Discussion: Bracket Format

I like brackets, and I like orienteering sprints, so I thought I'd make a paper bracket in Excel to bring with me and fill out as the races go along, and I realized that I'm not entirely sure how we go from Stage 2 to Stage 3.

Stage 1 to Stage 2 seems straightforward. After Stage 1, we'll have seeds 1-36, and I assumed that they will be bracketed into balanced heats: 1, 12, 13, 24, 25, 36 in Heat #1, and 2, 11, 14, 23, 26, 3 in Heat #2, etc.

Stage 2 to Stage 3: see below

Stage 3 to Stage 4 also seems straightforward, since we're whittling groups of 12 into two heats of 6. Stage 4 is the final round, so the the heats don't need to be balanced, obviously.

But Stage 2 to Stage 3 is where there's some uncertainty (for me). I understand *exactly* who becomes Antelopes, Badgers, and Cheetahs. However, since there are two heats of each animal, how is it determined who goes in which heat? Presumably, you'd want to have each heat balanced, with post-Stage 2 rankings 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12 in one heat, and 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11 in the other.

It seems like you could rank them by either original seed, Stage 2 time, or a combination of both.

Example:
Heat 1: #1 seed wins easily in 15:10. #12 in 15:40, #13 in 15:45
Heat 2: #2 seed wins in 15:07. #11 seed in 15:30
Heat 3: #3 seed MSP, #10 gets lost, #15 seed wins 17:00
Heat 4: #4 seed wins in 15:21, #9 seed in 15:35
Heat 5: #5 seed wins in 15:20, #8 seed in 15:38
Heat 6: #6 and #7 push hard and get 14:59 and 15:00

How would the Antelopes be ranked and bracketed in Stage 3?

Per website: The fastest runner in each heat advances to the top third, which we call the Antelopes, along with the six runners with best times who aren't among the heat winners.

Option A: Seeds of Winners Matter, Times of Non-Winners Matter
1: Original #1 seed
2: Original #2 seed
3: Original #4 seed
4: Original #5 seed
5: Original #6 seed
6: Original #15 seed (slow time, but still a winner)
7: 15:00 non-winner (original #7 seed)
8: 15:30 non-winner (original #11 seed)
9: 15:35 non-winner (original #9 seed)
10: 15:38 non-winner (original #8 seed)
11: 15:40 non-winner (original #12 seed)
12: 15:45 non-winner (original #13 seed)

Option B: Re-Seed Everyone Based On Stage 2 Times
1: 14:59 winner (original #6 seed)
2: 15:00 non-winner (original #7 seed)
3: 15:07 winner (original #2 seed)
4: 15:10 winner (original #1 seed)
5: 15:20 winner (original #5 seed)
6: 15:21 winner (original #4 seed)
7: 15:30 non-winner (original #7 seed)
8: 15:35 non-winner (original #11 seed)
9: 15:38 non-winner (original #9 seed)
10: 15:40 non-winner (original #8 seed)
11: 15:45 non-winner (original #12 seed)
12: 17:00 winner (original #15 seed)

Option C: Seeds Remain The Same, Stage 2 Times Be Damned!
1: Original #1 seed
2: Original #2 seed
3: Original #4 seed
4: Original #5 seed
5: Original #6 seed
6: Original #7 seed
7: Original #8 seed
8: Original #9 seed
9: Original #11 seed
10: Original #12 seed
11: Original #13 seed
12: Original #15 seed

Option D: Rank Winners 1-6 Based on Time, Non-Winners 7-12 Based On Time
1: 14:59 winner (original #6 seed)
2: 15:07 winner (original #2 seed)
3: 15:10 winner (original #1 seed)
4: 15:20 winner (original #5 seed)
5: 15:21 winner (original #4 seed)
6: 17:00 winner (original #15 seed)
7: 15:00 non-winner (original #7 seed)
8: 15:30 non-winner (original #11 seed)
9: 15:35 non-winner (original #9 seed)
10: 15:38 non-winner (original #8 seed)
11: 15:40 non-winner (original #12 seed)
12: 15:45 non-winner (original #13 seed)

Option E: Rank Winners 1-6, then Non-Winners 7-12 All Based On Original Seed
1: Winner, original #1 seed
2: Winner, original #2 seed
3: Winner, original #4 seed
4: Winner, original #5 seed
5: Winner, original #6 seed
6: Winner, original #15 seed
7: Non-winner, original #7 seed
8: Non-winner, original #8 seed
9: Non-winner, original #9 seed
10: Non-winner, original #11 seed
11: Non-winner, original #12 seed
12: Non-winner, original #13 seed

Does this all make sense? And this is just for the Antelopes! With the Badgers, we need to bracket the "the second- and third-place runners who haven't advanced to the top third, along with as many lower-placed runners with best times as are necessary to complete a 12-runner field." There are a few different ways you could rank those 12, based on original seed and/or Stage 2 times. And then "the rest of the field become the Cheetahs". This one is simpler, but still needs some clarification.

If you need a volunteer to pick a Stage 2-3 ranking method and track the tournament, I would be happy and willing to do that. This is probably something pretty inconsequential, but I do think there's some slight ambiguity here.

Also: what happens if there's a tie in a heat? Do all tied runners advance, or is there a tiebreaker?

For Antelopes, the ranking is winners first, ranked by original seed, then times, ranked by time (Option A). This is what we did in 2011, I believe. For Badgers, it's second places first, ranked by original seed, then third places, ranked by original seed, then times, ranked by time. For Cheetahs, just rank by time. The reason I didn't post this is that there is a gazillion of other things to post and signal (like pay attention to olive green and multilevels, all of you who haven't been in them) gets sometimes lost in the noise.

For ties, all runners advance. I'm OK with some heats being 7 people.

No worries! Sounds like you have it covered. It's good to have the process on place, so I wanted to make sure. Thanks!

Ok, I made my printable bracket and I plan to bring a few copies so that I can fill it out as the tournament progresses. I'll try to take some photos at the event (including photos of the bracket) and post them here.

I was asked to be the "selection committee" and seed everyone 1-37, and you can see the Stage 2 matchups in the link in my previous post.

I ranked as many people as I could using today's results only: extrapolating the times from the mostly similar, but slightly shorter, women's and master/junior courses, and then comparing with the men. Not perfect, but it seemed like a quick and mostly fair solution.

There were six people who I had to approximate: 2 MSP, 1 on the beginner course, and 3 DNS. I decided to put Jerker #1 despite his mispunch, because of his world ranking, and because he would have won by almost 4 minutes. It's not fair to the other faster runners to give him a low seed.

From here on out, it's all about the bracket, so if you underperformed today, you can still get it all back tomorrow.

Some coincidences formed, based on the how the seeds bracketed into heats: Heat #3 is top-heavy with US juniors. Heat #4 has the top 3 women.

Good luck to everyone tomorrow!

Yes the brackets are here. I may be able to type them up as plaintext (just as I may be able to post the results of Stage One), or I may sleep. Probably the latter. Many thanks to Pink Socks!!

Start times for the Tournament are on Event Register.