San Diego Section Track : Preliminaries Begin at SDSU

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Section track and field preliminaries will be held today, beginning at 10 a.m. with the boys’ discus event, at San Diego State University. The girls’ 100-meter low hurdles will kick off the running events at 1 p.m.

Many of the top athletes will be trying to qualify today for the San Diego Section finals, which begin at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, May 23, at San Diego State.

Each of today’s running events will be run in three heats, with the top two finishers in each heat and the next fastest three from the remaining competitors in all of the heats advancing to the finals.

The only two exceptions are the 1,600 and 3,200 runs. The 1,600 will be run in two heats, with the top two finishers from each heat plus the next fastest five from the others advancing. There will be no preliminaries in the boys’ and girls’ 3,200. All 27 entries advance directly to Thursday’s final.

In the field events, the top nine finishers and ties will advance to the finals. In the pole vault and high jump, the bar will only be raised until the field is narrowed to nine.