The TrackReels blog

Plain-English guides to marks, rules and recruiting, written for athletes and the people helping them.

September 19, 20268 min read

Good Mile Times by Age and Grade: Rate Your 1600m

Published 2026 qualifying 1600m and 1500m times from California, Oregon and Florida youth, the college ranges, mile versus 1600 versus 1500, and hand timing.

TimesStandardsMiddle Distance
September 16, 20268 min read

Good 800m Times by Age and Grade: Rate Your Time

Published 2026 qualifying 800m times from California, Oregon and Missouri, a middle school standard, the college ranges, why the splits matter, and hand timing at 800.

TimesStandardsMiddle Distance
September 8, 20267 min read

Good 200m Times by Age and Grade: Rate Your Time

Published 2026 qualifying 200m times from California, Oregon and Missouri, the college recruiting ranges, the bend, the wind rule and the hand-time catch.

TimesStandardsSprints
September 1, 20267 min read

Hurdle Heights and Spacing: Youth, HS, NCAA, WA

Every hurdle height, spacing, run-in and hurdle count for the 80m to 400m hurdles by level, transcribed from World Athletics, NFHS, NCAA and USATF rules.

RulesHurdles
September 1, 20267 min read

Long Jump and Triple Jump: Meters to Feet Chart

6.50 m is 21' 3.75" and 21' 4" is 6.50 m. Long jump and triple jump conversion charts that round the way NFHS, NCAA and World Athletics rules require.

ConversionsJumps
September 1, 20268 min read

High Jump and Pole Vault: Meters to Feet Chart

6' 0" is 1.83 m and 16' 0" is 4.88 m. High jump and pole vault bar heights in feet-inches and meters, and why a bar set in inches is 3 mm off the metric bar.

ConversionsJumps
September 1, 20269 min read

Shot Put, Discus, Javelin: Meters to Feet Chart

50.00 m is 164' 0" and 131' is 39.92 m. Shot put, discus and javelin charts rounded the way NFHS and World Athletics rules require, plus shot weights by level.

ConversionsThrows
September 1, 20264 min read

NCAA Altitude Conversions End in 2026-27

The NCAA voted in June 2026 to end altitude and indoor track-size conversions for championship qualifying from 2026-27. What the report says and what changes.

RecruitingNCAARules
August 31, 20268 min read

There Is No Cross Country Recruiting Standard

Every 5K cross country recruiting table online falls apart on inspection. What college coaches actually recruit distance runners off instead.

RecruitingCross CountryDistance
August 28, 20262 min read

Indoor Track Sizes: Banked, Flat and Oversize

A standard indoor track is 200m, but banked, flat and oversize tracks run at different speeds. The NCAA converts between them with published factors.

IndoorRulesFacilities
August 12, 20264 min read

Is 11.5 a Good 100m Time? Rate Yours by Level

For a girl 11.5 is inside the D1 recruiting range. For a boy it is not a recruiting mark. Hand-timed, it is really an 11.74. The full ladder, D1 to NAIA.

TimesStandardsSprints
August 12, 20266 min read

Good 100m Times by Age and Grade: Rate Your Time

Published 2026 qualifying 100m times from California, Oregon and Missouri, a middle school championship standard, the college ranges, and the hand-time catch.

TimesStandardsSprints
August 12, 20265 min read

Good 400m Times by Level: Rate Your Time

Published 2026 state and section qualifying 400m times from California, Oregon and Missouri, the college recruiting ranges, and how to read your own split.

TimesStandardsSprints
August 12, 20265 min read

Good Long Jump Distances: Rate Your Mark by Level

Published 2026 state and section qualifying long jumps from California, Oregon and Missouri, the college ranges in meters and feet, and what adds distance.

StandardsJumpsField Events
August 12, 20265 min read

Good Shot Put Distances: Rate Your Mark by Level

Published 2026 state and section qualifying shot put marks from California, Oregon and Missouri, the college ranges, and why 12 lb and 16 lb throws differ.

StandardsThrowsField Events
August 12, 20263 min read

How to Get Faster in the 100m

The parts of a sprint that actually respond to work, in the order they pay off, and the honest limits of anything you read online.

TrainingSprints
August 12, 20263 min read

How to Improve Your 400m Time

Why the 400 punishes pacing errors more than fitness, how to read your own split, and what a realistic in-season improvement looks like.

TrainingSprints
August 12, 20263 min read

How to Get Recruited for Track and Field

The actual sequence, from working out your realistic division to what to send a coach and when they are allowed to reply.

