Indoor Track Updates: A Message from DMO Matt Carr
A Message from Matt Carr, MSTCA Director of Meet Operations, Indoor Track & Field
Coaches, while many of us are still in the cross country season, it is also less than 2 weeks from the start of indoor track and field. Meet formats are all uploaded. Here are some things to be aware of as we move indoors to the track.
CLERKING:
Last year we moved clerking out of the gym and to the infield and endeavored to not hold athletes before their races. In our post season survey, 83 of 85 coaches said keep the new clerking process. We are keeping it.
We will continue to announce when specific events can go into the gym to get their hip numbers. Athletes will then be called to the infield at the scoreboard end of the track as close to race time as possible. We want your athletes to warm up, but remind them when the heat of their race goes off, if they aren’t there, they will not be assigned to another heat.
Due to the number of athletes involved, we will typically continue to clerk relay events in the gym, unless announced otherwise which we will do on occasion–typically if the infield events have concluded and the space is available.
SHOT PUT:
We will continue to run each gender, one after the other, in both circles. There is a google form in the formats allowing you to notify us of rotational throwers–who will always be assigned to the cage. In the pre-meet emails, we will notify you of the sector/flight split. For example if there are six flights of boys shot put, flights 1-3 (the lower seeds) will be outside the cage and flights 4-6 (the higher seeds) will be in the cage. That means, when the event begins, flights 1 and 4 will be up simultaneously.
LONG JUMP:
The MSTCA, working with the new Executive Director of the Reggie Lewis Center, Michael Turner, has purchased an elevated long jump runway and pit that will be installed parallel to the existing runway and pit. Our hope was to have it delivered and installed before the season got underway. Unfortunately, that is not going to be possible and our goal now is to have it in by Relays weekend, allowing us to remove the 2-jump limit on long jumpers at the Relay meets. Stay Tuned.
Additionally, once installed, we will be allowing leagues to rent use of the equipment for a nominal fee. That money will be used for replacement of the sand and overlying runway surface as needed. The cost of the equipment itself is being borne by the MSTCA.
LATE ENTRIES:
As we have for the past two years, we will not accept late entries regardless of circumstances. All formats and deadlines are posted. Please don’t wait until the night they are due to complete your entries. Requests for late entries will not be considered.
SMALL/LARGE SPLIT:
As you are aware, several of our meets have separate days for “small schools” and “large schools.” Those splits were based on an enrollment number that did not necessarily coincide with MIAA alignments. To simplify things, we are moving, for indoor track, to “large schools” being those assigned to MIAA Divisions 1 and 2 and “small schools” being those assigned to MIAA Divisions 3-5.
ATHLETIC.NET ENTRIES:
If you are a xc coach, you have begun to get comfortable with athletic.net entries. The good news is we are continuing that indoors, and now the MIAA will be joining us as well. The change has been driven by several factors, but for me, the primary motivation was the value we have found in athletic.net’s live results and the use our athletes seem to make of athletic.net for stats.
AWARDS STAND:
I am looking at different locations for the awards stand. While its location in the infield of the track is great for highlighting the medalists, I find it to be less than optimum for parents wanting to take pictures, which results in a traffic jam along the homestretch walkway.
For the Kalperis Relays meets, we will continue to hand out medals up the stairs by the ramps. The reason we do not hold a medal ceremony at Relays is our feeling that athletes are rushing off to another event and don’t have the time to wait for a ceremony and announcement.
For meets where we don’t use the secondary shot put sector, I am going to experiment with moving the medal stand into that corner. While it is “in the corner,” it will allow parents to get up close for pictures without obstructions and without having to stand in the walkway area.
BOSTON HOLIDAY CHALLENGE at the TRACK at new balance:
We are excited to announce that the Boston Holiday Challenge will be at “the TRACK at new balance.” This will be a high-level competition meet that will include two signature events–the New Balance Championship Mile and 400-meters. See the meet format for specifics.
MIAA UPDATE:
Please read the Indoor Track & Field format carefully. Along with the typical updating of entry standards and deadlines, the entry process for both the Meet of Champions as well as New Englands has been streamlined. Also the weight throw will be offered at the Meet of Champions–qualifying procedures will be explained in the format.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
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