Maine high school indoor track and field will have two new wrinkles this season.

The biggest of these is the addition of a new event. The 3200-meter (4-by-800) relay doubles the number of relay races offered and brings to 14 the number of events run by conferences like the Eastern Maine Indoor Track League, which starts up Friday with two exhibition meets at the University of Maine field house in Orono.

The other change is the requirement that all pole vaulters wear a helmet during competition.

Old Town’s Rod White, who is starting his 15th season as head coach of the Indians’ indoor track coach, says he sees more positives than negatives in adding the 3200 relay to the events schedule.

“The only negative for this would be that in our league, some schools would have an advantage simply because they have bigger teams and there are more small teams than big ones,” said White, who also served as the EMITL’s director the last two seasons.

The 3200 relay has been held at the New England championship meets the last three years, but Maine athletes have never competed in it.

White said the 3200 relay was likely lobbied for more by southern Maine coaches since that region has more schools with big enrollments and larger teams.

“You have to have at least four distance runners to have a decent 4-by-8 relay and many of the teams, except the Bangors and Brewers, don’t have that many,” said White, who added the athletes running the new relay would have to be trained to do it, not just simply thrown into it to fill a blank spot in the team lineup.

“You can’t just throw four sprinters in there. I’ve got sprinters with cross country backgrounds who might be good candidates to run it, but wouldn’t just put in four kids just to get the points,” White said. “You have to make sure they’re adequately trained to run it.”

Before this year, the only relay race was the 880 (4-by-220) – an event run mostly by sprinters.

As far as positives, there are several. White said any time you can add an event and give athletes more choices and possibilities, it’s a good thing to do.

Another bonus is the fact that adding the race shouldn’t adversely lengthen an already long schedule of events, time-wise, since it will be plugged in as the meet’s first track event at a time when no race is usually being run.

“When you start the meet, the running events don’t usually start until 20 minutes after the field events, so that’s a good slot we can plug this into,” White explained. “It’s also early enough in the schedule that it spreads itself out from some of the other distance races, allowing more kids to do it and still have plenty of time to rest for their next race.”

The addition of the 3200 relay won’t change league rules, which still limit athletes to three total events, whether they’re relays or not. And like the 880 relay, there are no qualifying standards for the 3200, so coaches can plug anyone into the event.

The new relay will be run twice during the EMITL’s regular season as well as in the Eastern Maine championship and state meets.

As far as the helmet requirement for pole vaulters, White said it may bother the veterans who are used to competing without them, but it shouldn’t affect rookies.

White said he wasn’t sure how his fellow coaches felt about the new rule, but he pointed out that he knew of a couple of pole vaulting injuries that occurred in other parts of the country in recent years.

“I think this all started with the MPA [Maine Principals’ Association] recommending helmets for the spring track season. Now they’ve made it mandatory, probably to cover themselves and schools in case someone got hurt,” White said. “I don’t think there are any pros or cons either way.”

White said accomplished vaulters will just have to get used to the helmets.

“I don’t think it’s a bad rule, but maybe it shouldn’t be mandatory,” he said. “Maybe the veterans could sign a waiver or something, although that’s not foolproof either.”

An honor to roar about

Belfast’s Jeff Parenteau has been nominated for the Old Spice Red Zone Player of the Year award for the state of Maine.

The junior tailback picked up 1,597 yards and scored 17 touchdowns on 217 carries this season as the LTC’s leading rusher. The three-year starter for the Lions has piled up better than 3,400 career rushing yards and 34 TDs. Parenteau is also an all-academic and All-LTC first-team member.

The Red Zone award is in its inaugural season and will recognize players who elevate their play as well as their teammates’ while exemplifying the highest level of personal performance. Parenteau is in the running for the Old Spice Player of the Year national awards recognizing the top player from each state. Those will be announced in January.

Andrew Neff’s High school report is published each Wednesday. He can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or aneff@bangordailynews.net.