Quick track question -- DNS?

Exactly.

A kid can compete in an event and not figure into his/her team's overall points.

 

Then that wouldn't work for athletes doing other events (ie any of the field events) when the first call is made for their running events. I don't know how your state does it, but here athletes are given 10-15 minutes in between the first and second call, and 2-5 minutes between the final call and the start of the event.

If they don't check in, or have someone like a coach check them in, they get scratched.

 

In track invitationals and league meets they have prelims, semifinals, and finals for the 100m dash, 200m dash and 100m hurdles/110 high hurdles.

Say athlete X makes it to the finals in the 100 meter dash and the 200 meter dash, and then pulls up lame in the 4x100 relay, he may not run in the 200 meter finals. Therefore you could get a DNS. Did not start or score, because even though the athlete made the finals, if he or she doesnt run, it doesnt count for points.

This happens more times for semifinals, because for finals, an athlete could simply walk their 200 meter race, or whatever and just take last place in the final heat, and score one point.

Also, some tracks have 9 lanes, so they may run nine runners in finals (this is rare) so a dns for that could mean does not score. But in that case there should be a time.