RecruitingStandards
August 10, 20268 min read

MileSplit vs Athletic.net: Which Is Better?

Both paywall their rankings. What each covers, what a subscription unlocks, how to pick the one your state uses, and the free option that ranks every legal mark.

ResultsRankingsRecruiting
August 10, 20266 min read

How to Film Track and Field: Every Event

Where to stand and what to shoot for sprints, hurdles, distance, jumps and throws, so the footage is actually usable for recruiting.

VideoRecruitingHow-to
August 10, 20264 min read

How Long Should a Track Highlight Video Be?

The team-sport answer is wrong for track. Why full races beat montages, how much footage each event needs, and what coaches skip.

VideoRecruiting
August 10, 20264 min read

NCAA Track Recruiting Calendar 2026-27

Every contact and dead period for Division I cross country and track this cycle, taken straight from the NCAA calendar updated 30 July 2026.

NCAARecruitingRules
August 10, 20266 min read

MileSplit Alternatives for Track Athletes

What MileSplit puts behind its paywall, the free and paid alternatives for results, rankings and video, and the one that ranks every legal mark for free.

ResultsRankingsRecruiting
August 10, 20265 min read

Getting Recruited as an Unattached Athlete

What unattached means in track, whether those marks count for recruiting, and how to get them in front of coaches when no team uploads them.

RecruitingMeetsMarks
August 10, 20265 min read

When Can Coaches Contact You? By Class Year

For D1 track the line is June 15 after sophomore year: for the class of 2029, June 15, 2027. What each class can do today, and the two moves legal at any age.

NCAARecruitingRules
August 10, 202610 min read

Track Meet Abbreviations: NM, SB, PR, DQ, NT

Every code on an athletics or track results sheet decoded: PR, SB, MR, CR, NR, AR, WR, NM, NH, DNF, DNS, DQ, FS, SCR, NT, NWI, the w flag and q versus Q.

RulesResultsGlossary
August 10, 20265 min read

What Is a PR in Track? PR vs PB vs SB

PR and PB mean the same thing, SB does not. Which marks count, how wind and hand timing complicate it, and what coaches accept as real.

RulesMarksGlossary
August 10, 20264 min read

Seed Time Rules: NT, Heats, Lanes and Faking It

A seed time decides your heat and lane. What to enter when you have no time, what NT does to your lane draw, and why inflating a seed backfires at check-in.

MeetsRulesGlossary
August 8, 20265 min read

Hand Time vs FAT: Why a Stopwatch Reads Fast

What fully automatic timing is, the exact conversion coaches apply to a hand time, and why a stopwatch PR does not travel.

RulesSprintsRecruiting
August 8, 20265 min read

Recruiting Standards: the Three Real Sources

Why the recruiting standards you find online are usually wrong, and the three places to look up what your event really needs.

RecruitingStandardsNCAA
August 8, 20265 min read

Which track event should you actually run?

An honest guide to picking an event: what each one really demands, why the 400m breaks people, and which events are quietly desperate for athletes.

EventsBeginnersRecruiting
August 1, 20267 min read

Track Scholarships and the New Roster Limits

The 12.6 and 18 scholarship numbers everyone quotes stopped being the rule in 2025. Here is what replaced them, and what it means for your recruiting.

RecruitingScholarshipsNCAA
August 1, 20265 min read

How to Email a College Track Coach

The rules on who can contact whom differ by division and changed recently. Here is what to send, when, and why coaches may already know your times.

RecruitingCoachesNCAA
August 1, 20264 min read

Indoor vs Outdoor Track: The Real Differences

Why your 200m is slower indoors, which events only exist in one season, and how to present indoor marks to a college coach.

RulesIndoorMarks
July 29, 20264 min read

Wind-Legal, Wind-Aided and NWI: What Counts

The +2.0 m/s rule is the short answer. Enter your time and wind reading to see what your mark is worth in still air, and whether it counts for rankings.

RulesSprintsRankings
July 24, 20264 min read

What Track Coaches Want in a Highlight Video

Coaches watch film differently from football recruiters. What to film, what to cut, and the mistakes that get a video closed in ten seconds.

RecruitingVideoCoaches
July 18, 20265 min read

Track Recruiting Timeline: Year by Year

When coaches can contact you, when they actually start looking, and what to do in each year of high school if you want to compete in college.

RecruitingTimelineNCAA