High School track and field athletes train almost year round to only drop seconds, sometimes milliseconds off of their times. We have to discipline ourselves to achieve goals along with qualifications. We all have bad races, and that may be due to weather or just not being in the best condition. That’s why we should change the qualifying rules for high school track and field athletes because under the current model where the only way to the finals is through the regional meet, having one bad day could end your season.

We have so much pressure on us to qualify for the state championship at one single meet. It’s one shot, one goal, and many people want it, but only a few get it. There are so many variables that could happen at a meet that can even make the best runners not perform at their best, like like loose blocks, wind, and rainy or just cold weather. If any of those strike on the wrong day, an athlete who is otherwise perfectly positioned to make it to the state meet might be denied that opportunity.

An example would be East Kentwood sprinter Malachi Mosley. Malachi was the 2022 400m dash state champion, but in 2023, he wasn’t even able to qualify due to the absolutely terrible weather. He didn’t place in the top two that day and also did not run the additional qualifying (AQ) time that would advance him to the state meet outside of the top two places. That qualifying time was 50.35: to put this into perspective, earlier in the season, he ran a blazing 48.57, much faster than the AQ, but due to the the MHSAA’s rules, just because he didn’t run the time at the regional meet his season was sadly cut short.

From a collegiate standpoint, the NCAA’s rules are so much better. In comparison to MHSAA, collegiate athletes are able to qualify for the NCAA championship any time in the year, making them able to compete even if they have one bad race later in the season.

The MHSAA is considering changing the qualifying rules this year allowing athletes to qualify anytime during the season, which would the pressure and the stakes off of having one shot to qualify, but the specifics of that have not been shared yet. If that were to be the case, it would impact our team here very positively and help us be very focused on qualifying as early in the season as possible so that we can put our energy toward peaking at the right time during championship season, not relying on luck to qualify at a single meet.

Elsewhere in the track and field world:

Sydney McLaughlin-Leverone broke her own 400MH world record in a swift 50.37 at the 2024 Paris Olympics, alongside another world record set by the great Mondo Duplantis in pole vault for the 10th time. Noah Lyles won gold in the 100m dash in a huge upset in front of Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, with them both running 9.79. They were hundredth of a second away from each other with Lyles’ 9.784 and Thompsons 9.789. 400mh world record holder Karsten Warholm and Mondo Duplantis also went head to head in a 100m dash challenge before the Diamond League finals, with a big surprise: Mondo can do more than just swing a pole, beating Warholm in a out of nowhere 10.37 over the 400mh record holder.