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Baton exchange rate key to track and field relay success

Passing of the baton in the tournament can make or break a high school track team’s season.

The baton is valuable in all relay races. Here a track athlete prepares for the start of a relay. The GWOC track meet took place at Fairborn High School.

Ron Alvey/Ron Alvey The baton is valuable in all relay races. Here a track athlete prepares for the start of a relay. The GWOC track meet took place at Fairborn High School.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Carly Hamilton, a Springboro senior, running the anchor leg of the girls 4x800 Meter Relay, receives the baton from teammate Lycia Hollon. The GWOC track meet took place at Fairborn High School.

Ron Alvey Carly Hamilton, a Springboro senior, running the anchor leg of the girls 4x800 Meter Relay, receives the baton from teammate Lycia Hollon. The GWOC track meet took place at Fairborn High School.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Marc F. Pendleton, Staff Writer Updated 9:57 PM Tuesday, May 24, 2011

It was 10 years ago this track and field season, long enough to recover. But to Dunbar High School coach Sidney Booker, it still hurts.

The Wolverines were in position to win an elusive state championship. It would be their first since three straight from 1988-90 during the Chris Nelloms era.

Dunbar’s relays were loaded, including the 400-meter quartet. The Wolverines had posted the state’s best Division II times. There was no reason to think they wouldn’t sizzle to 10 more valuable team points by winning the event at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus.

And then the unthinkable: Dunbar dropped the baton and was disqualified from the race.

“That cost us the meet,” Booker moaned as he reflected on the 41-35 loss to Cleveland Benedictine for the team title.

It’s a simple act, passing a baton from one runner to another. It’s also easy to mess up, as Dunbar and countless other great relays have done.

Over the next 10 days — through the regional and state meets — the title dreams of area boys and girls track and field teams often will depend on clean relay exchanges.

Those who do it well will run their fastest and fare the best.

And those who don’t?

Like that Dunbar foursome a decade ago, all the speed in the world can’t make up for poor handoffs.

“You don’t always have to be the fastest team to win the relay,” Booker said.

A team thing

Track and field essentially is an individual sport, consisting of 18 events. Unlike football and basketball, in which teammates are a vital part of a program’s success, that’s not so in track.

But that dynamic changes with four races: the 400, 800, 1600 and 3200 relays.

“When they get the chance to team up, you can tell it’s exciting for them,” Booker said.

Groups of four are paired for the varying lengths. The 400 consists of four legs of 100 meters. Each distance doubles until the longest 800 legs of the 3,200 relay.

The best teams have a good mix of individuals and relays. And the earlier they develop that depth — and those relays — the better.

Communication, trust and a budding chemistry all are as important to a relay as crisp handoffs. Great relays infuse a team’s camaraderie like nothing else, simply because so many members are involved.

“We all believe in each other and trust each other,” said Trotwood-Madison’s super senior anchor, Julius Ruby.

“That’s what we go off to motivate each other. You build a nice friendship and a nice closeness. You and your friends, you develop a lot.”

Fast teams

Ruby and the Rams have the stats to prove that. Trotwood owns the state’s best 400 (41.71) and 800 (1:27.47) relays, and is second to Dunbar (3:15.91) in the 1,600 relay.

That high-end speed should make Trotwood a D-I state contender. Last season the Rams placed second to Warren Harding, 47-44.

Ruby anchors all three of those Rams relays.

“We practice all we can and try to get the (baton) sticks down as best we can,” said Ruby, who’s headed to Kent State this fall to play football.

“Great handoffs are very important because the longer you make the exchange, the slower it makes your time. We try to hand it off as fast and as soon as we can, smooth, and try to go off of that.”

Each relay has an exchange zone, a 20-meter stretch in which members must pass the baton or risk being DQ’ed. For the 400 and 800 relays, markers — usually split tennis balls — are set in lanes to signal when an incoming runner should give a verbal command to the outgoing runner to begin moving.

Most incoming runners say “go” when the outgoing runner should take off. Then they say “stick” when the outgoing runner should blindly reach back for the baton exchange.

Trotwood has just one verbal command: “Wood.” Dunbar runners say nothing.

Practice  makes perfect

Practicing baton exchanges is crucial to timing, especially in the shorter races. The distances that runners cover are shortened for repetitive practice, otherwise they would quickly wear out.

“I can get a good workout in on just baton exchanges, trust me on that,” Wayne coach Mike Fernandez said.

The best teams devote at least some portion of every practice to relay exchanges. In the 400 and 800 relays, the incoming runner will hand off with his left hand and the outgoing runner will grab the baton — without looking — with his right hand. The challenge is maintaining a manageable distance between the two runners without losing speed during the exchange.

Precious tenths of seconds are lost if runners suddenly find themselves bunched, or if the outgoing runner takes off too early and must slow down for the handoff.

“There’s no perfect training for it,” Fernandez said.

“Dunbar does something different than we do. Centerville does something different. Same with Trotwood. That’s what makes it awesome, because everybody thinks that their way is the best way.

“As long as you don’t drop the baton, you look good.”

Seeing is believing

If the shorter relays are all precision and timing, the longer relays are about dodging disaster.

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The baton

Material: A smooth, hollow tube made of wood or metal

Size: 11-to-12 inches long; 4.5 inches in circumference

Cost: $2.95 to $12.95

Exchange zone: Can only be passed between runners within these 20 meters

Events used: 400-, 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter relays

DQ: Results in passing baton outside the exchange zone

Leg: Each portion of a relay

Anchor: The last leg; usually the fastest member

U.S. teams down and out

The 2008 men’s and women’s U.S. Olympic 400-meter relays are hard to beat as the all-time best examples for how not to prepare for a relay.

Both teams were loaded with the world’s best sprinters at Beijing. But neither could even complete a first-round lap without losing their sticks and being disqualified.

“The key is, the outgoing runner has the responsibility to give a good target,” explained Gail Devers, a three-time Olympic gold medalist in the sprints, hurdles and relays, in an accompanying video of the botched exchanges.

“The incoming runner … has to get there, look for that target to put that baton in there. The outgoing runner, if you miss it the first time, you keep your hand there.”

Key elements were missing in both U.S. relays: team chemistry and practice.

U.S. men won 14 of the first 18 Olympic 400 relays, but haven’t won since Maurice Green anchored in 2000 at Sydney.

U.S. women have won the event nine times and swept from 1984 to 1996, but haven’t won since. Devers ran on those last two U.S. Olympic winners.

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