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TRACK TECHNICALITIES (Sent to us by someone back east on our sport)

Ever read a sports rule book? They're dull and technical and detailed and particular. It's like reading a science textbook instead of learning about a lively, dramatic event.

But if you look closely enough at the rules that govern high school track and field, you'll find the regulations, and the scenarios they and the athletes create, to be often quirky and colorful and intriguing and sometimes costly.

Consider these examples:

The Dudley 4x100-meter girls relay team was disqualified before it raced in last season's 3-A regionals, a race away from qualifying for the state championship, because the runners had gotten their hair styled for prom and they wore bobby pins.

At the same meet, a Southwest Guilford multi-event athlete missed checking in for one of her events on time and was disqualified not just from that one but from all three other events.

Western Guilford coach DePaul Mittman disqualified one of his own discus throwers at the North State 2-A conference meet last week. The athlete, while competing, wore her own pair of sweat pants instead of her school-issued uniform.

Last month, a high school girls relay team in California set a national record in the 1,600-meter medley relay. But it almost didn't make it into the record books because one of the runners wore a necklace.Sure, every sport has rules, but track and field has 18 events with rules pertaining specifically to all of them and athletes get disqualified often. Not only that, but track is self-officiated. The coaches run the events and make the interpretations on what does and doesn't fly. Imagine letting Coach K decide when to call a foul.

With the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A and 3-A track state championships today and Saturday and the 2-A and 4-A regionals Saturday, meet officials and coaches are on heightened alert for any rule breakers.

"Not everyone knows the rules, and that's the biggest problem," Smith coach Chris Lassiter said. "I look at them from time to time, especially the really funny rules. To know all the rules, you pretty much have to take a class." Dress code

The most commonly broken rules, though, are easily avoidable. It all starts with how the athletes dress.

North Carolina, like most states, follows the National Federation of State High School Associations rule book. Jewelry isn't allowed.

But tell that to a teenager that wants to look good and wears jewelry to meets anyway.

"I've got to remind him to take that off," Dudley coach Marvin Lamberth said, eyeing one of his sprinters sporting two diamond studs and a gold chain while waiting for his next event.

Mittman, the director of the indoor state championship meet in February, said they had to disqualify a runner who showed up with plastic beads in her hair. She was allowed to take them out, but she caused a delay.

"How did she even get on the bus like that?" Mittman said.

Coaches say one of the problems is that meet officials are usually lax in enforcing the rules during the regular season, which often leads the student-athletes to believe they can get away with things and are unprepared for the big meets.

"They know the rules," Mittman said. "But they do their own thing."

Members of a relay team are required to wear identical jerseys and shorts as their teammates. They are allowed to wear biker shorts underneath their shorts, but they must match and be one solid color. Definitely no polka dots. One runner can't wear gold and the other three black.

Rules extend to keeping your clothes on, too. Midriffs are not allowed. Neither is whipping off your jersey at the end of the race, trying to cool or show off, either.

Tongue rings? Belly rings? Illegal all.

The regulations, of course, go beyond fashion. Track deals with measurements and times and distances and safety and all kinds of different equipment. It is highly regulated -- where to measure a shot put throw from; how much the pole vault stick should weigh, where to take off from in the triple jump.

Here's more:

Athletes are allowed to compete in four different events, but if they scratch from one event, they scratch from them all because they took a spot someone else could've competed in. Because of this, athletes often line up for a race, but once the gun goes off, they simply jog or walk the first turn and then walk off the track. That's legal.

"To me, that's one of the dumbest rules and people do it all the time," Southwest Guilford coach Charlie Brown said.

Not knowing the real rules has also created some track "myths." For example, if a runner drops a baton in a relay race, the team is not disqualified unless it interferes with a team in a neighboring lane. Runners can pick the baton up and go.

Also, you may see some young high jumpers rolling off the mat as soon as they land, hoping to slide off before the bar falls. It doesn't matter. If the bar goes down, it's down. Rules are rules

Some area coaches admit that "it's almost like a contest to see who can get disqualified every year," said Brown, a certified USTA track official.

There's a bit of the tattle-tale syndrome amongst some coaches and it often causes bad feelings, particularly when violations are reported after the competition.

Sometimes it seems a little harsh that something as small as a diamond stud could nullify a victory.

But Mittman, who helped found the N.C. Track and Cross Country Coaches Association, says the rules are there for good reasons: safety and standardization.

"The bottom line is, it's the rule," Mittman says. "For the sport to be taken seriously, there have to be standards."

Prevention is preferred. At the start of every meet, directors hold meetings with coaches to reinforce the rules. Starting with coaches, two more checks are in place to prevent disqualifications. The Clerk of Course, who checks in athletes before their events, is supposed to look for potential problems. Then, starting line and field event officials should do the same.

Mittman says the best thing coaches can do is take an active role in the sport, attending rules clinics and reading the rule books. For the first time this summer, a representative from member schools will be required to attend a track rules clinic at the annual coaches association meetings.

Should be entertaining.

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