National Scholastic Athletics Foundation

2021 NSAF Indoor Nationals Entry and Seeding Rules

Our goal is to ensure that every entry is fairly evaluated for acceptance and seeding purposes. Over the years we have developed rules and procedures that help us to achieve this goal. We have made some exceptions to our normal rules given the pandemic and those are incorporated in the following.

Entrants often attempt to gain acceptance with a mark that does not meet the standard. They try to make a case by pointing out that at previous Nationals competitors in their event did not meet the entry standard at the meet. While performances at prior New Balance Nationals may not have met standards in the meet itself, all entrants met entry requirements before the meet. Declaring that an athlete has better marks than competitors in previous meets will not result in acceptance in the meet. Not every athlete has a career day at the nationals.

Entry standards may be found here: Entry Standards.  If you have questions about the acceptability of an entry, please e-mail info@nationalscholastic.org with "STANDARDS INQUIRY" as the subject line. (We do not accept phone calls or texts regarding entries or seeding).

Entries in freshman events are restricted to 9th graders only.  Entries in Middle School events are restricted to 6th, 7th and 8th graders only.  Under no circumstances will entries from athletes lower than 6th grade or higher than 12th be accepted in any event.  No exceptions.

Please note: At present (December 17, 2020) you may enter but may NOT pay for your entry.  We are not accepting any payments until we can be sure of all the arrangements for the meet.

 

Entry Specifics

General – rules apply to both individual and relay qualifying:

• All qualifying marks must be independently verifiable by us.  Please note: WE VERIFY ALL ENTRY MARKS.  You can help yourself and us by providing meet information including meet name, date and location and where possible a link to results;
• Qualifying marks should be made on tracks of 300 meters or shorter.  Under no circumstances will qualifying marks for the 200, 300, 400 or 800 be accepted for entry or seeding if they were run on an oval of greater than 300 meters unless they were made in indoors/outdoors 2019 or 2020 where the stated Outdoor season standards apply.  This rule pertains to marks made for the period March 2019 through March 2021. 
• Qualifying marks must be made in legitimate meets officiated by USATF, NFHS or college officials.  Meets may not be exhibitions or single-event competitions such as pole vault-only meets with the exception of the National Pole Vault Summit in Reno and other meets when requests for acceptance are made in advance to Info@NationalScholastic.org;
• Entries must be made in actual meets; virtual meet marks are not acceptable;
• Entry marks may not be projections or forecasts of what the athlete might achieve at the indoor nationals;
• Time trial and dual/tri/quad meet marks will not be accepted for entry purposes.  Qualifying standards for both individual and relay events must be met in meets of 5 or more teams;

Individual Qualifying:

Entry standards may be met in meets from the following seasons:

• Individual indoor marks (including pentathlon) acceptable from the 2018-2019, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons,
• Individual outdoor marks (including decathlon) acceptable from the 2019 and 2020 seasons;

• Athletes may qualify for the pentathlon with a composite of season bests from the 2019-20 indoor or 2020 outdoor season.  Composites may not use any marks from prior to those seasons.  Note that the requirement for entry when using a composite score is higher than when using an actual multi score.  (See Entry Standards);
• No adjustments for flat to banked tracks will be made or allowed;
• Relay splits may not be used for entry even if they are FAT;
• 300 meter times may not be used to enter the 400 but may be used to enter the 200;
• Similarly, 500 and 600 meter times may not be used to enter the 800 but may be used to enter the 400;
• Altitude adjustments will be made by the Seeding Committee where appropriate.  We use the NCAA altitude conversion calculator. To ensure that an altitude adjustment is made where justified, send an e mail to Info@nationalscholastic.org with the subject “Altitude Adjustment Request”;
• Entries by the same individual in the same event, i.e. Championship and Emerging Elite 200, are not permitted.  If an entry mark is significantly superior to the Championship standard, the athlete must compete in the Championship race;
• Returning Champions from the 2019 New Balance Indoor or Outdoor Nationals automatically qualify for their respective Championship event (Individual events only.  Does not apply to Emerging Elite, freshman or junior high events).

Relay Qualifying:

• Entries from the 2018-2019, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021indoor seasons will be accepted ONLY if the team is IDENTICAL (exactly the same runners) to the one that ran the time;
• For the indoor 2021 nationals ONLY: composites will be accepted in ALL relay events if the individual marks were made in the 2019-2020 indoor, the 2020-2021 indoor and/or 2020 outdoor seasons;
• For the distance medley, 1200 legs in a composite entry must have a indoor 2019-2020, 2020-2021 or outdoor 2020 1000, 1500, 1600 or mile time.  Coaches may estimate the 1200 for a composite but we reserve the right to make the final decision as to the time to be used.  Relay splits may not be used in the calculation of composite relay times even if they are FAT;
• When calculating composite times for relays that include 200-meter legs, those legs must be individual FAT (not hand-timed) verifiable results;
• When calculating composite relay times, no adjustments may be made for running starts.

Seeding

• Seeding is done on the basis of 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 indoor and 2019 and 2020 outdoor marks.  Marks made in later seasons (those closest to the meet) will receive preference for seeding;
• Preference for heats and lanes will be given to relay teams that have an actual current season mark (versus a composite) where the actual and the composite are close.  Should a composite based on actual individual current season times be significantly faster than an actual relay times the composite will take precedence.  This decision will be made at the sole discretion of the Seeding Committee.

 

Conversions Used in Making Seeding Decisions

Events	Boys	Girls
1500 to mile	+ 18.0	+ 20.0
1600 to mile	+ 1.2	+ 1.5
3000 to 2 mile	+ 40.0	+ 40.0
3200 to 2 mile	+ 4.0	+ 4.0
1500 RW to mile RW	+ 30.0	+ 40.0

Track size and type will be considered when making decisions relative to conversions where that information is known.

The Seeding Committee may make exceptions to these rules where justified. Athletes and coaches should be guided by the specific event entry standards that are listed here:  https://www.nationalscholastic.org/indoor_nationals/standards/

For eligibility rules for transgender athletes, please click HERE.

Communication about seeding decisions should be directed via e mail to: Joe Lanzalotto (j.lanza@verizon.net)