All uniforms worn in high school track and field/cross country must be either issued or approved by the school.

The uniform revision in Rule 4-3-1 was one of the four revisions recommended by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Track and Field Rules Committee at its June 12-14 meeting in Indianapolis. All rules changes were subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.

In other changes, a new penalty was added to Rule 6-2-14. Several prohibitions regarding competitors’ actions were included in the rule but had no associated penalty if the rule was not followed, which created confusion for enforcement. The appropriate penalty of disqualification from the event has been added.

The committee also revised Rule 6-5-11, establishing that the nonmetal crossbar in the pole vault shall not be less than 14 feet, 8 inches or more than 14 feet, 10 inches in length. This revision provides consistency in establishing a range for the length of the crossbar in pole vault, similar to high jump.

Language in Rule 8-6-1 (cross country) regarding track and field uniforms was eliminated and replaced with: “Each competitor’s uniform shall meet all requirements and restrictions as presented in Rules 4-3-1 and 4-3-2, Competitor’s Uniform in Track and Field and Cross Country.” The change was made by the committee in order to eliminate duplicate language within the two separate sections.

A complete listing of the track and field rules changes will be available on the NFHS website at www.nfhs.org. Click on “Activities & Sports” at the top of the home page, and select “track and field.”

According to the 2015-16 NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey, there are 591,133 boys participating in outdoor Track and Field at 16,547 schools and 485,969 girls at 16,508 schools.

Written by Marisa Miller, NFHS Publications/Communications Department Intern.