-1, 4th Fastest 2-1

	4x800, 800,100,3200 -Randomly Seeded
	Field Events are all randomly seeded
	Here's an actual example with regard to this year's State Track Meet Event 5 Girls 100 Meter Dash =============================================================================== 8 Advance: Top 4 Each Heat plus Next 0 Best Times State Meet: 11.59 2000 Khalilah Carpenter(Columbus Brookhaven) State Record: 11.59 2000 Khalilah Carpenter(Columbus Brookhaven) Owens Stad.: 11.78 2008 Aareon Payne(Cleveland Hts. Beaumont) Name Year School Seed relim Time =============================================================================== Heat 1 Prelims 1 782 Shyniqua Allen 12 Wester. Cent 12.41 2 11 Genesis Calhoun 11 Cin. Withrow 12.26 3 523 Alanna Dawkins 10 Col. Frankli 12.26 4 138 Shauniece Steele 11 Cin. Walnut 12.02 5 429 Kandace Thomas 10 Canton GlenO 12.27 6 16 Erika Schmidt 12 White. Antho 12.19 7 504 Chanitta Westbrooks 9 Cle. John Ha 12.39 8 804 Kaila Barber 10 Middleburg H 12.40 Heat 2 Prelims 1 625 Lauren Macer 12 Twinsburg 12.51 2 337 Cameron Gardner 11 Perrysburg 12.28 3 213 Jessica Grant 12 Wadsworth 12.34 4 404 Mahagony Jones 12 Cle. Rhodes 12.02 5 571 Zena Kolliesuah 10 Pick. North 12.24 6 12 Brittany Smith 12 Cin. Withrow 12.12 7 658 Allison Gaiters 12 Zanesville 12.33 8 435 Brittney Latimer 11 Xenia 12.35 The last column above shows the Regional finish.i.e. Shauniece Steele from Cincinnati Walnut was the fastest 1st place finisher -she gets lane 1 of the 1st heat. The second fastest 1st place finisher is Mahogony Jones of Rhodes. She gets lane 4 of the 2nd heat. The third fastest 1st place finisher is Zena Kolliesuah of Pickerington North. She gets lane 5 of the 2nd heat. Kandace Thomas of GlenOak was the 4th fastest 1st place finisher from her regional. She gets lane 5 of the 1st heat. We then skip to the 2nd heat to start with the 2nd place finishers. The fastest 2nd place is Brittany Smith. She gets 2-6. Erika Schmidt the 2nd fastest 2nd place get 1-6, Alanna Dawkins,3rd fastest gets 1-3 and Jessica Grant 4th fastest 2nd place gets 2-3. We then skip to the first heat to start placing the 3rd places. Fastest 3rd place from the regionals is Genesis Calhoun. She gets lane 2, 1st heat, 2nd fastest 3rd place is Cameron Gardner. She gets lane 2, 2nd heat, 3rd fastest 3rd place is Allison Gaithers. She gets lane 7, 2nd heat and Chanitta Westbrooks, 4th fastest 3rd place gets lane 7, 1st heat. We then skip to the 2nd heat to start seeding the 4th place finishers from the regionals. Fastest 4th place is Brittany Latimer she gets lane 8, 2nd heat, 2nd fastest 4th place is Kaila Barber. She get lane 8, 1st heat. 3rd fastest 4th place is Shyniqua Allen. She gets lane 1, 1st heat, and finally the 4th fastest 4th place is Lauren Macer who gets lane 1, 2nd heat. Observation: Brittany Smith ran a 12.12 yet she gets lane 6; Zena Kolliesuah ran a 12.24 gets a better lane. This result occurs because Zena was a 1st place finisher, Brittany was a 2nd place finisher eve though she had a better time. Hopefully, this will explain to track fans and coaches alike how seeding is done at the Regional and State level.