New Website Feature: Leaderboards!
Introducing Track Mercer leaderboards! Click here to see the top athletes in Mercer County and the Colonial Valley Conference this season.
The leaderboards for winter track will be somewhat unique because many indoor meets have “off-distance” events, meaning distances that are not part of NJSIAA’s standard lineup. Rather than having small, separate leaderboards, I’ll convert times in those off-distance events to times in the more common events, based on what would have been an equally impressive performance in the other event. Here are the conversion pairings:
60m converts to 55m
300m converts to 200m
500m converts to 400m
600m converts to 800m
1000m converts to 800m
3000m converts to 3200m
Converting into equivalent performances may involve some questionable assumptions, and converting a runner’s time doesn’t necessarily mean that the runner could actually run the converted time. For example, a 400m runner dropping down to the 300m might get credit for a 200m time that he doesn’t have the max speed to actually hit. But these leaderboards are just for fun, and it’s more fun to compare a larger group of runners, as opposed to ranking the small handful of 300m results separately.
Here are a few more notes about the leaderboards:
To get equivalent performances at other distances, I used the World Athletics Scoring Tables of Athletics - Indoor (2022). There are a few other equivalency calculators out there, but many can’t do the conversions for certain sprint races that World Athletics can. The conversions using the World Athletics scoring tables are generally in line with the other calculators — in fact, they’re often slightly more conservative than the others. Also, it’s nice to get exposure to the ranking system used by the sport’s global governing body.
Times from the 45m and 45mH will not be converted, because I did not find any reliable conversion for that distance, which is so rarely raced. But head-to-head wins at that distance still certainly mean something!
It was a toss up whether the 600m should be lumped with the 400m or the 800m. Some people consider it a long sprint, and some major meets (like New Balance Nationals Indoor) let you use a 600m time to qualify for the 400m but not the 800m. But my impression is that most people and organizations (like World Athletics) consider it a mid-distance event, and it’s run more often by 800m runners than by 400m runners.
I thought about including relay splits, especially for 800m-1600m splits where a running start doesn’t matter much. But there’s not a really consistent way to know what the splits were and especially who ran which leg, unless I can watch video or coaches tell me who was running. So I won’t include any splits in leaderboards this season. That said, I’m still keeping track of certain splits, to help with championship meet previews and postseason awards. So please send me any impressive relay splits that I should know about!
Finally, remember that rankings based on season’s bests alone are not everything. Some times are run on tracks that are much faster than others. Some times are affected by racing tactics and pacing. Some athletes may have run a relay split much faster than their time in an open race. Some athletes consistently place well in their race or heat regardless of the time. Some athletes don’t focus on racing until championship season. It’s results at those big meets — both time and place — that matter most.