Deep sprint teams like Parkland and Cary will have another option at the 2015 state meet, but it comes with some trade-offs.
Thanks to a proposal made through the North Carolina Track & Cross Country Coaches Association, the NCHSAA has agreed to add the 4x200 to the official schedule for the indoor state meet. This will certainly change the dynamic of the meet in many ways, and it gives coaches something new to include in their strategy for the season. Coach Roger Collins of Green Hope points out that the new event "allows for an additional short sprinting event. Distance runners and long sprinters have had a similar array of opportunities when comparing indoor and outdoor track season, while indoor has not traditionally has as many options for short sprinters [100, 200, 4x1, and 4x2 outdoors as opposed to just the 55 and 300 indoors]."
From another perspective, the change will make event planning for sprinters more complex in the compressed time frame of a state meet. In the words of Coach Charles Douglas of Olympic, "It will ... make coaching decisions a little more difficult when it comes to which athletes run what." Coaches will have to carefully consider the total load on their sprinters, as well as the rest period between events, when deciding where to place the more talented and versatile athletes. The change also potentially increases the scoring chances for deep sprint teams, but with the 4-event limit per athlete and the decreased rest, that might not end up being much of a benefit.
In terms of mechanics, the 4x200 will be run with a 3-turn stagger indoors - that means the first legs will run entirely in lanes, while the second leg will stay in lanes through the first curve before breaking on the back stretch. The first exchange will happen in lanes, and there are no fly zones for this relay indoors, so the outgoing runner has to start within the 20-meter exchange zone. The remaining exchanges will happen in a 4x400 style, which can get very interesting in the 4x200. It is also interesting to see runners try to stay in lanes during the first exchange, and try to control their outward movement in the first curve when running at a dead sprint.
Coach Douglas brings up another interesting point related to the mechanics of running the 4x200 indoors: "The qualifying time seems a bit fast if run on an indoor track." The 4x200 will immediately become the event with the biggest disparity between indoor and outdoor performances. The tighter curves indoors are difficult for sprinters to negotiate, much like the case with the individual 300 but to a greater degree. It seems very likely that there will be some huge 4x200 times run at polar bear meets, but those teams will be unable to even come close to those marks at the state meet. Prepare for the real possibility that the top seeds in this event coming into the championship are not actually the top teams!
All things considered, though, this is a positive change for North Carolina. As Coach Antwan Hughes of Parkland says, "The 4x200 will definitely change up a lot of strategies as far as race load, and give more kids an opportunity to qualify to the state championship. Should be an exciting season with that 4x2!" It will also give NCRunners some more complexities to consider in pre-meet predictions, and that's also a good thing. The new sequence of events has not been officially published yet, but the NFHS recommends the schedule below, which matches well with the arrangement that North Carolina uses for outdoor track.
-
4x800 Relay
-
55 Hurdles
-
55 Dash
-
4x200 Relay
-
1600 Run
-
600/500/400 (depending on what each state chooses to run)
-
1000/800 Run
-
300 Dash
-
3200 Run
-
4x400 Relay