MSTCA Indoor Track Information
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Massachusetts State Track Coaches Association
www.mstca.org
James Fletcher, President
Linda Rowbotham, Vice-President
Coaches,
As we approach what we hope to be a full and relatively-normal season of indoor track and field, I wanted to introduce both myself and some of the changes to expect this season.
I’m Matt Carr, the Burlington High boys cross country and indoor and spring track and field coach. I’ve been coaching in Burlington since the 1990s and now am adding the position of MSTCA, Director of Meet Operations for Indoor Track and Field to my responsibilities.
The MSTCA has 24 separate meet sessions planned for the Reggie Lewis Center this winter. Most are meets you are familiar with from past years, with one new meet--the Rising Championships--for select athletes who are not participating in the MIAA postseason tournament.
As you may have heard, the scheduling of meets for this winter at the Reggie Lewis Center experienced quite a few bumps along the way, both for the MSTCA and those high school leagues that run there. Our goal is to provide as normalized a season as possible, while recognizing that Covid-induced changes could happen at any time.
Below are some highlights of changes to expect for the 2021-22 Indoor season at Reggie:
The city of Boston has a mask mandate that, as of this posting, will require everyone over the age of 2 inside the Reggie Lewis Center to wear a mask. It can be removed only when actively eating or drinking and it must remain on even when competing.
The food vendor (AK’s Pizza) has closed and as of this posting there is no new vendor in place.
Spectators will have four payment options for our meets at the Reggie Lewis Center: cash ($8 adults/$5 children); Square (for credit cards); Venmo; and a full-season pass for admission to all MSTCA meets allowing you to bypass the ticket line for $40.
Due to the aforementioned scheduling issues, our State Coaches Invitational for large and small schools will be held on one day (still as separate meets) and therefore you will find the entry standards to be stricter than usual. Our hope is to return to the traditional separate-day format in 2022-23.
We are adding a Rising Championship Meet for small and large schools on the Monday and Tuesday immediately preceding the MIAA Divisional tournament. This meet is still in development but is expected to be exclusively for athletes who are not participating in the MIAA meet, as a chance to wrap up their indoor season in a championship-caliber setting.
While there was some discussion at the MIAA regarding running the 300-meters in lanes or continuing to break in, no change was voted on. Therefore, as of this posting, we intend to continue to run the 300-meters with a break in.
Both the MIAA and the MSTCA, when running hurdles and dash finals, will run them without flipping the genders. This was done in the past to eliminate one height adjustment of the hurdles when going from preliminary rounds to the final. We felt this was unfair to athletes who potentially ran both the hurdles and dash and made the finals. So this year you will see the progression go: (1) Boys Hurdle Trials; (2) Girls Hurdle Trials; (3) Boys Dash Trials; (4) Girls Dash Trials; (5) Boys Hurdle Finals; (6) Girls Hurdle Finals; (7) Boys Dash Finals; (8) Girls Dash Finals.
Typically in the past we had a Monday night at 11:59pm entry deadline for our weekend meets. Late entries were accepted for an additional fee. Starting this season, we have moved the entry deadline to Tuesday night at 11:59pm for weekend meets, but there will be NO LATE ENTRIES accepted at any of our meets. Please plan accordingly.
Please consider joining the MSTCA if you haven’t already done so. The MSTCA is once again offering single coach memberships and school wide memberships. Please reach out to Vice-President Linda Rowbotham at mstca.membership@gmail.com for more information.Here is the link to join: https://mstca.org/join-us
Please don’t hesitate to contact me with questions or comments about our meets. I can be reached at mstca.indoor@gmail.com
Thanks for taking the time to read this and good luck this indoor season.
Matt Carr, MSTCA Director of Meet Operations, Indoor Track & Field