Seeding Profiles and Defaults

Seeding profiles hold the default seeding rules for each kind of track and field event (sprints, distance, relays, jumps, throws), so new meets and rounds start with the right heats, lanes, and advancement without setting every round by hand. This page covers the built-in profiles, making your own, choosing a meet’s profile, and how a profile and a round’s own rules combine.

What a seeding profile does

A seeding profile is a reusable set of seeding rules, with different defaults for each group of events: sprints, middle distance, distance, short relays, long relays, vertical jumps, horizontal jumps, and throws. So one meet can start a 100m, a 1600m, a 4x400, and the shot put each with their own rules.

For each group a profile can set heat assignment, heat order, how heats fill, lane or position order, preferred lanes and draws, start type, teammate split, team lane template, advancement, and the tie policy. It also sets the distance boundaries between groups, such as where sprints end and middle distance starts.

The built-in seeding profiles (NFHS, NCAA, USATF, NAIA)

Settings → Seeding Profiles includes these built-in profiles:

NFHS Outdoor

the default built-in profile
outdoor high school conventions
serpentine seeding for running events
alleys for middle distance such as outdoor 800m
waterfall starts for longer distance events

NFHS Indoor

indoor high school conventions
serpentine seeding for running events
waterfall starts for 800m and longer events
compact indoor distance section sizes

NCAA Indoor

collegiate indoor conventions
ranked or packed sections for sprints and relays
indoor distance groups paired with double-waterfall geometry defaults
600m treated as a sprint boundary

NCAA Outdoor

collegiate outdoor conventions
ranked or packed sections for sprints and relays
alleys for middle distance groups
waterfall starts for longer outdoor distance events

USATF Outdoor

open and club outdoor conventions
serpentine or zigzag seeding aligned with World Athletics style
alleys for middle distance groups
waterfall starts for distance groups

USATF Indoor

open and club indoor conventions
serpentine or zigzag seeding
alleys for indoor 800m and long relays where available
double-waterfall defaults for indoor distance groups
600m treated as a sprint boundary

NAIA Outdoor

NAIA outdoor championship-style conventions
ranked or packed sections for sprints and relays
alleys for middle distance groups
waterfall starts for distance groups

NAIA Indoor

NAIA indoor championship-style conventions
ranked or packed sections for sprints and relays
double-waterfall defaults for middle distance and distance groups
600m treated as a sprint boundary

These are starting points. If your conference, state association, or facility does it differently, Clone the closest one and change it.

Choose a meet’s seeding profile

New meet: the new-meet wizard’s Rules step has Seeding profile (Standard level).
Existing meet: Setup → Track & Field Setup → Seeding profile.

Use global default follows whichever profile is set as the default in Settings → Seeding Profiles at the time you seed, so changing the default later changes those meets too. With no custom profile set as the default, the default is NFHS Outdoor.

At the Basic level, the profile isn’t asked and isn’t shown on Setup: the meet uses the global default.

Changing a meet’s profile changes what rounds without their own saved rules start from. It doesn’t change rounds that already have a saved strategy, or heats already seeded.

Make your own seeding profile

Open Settings → Seeding Profiles.
Under Built-in Profiles, press Clone on the closest one, or under Custom Profiles press New Profile.
Give it a Profile name and, optionally, a description.
Under Distance Boundaries, adjust where race and relay groups change, if needed.
Under Rules by Discipline Group, change the rules for the groups your meet cares about.
Save.
To make it the default for new meets, press Set as default (the star) on it, or choose it when creating a meet.

Built-in profiles are read-only. Only custom profiles can be set as the default. Custom profiles are saved on this device: a meet opened on another device that uses one falls back to that device’s default profile.

A meet’s profile versus a round’s own rules

The meet’s profile is the starting point for every round.
A round’s saved strategy (Save strategy in the seeding workspace) wins for that round.
Unsaved changes in the workspace win until you leave or reseed.

Use the profile for what most of the meet does, and a round’s own rules for the exception: one relay with team lane seeding, one distance final with a different section pattern, or one prelim with special advancement counts.

How seeding rules are worked out for a round

From lowest to highest priority:

2Timer’s built-in defaults.
The seeding profile’s rules for the event’s group.
The meet’s own defaults, such as its lane counts.
The round’s saved strategy.
Unsaved changes in the workspace.

Seeding profiles and bulk seeding

A good profile is what makes bulk seeding fast: Seed all eligible on the Seeding queue seeds every round with the profile’s rules, or the round’s saved strategy where there is one. No round needs saved rules first.

Team lane seeding in a profile

For a group of lane-start events that normally use team lane seeding (for example relays in a dual meet), choose Team lane seeding as the group’s lane order and set its default team lane template. The meet’s teams still need their Lane Slots. See Team-Lane Seeding.

Preferred lanes in a profile (conference lane orders)

To apply a published lane order to a whole group, such as sprints, hurdles, or relays, choose Advanced lane seeding… in that group, then set the preferred lane order or a custom lane sequence, the draw, and any draw groups (such as top four, or top two and next two). A round’s own saved strategy still wins.

These controls are hidden where they wouldn’t change anything: field groups, waterfall starts, random lane order, and team lane seeding.

Double waterfall in a profile

For a group using a double waterfall, Inside line size sets how much of the section starts on the inside line (33% is the NCAA default). The seeding workspace uses the same name.

Metadata

Last Updated: 2026-10-13
Document Version: 0.4
Status: Active