Where Did The NCAA Qualifiers Come From?
(a look at the effect of different tracks)
Noted track designer Floyd Highfill looked at the NCAA Indoor qualifiers and had these observations to make:
Looking at the top 17 qualifiers in each event on the oval for the D-1 NCAA Indoor Championships shows the following data (these are not necessarily the start lists, only the top 17 qualifying marks in each event):
There were 22 venues which produced qualifying marks.
Overall qualifiers (10 or more):
Arkansas (Tyson banked) – 62 qualifiers (23%)
Ames, IA (oversize) – 47 qualifiers (18%)
Washington (Dempsey oversize) – 46 qualifiers (18%)
Notre Dame (oversize) – 39 qualifiers (15%)
Armory (NY - banked) – 17 qualifiers (6.4%)
Boston University (banked) – 10 qualifiers (3.7%)
All others together/16 venues – 44 qualifiers (16%)
7% of the qualifiers were turned in on flat, 200m tracks, the most at UNC (Chapel Hill) with 8 (3.5%).
Qualifiers by event (top 5 venues):
200m – 53% Arkansas; 9% Ames; 6% Washington, 6% Armory, Notre Dame – 1 qualifier
400m – 38% Ames, 29% Arkansas, 9% Washington, 6% Notre Dame, 0% Armory
800m – 41% Ames, 20% Arkansas, 14% Notre Dame, 6% Washington, Armory - 1 qualifier
1 Mile – 34% Washington, 20% Notre Dame, 11% Arkansas, 6% Armory, 0% Ames
3000m – 35% Washington, 11% Ames, 11% Armory, 11% Notre Dame, Arkansas – 1 qualifier
5000m – 26% Arkansas, 17% Notre Dame, 14% Washington, Ames/Armory – 1 qualifier each
4x400 Relay – 35% Ames, 26% Arkansas, 14% Notre Dame, Washington/Armory – 1 qualifier each
DMR - 32% Notre Dame, 23% Washington, 14% Armory, 6% Arkansas, 0% Ames
Qualifiers by event classification (top 5 venues):
Sprints (200,400, 4x4R) – 36% Arkansas, 27% Ames, 6% Notre Dame, 4% Washington, 3% Armory
Distance (800, Mile, 3000, 5000, DMR) – 23% Washington, 19% Notre Dame, 13% Arkansas, 11% Ames, 7.5% Armory
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