The MPSSAA has released the qualifying standards for the 2023 Outdoor Track season. As always, these times/marks need to be hit at the Regional meet in order to qualify for the State meet. Achieving them during any other meet does not qualify you for States.
The MPSSAA is also keeping the same format as last year where the top 2 athletes from each event in each region will automatically qualify for states, and then the next best 8 performances in that event from all 4 regions will make up the 16 that will auto-qualify. Time qualifiers will then be added if the 17th-best performance hits that auto standard.
While Maryland has always had the auto time standards, they may not be needed going forward. Last year, In all 4 classifications, there were zero athletes that qualified to states based on the time auto qualifying standards. To put it a different way, the 17th-best performance last year in any event in any classification did not hit the auto time standard. So it seems as if the auto time standard is not needed as much anymore due to the new "next best 8 performances" change the state has implemented, however, it will still be in place this year and is certainly an indicator that athletes can use throughout the season to see if they will be in contention for qualifying for states as the season unfolds.
