By Staff
Coaching Management, 13.1, January 2005, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/cm/cm1301/bbsteeplechase.htm
There will be no more women-only water pits in NCAA steeplechase events and no more short runways for the long jump and triple jump, thanks to work of the NCAA Track and Field Rules Committee.
In its revisions for 2005, the committee deleted a section and diagram that allowed women an optional pit three inches shorter than that used by male steeplechasers. It also specified that new horizontal-jump runways must be at least 40 meters long (131 feet, three inches) from the edge nearest the pit of each takeoff board.
Otherwise, most of the committee’s work involved clarifying a few hazy points and adjusting language to match rules of USA Track and Field and the IAAF. "I don’t think there are any major items here at all this time around," says Bob Podkaminer, Secretary/Rules Editor for the Track and Field Committee.
Of note, however, are a couple of changes regarding preliminaries and heats. In assigning lanes in events without preliminaries, the games committee now can draw on performance times from previous competition. Previously, lanes were to be assigned by drawing lots. The situation is rare except in some dual meets, says Podkaminer.
For indoor meets, the committee withdrew a provision specifying that there must be at least two competitors from a heat advancing in an event. Under the new rule, advancement goes to the heat winner and then to the best times from all heats. The two-from-each-heat provision is drawn from outdoor track and takes into account wind, but that’s irrelevant for indoor events and so was removed, Podkaminer says.
In another change, when a jump-off is necessary to settle a tie in vertical jumps, a competitor’s decision to withdraw from the jump-off will not affect his or her participation in subsequent events or negate his or her performance in the event. In other words, a withdrawal from a jump-off won’t be recorded as a "fail," which implies an attempt, and which could count against a competitor as the event proceeds.
Finally, the committee specified that qualifying meets must run trials and finals at the same distances. The committee had heard of instances in which some preliminaries were run at 55 yards and finals at 60, Podkaminer says.
Smaller changes, including a downloadable official rule book, are available at: www2.ncaa.org/media_and_events/ncaa_publications/playing_rules/.