Track & Field Advancement and Seeding

CLASS A

Advancement: Area Meets to Sectional Meets

Top 4 Places in every event from each Area Meet advance to Sectional Meets.
(For REPLACEMENT purposes, CLEAR 5th and 6th Places MUST be established for ALL events at Area Meets.) In the event of a tie for an advancement place that needs to be broken, whether from Area Meet to Sectional Meet or Sectional Meet to State Meet, the performance where the tie occurred will be carried forward for seeding in the next meet. The qualifying advancement performance achieved by a competitor at the Area Meet or Sectional Meet is the performance that competitor will carry into the next round of competition. No performance achieved in a tie-break will replace an existing mark unless it involves a 1st Place tie (per rulebook).
EXCEPTION: The Top 4 Places in the 1600 / 3200 races will all advance DIRECTLY to the State Meet, where the Class 1A Private and Public 1600 / 3200 races will be ONE HEAT FINALS, with 16 competitors each, seeded from best to worst by Area Performances.


Seeding at Sectional Meets (from Area Meets):

Sectional Meet Seeding will be done by the GHSA after all Area Meet results have been submitted.
Running Events:

  • Top 2 from each Area Meet – Seeded by Place first, then Time

    • 2nd Place finishers serpentined in “reverse” order to achieve a “split” between thefastest 1st Place Heat winner and fastest 2nd Place Heat finisher
  • 3rd and 4th Place Finishers from each Area Meet will be seeded by time only.

Field Events: All entries seeded by distance/height, in reverse order, worst to best


Advancement: Sectional Meets to State Meet

Top 8 Places in Running Events and Top 9 Places in Field Events from the Sectional Meet advance to the State Meet.
(For REPLACEMENT purposes, CLEAR Running Event 9th and 10th Places / Field Event 10th and 11th Places MUST be established for ALL events at Sectional Meets.)
Running Events: Qualifying heats only, no running finals will be held.

  • Two heats each event: Top 2 in each heat, and next 4 fastest times advance to State Meet

Field Events: (Horizontal Events: Long Jump, Triple Jump, Discus Throw, Shot Put)

  • Trials and Finals with Top 10 advancing to Finals for three additional attempts.
  • Competitors should be reordered worst to best for the finals.

Field Events: (Vertical Events: High Jump and Pole Vault)

  • Events should be carried to conclusion.
  • See Casebook (page 11) for Tie–Break procedures

All SEEDING at State Finals is based on Sectional Meet performances.
State Meet Seeding will be done by the GHSA after Sectional Meet results have been submitted.

Seeding at State Finals (from Sectional Meets):

Running Events: One Heat Finals for ALL events.

  • Top 2 in each heat from Sectional Meet – Seeded by Place first, then Time
  • All other qualifiers from Sectional Meet seeded by time only

Field Events: (Horizontal Events: Long Jump, Triple Jump, Shot Put, Discus)

  • All entries seeded by place and then distance, in reverse order, worst to best
  • Finals with competitors receiving six (6) attempts.

Field Events: (Vertical Events: Pole Vault and High Jump)

  • All qualifiers seeded by place and then height, in reverse order, worst to best

CLASSES AA–AAAAAA

Advancement: Region Meets to Sectional Meets

Top 4 Places in every event from each Region Meet advance to Sectional Meets.
(For REPLACEMENT purposes, CLEAR 5th and 6th Places MUST be established for ALL events at Region Meets.) In the event of a tie for an advancement place that needs to be broken, whether from Region Meet to Sectional Meet or Sectional Meet to State Meet, the performance where the tie occurred will be carried forward for seeding in the next meet. The qualifying advancement performance achieved by a competitor at the Region Meet or Sectional Meet is the performance that competitor will carry into the next round of competition. No performance achieved in a tie-break will replace an existing mark unless it involves a 1st Place tie (per rulebook).

Seeding at Sectional Meets (from Region Meets):

Sectional Meet Seeding will be done by the GHSA after all Region Meet results have been submitted.
Running Events: (Laned Races)

  • Top 2 from each Region Meet – Seeded by Place first, then Time

    • 2nd Place finishers serpentined in “reverse” order to achieve a “split” between the fastest 1stPlace Heat winner and fastest 2nd Place Heat finisher.
  • 3rd and 4th Place Finishers from each Region Meet will be seeded by time only.

Running Events: (1600 and 3200) Seeded by time only.
Field Events: All entries seeded by distance/height, in reverse order, worst to best.

Advancement: Sectional Meets to State Finals

Top 8 Places from each Sectional advance to State Finals
(For REPLACEMENT purposes, CLEAR 9th and 10th Places MUST be established for ALL events at Sectional Meets.)
Running Events (Laned Races): Two Qualifying heats only, no running finals will be held.

  • No running finals contested.
  • Two heats each event: Top 2 in each heat, and next 4 fastest times advance to State Meet

Running Events (1600-3200): Top 8 finishers advance to State Finals
Field Events: (Horizontal Events: Long Jump, Triple Jump, Discus Throw, Shot Put)

  • Trials and Finals with Top 9 advancing to Finals for three additional attempts.
  • Competitors should be reordered worst to best for the finals.

Field Events: (Vertical Events: High Jump and Pole Vault)

  • Events should be carried to conclusion.
  • See Casebook (page 11) for Tie–Break procedures

All SEEDING at State Finals is based on Sectional Meet performances.
State Meet Seeding will be done by the GHSA after all Sectional Meet results have been submitted.

Seeding at State Meet (from Sectional Meets):

Running Events (Laned Races): Two Qualifying Heats.

  • Top 2 in each heat from Sectional Meet – Seeded by Place first, then Time
  • All other qualifiers from Sectional Meet seeded by time only

Running Events (1600-3200): One Heat finals, Seeded from best to worst
Field Events: (Horizontal Events: Long Jump, Triple Jump, Shot Put, Discus)

  • All qualifiers seeded from worst to best.
  • Trials and Finals with Top 9 competitors receiving three additional attempts in Finals.
  • Competitors will be reordered worst to best for the finals.

Field Events: (Vertical Events: Pole Vault and High Jump)

  • All qualifiers seeded from worst to best.

State Meet Qualifying Heats to State Meet Final Advancement (Laned Races):

  • Top 2 in each Qualifying Heat plus next 4 fastest times advance to State Meet Final
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