Athletes score points at a track meet based on their place in each event. Points are assigned to each place, and the points that each athlete scores are added together to get the team scores. That’s the straightforward part.

It starts to get a little tricky because a different number of places score at different meets, and a different number of points can be assigned to each place. So, for example fourth place isn’t always 4 points. It is common for the top six or top eight places to score, and in those cases the points are usually assigned as:

If you hear someone at a meet ask, “How many places score?” this is what they’re referring to. You can sound smart by throwing out a number between one and 10, and you can sound even smarter by throwing out the actual correct number of places that score.

At our TVL dual meets, only three places score, and the assigned points are:
1st Place: 5 points
2nd Place: 3 points
3rd Place: 1 Point