By Lucas de Paula & Amy Ta,
Opinion Editor & Staff Writer
Marking the start of the second semester, spring sports like baseball, girls’ softball and track & field commence their competition in full swing. Specifically for track & field, the absence of previous years’ short-distance coach signals a suspension for the current season of short-distance track and accompanying field events. Let’s take a look at the more obscure field events in light of the current suspension.
Shot put
This field event takes place at a solid circular platform with an adjacent sand pit. To score, the athlete must stand on the platform and throw a heavy metal ball, called the “shot”, as far as possible into the sandpit. For boys the shot is 16 pounds, while for girls it’s 8.8 pounds. The score of the individual is tied to how many centimeters to shot travels from the platform. Athletes have one minute to complete each shot.
Pole vault
When participating in pole vault, the athlete first gets a running start, then uses a long, pliable pole usually made of carbon fiberglass to gain momentum to vault themselves over a set height. The winner is the athlete that clears the most vertical bar height. Before starting, the athlete may choose their starting height to attempt to clear. Sequentially, they will have three attempts to clear the height. If the athlete succeeds, they move on to the next set height. When the vaulter fails three consecutive times, their highest clear is their result and they are out of the round.
Long jump
The aim of the long jump is for the participant to run down the track and attempt to jump the farthest into a sand pit. The transition from track to sand pit is marked by a foul line; any part of the athlete’s foot crossing that line will consider the jump a foul jump. The long jumper has three attempts at securing their furthest jump, with a foul jump considered an attempt. The distance of the jump is measured from the foul line to the first point of contact in the sand pit.
Hurdle
This event takes place on the track, consisting of 100 meter, 110 meter and 400 meter racest. Hurdlers are in separated lanes as they jump over obstacles, or hurdles, while sprinting to the finish line. When jumping over the hurdles, runners must clear the barrier with both legs. While knocking the hurdle down doesn’t disqualify them, it will slow them down. Instead, disqualification happens if the runner’s leg does not go over the hurdle, instead going around or beside it. The fastest runner wins.
Relay
This team-based track event consists of 100 meters and 400 meters. The goal of the event is to have runners successfully pass a baton to one another until they reach the finish line. Each runner is placed into one of four legs, or sections, on the track, with the starting runner sprinting a quarter the track before passing off the baton to the second runner. This pattern continues until the last runner, or anchor, reaches the finish line. If runners drop the baton or exchange the baton outside of the exchange zone, then the whole team is disqualified.