Hello Everyone,
I'd like to introduce myself to those of you who don't know me already. My name is Matt Hook and I am the new webmaster for Ohio Milesplit. I currently coach at Moeller (5 years this year) and was a former runner at Moeller and Ohio University, where I graduated with a B.S. in Journalism. I know a lot of you have been wondering what is going on with the site over the last couple of weeks, but I wanted to let you know that I am both excited about this opportunity and confident that we as a "runners community" can continue to make this site great. With this in mind, I want to answer a few questions you have had:
1. Results- I am working to get up to date on results. This is our biggest tool as a website and I can appreciate how much you all enjoy the stats. I spent as much time on here as anyone (and probably more, as my runners will attest). That being said, I am still learning some of the ins and outs of the database. I will get it, but I just ask for a bit of patience right now. There are some steps that can make this easier for me as well. In order to get results on the website and counting in the rankings, it is really helpful to have them in Racetab or HyTek format. Racetab is our own free product from Milesplit and works very well. I also prefer an html page and not an uploaded pdf. This is the quickest way to ensure that the results will go into the database. Another bit of information that is necessary for this is every athlete needs to have first and last name in the results in order to have the results show up here. Having these two things really speeds up the process and ensures we get more data in our lists.
2. Coverage- Anyone that would like to go and cover some of our meets in state, send me a message and I will see what we can do as far as compensation. This part is going to work like a newsroom, where we decide what stories are the best to cover and use our budget accordingly. Parents, coaches, and fans I am also relying on you to keep promoting our great sports. Any pictures, announcements, video or other miscellaneous tidbits, go ahead and either send them to me or upload them where needed. The more media we have, the better experience we give the kids (and isn't that what it is all about?).
3. Accounts- If you are trying to become a team admin or be listed as a coach, please either use a school email or provide a description as to what you do with the team if you are using a personal email account. This way I don't deny you access but at the same time don't allow just anyone access as an admin.
4. I want to thank Jim Findlay for all he did on this site over the last several years. It truly was an awesome tool to be able to see and use. I wish him the best and am sure I will see him at meets around Ohio.
Thank you everyone for showing your support for Ohio Milesplit. Now let's have a great end to our cross season and continue to make this site rock!
Matt Hook