MSTCA Indoor 2022-23 Posting to Coaches
A message from Matt Carr, Director Of Meet Operations / Indoor Track:
Again this year I would like to share some changes you should expect to see in the 2022-23 MSTCA Indoor Track & Field season. Some of them are relatively minor. At least one, the clerking procedures, is a SIGNIFICANT CHANGE from past practice. PLEASE READ.
CLERKING:
The most significant change you will see this year will be in our clerking procedures. They will be substantially different than in the past.
These new procedures will allow your athletes to better prepare for their races. However, it will also place the burden on them (and by extension you, their coaches) to make sure they don’t miss their race.
After entries close for a meet, the MSTCA will produce an approximate meet time schedule. Be aware this will be an estimate only. You will be able to see these estimates in the live results page for the meet, https://live.mstca.org/
Coaches will do their scratch sheets when they arrive for packet pick-up, exactly as they have in years past.
Approximately 30 minutes before the meet start time heat sheets for the first events (typically hurdles and dash) will be produced. Heat sheets will continue to be produced in event order in ample time for athletes to get their assignments. You will also be able to see heat and lane assignments on the wall in the gymnasium and on our live results page https://live.mstca.org/
In the gymnasium there will be two clerking tables–one for boys and one for girls. Athletes will be able to get heat and lane assignments and hip numbers from those clerks at any time after the clerks have received the sheets for an event (once they are posted on the wall, you will know that the clerks have them as well).
Athletes will NOT be held in the gymnasium. They will be free to warm up in the gym or outside as they see fit.
Signage (a tall white board) in the infield by the scoreboard-end of the track will alert athletes which race and heat(s) are currently being checked in. The clerks will also make an announcement over the PA system. This will be done very close to race time, allowing athletes to prepare for their races and not spend extended periods of time sitting/waiting.
Athletes who miss their race will NOT, under any circumstances, be added to a subsequent heat. These changes are being implemented at the request of coaches. This will likely be a difficult transition to start, but we hope it will allow your athletes to better prepare for their races and learn personal responsibility as well.
Due to the number of athletes, relays will continue to clerk in for their races in the gym.
As always, field events will check in directly at the field event.
SHOT PUT:
We will no longer contest the shot put simultaneously with the boys in the cage and the girls in the sector to the left of the scoreboard. Going forward it will be one gender at a time using both sectors, with the better throwers (and all rotational throwers) in the cage. See meet formats for a more thorough description of the new process.
300 METERS:
Last indoor season, we polled member coaches and two-thirds of you said you would prefer to run the 300-meter race in lanes the whole way with no cut in. Beginning this year, the MSTCA will contest the race that way, as will the MIAA. Please note, what your individual league does is not determined by us.
LATE ENTRIES:
Continuing the policy we implemented last year, the MSTCA will NOT accept late entries for any of its meets. We know this can lead to unfortunate circumstances, but it is incumbent upon you to input your entries on time into Direct Athletics. Entry deadlines (date and time) can be found on each meet entry format.
Additionally, be aware that the MIAA has also implemented a no late entries policy for the track and field tournament.