All 200 meter indoor tracks are second class due to their small size & tendency to promote injuries to ankles, knees & hips due to the frequency & severity of curves.
The University of Michigan’s new 200 meter indoor track accomodates training by allowing expansion to 300 meters for three lanes.
Colby College had a chance–the space & the resources–to do something great, but chose to just follow the pack even though others typically are constrained by space and/or funding limitations.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
And they chose not to. So move the discussion forward please. That means no more discussion of what the track size should be or what is better or what the Univ of XYZ did.
My child was a recruited track athlete at Colby though chose to go to a larger school. We saw almost all the track facilities at the top D3’s including other NESCAC schools. The Colby facility wasn’t open yet but we saw the plans and visualizations.
The facility Colby built is magnificent and their 200 m indoor track and related facility is amongst the best of any New England school. In the NESCAC only Middlebury was comparable (same architect too I understand. ). Amherst and Williams for example only wish they had anything close.
IF you care about track you should applaud Colby’s facility and not critique it. It stands amongst the very best D3 facilities. I too would gave built it as 200m not 400m. That’s the appropriate length for indoor meets.