Don't get me wrong, I love the State Meet. It's something that I never experienced as an athlete myself, but have always been excited to attend it as a spectator, a coach and as part of the media. With that being said, there are some things that can be done to make the sport that we all love, Track and Field, better in the state of Ohio. Some items would bring us in line with other states, while others would be more progressive and proactive and would place Ohio as a leader in Track and Field when compared to other states.
In this series we will touch on five different ways in which Track and Field can be improved in the state of Ohio at the High School level. Over the next few weeks a new article will come live about once a week and will be open for discussion. Please share your thoughts on each of the topics on the side of the articles in the comments section.
1. Add the Triple Jump
2. Change Qualifying for the State Meet
3. "Invitational" Team State Championship
As far as I can remember, and even in the earliest meet results that I have seen from the Ohio State Championship Meet (1908-1911), Ohio has always had a team State Champion. But has the team Champion, really been the best all around team, or has it been the team that had the most studs on it, or even the best stud. Right now, an individual could win a team state championship, and it has been done before - eight times to be exact, five on the guys side and three times for the girls.1 Now would that same team that won the State Meet with one individual win an invitational style team championship where every team had two entries per event? Thats up for debate, but my hunches are that it would rarely happen.
This idea comes on the heels of the OHSAA Wrestling changes that will start during 2012-2013 season. In the past, Wrestling has declared a state champion much the same way that Track and Field has done. Athletes start at one level of the tournament and advance through it based on their place at various qualifying meets. At the final stage, the State Meet/State Tournament, athletes that qualified to the State level earn points toward their team scores. In wrestling, you're not going to win with only one athlete, but you can win with only a few athletes. Wrestling coaches from accross the state wanted to be able to determine who was the best all around team in each division (click here for more information on the Wrestling Dual Championship). Track and Field should follow what wrestling has done and determine who is the best all around team in each division.
The first thing is to determine how teams qualify to the Invitational Team State Championship (ITSC) Meet. An easy way to do this would be to take each district champion. Each division has 16 districts, so each division would have 16 teams at their respective ITSC Meet. The reason to take District Champions would be because teams can enter a full lineup at the District meet, but at the Regional Meet, teams would not have a full lineup because only athletes that qualified for the Regional Meet compete at the Regional Meet.
My suggestion is to hold the DIstrict Meet one week earlier than it is now, and to hold the ITSC during the current District Meet week. So the State Tournament would be four weeks long, starting with the District Meet, then the ITSC Meet, followed by the Regional Meet and then the State Meet the first week of June. The start of the season should not move either, so by adding the ITSC, it would essentially eliminate one week from the regular season. Eliminating one week from the season may not be a bad idea though in this current economic state that our country and state is in. Funding for schools is being cut, and schools will be looking to save money in any way that they can, especially in terms of athletics, so some schools may have to stop hosting meets if the meet is not making money.
In this set up, athletes on teams that did not qualify for the ITSC Meet would have a weekend off between their District Meet and their Regional Meet. A two week break between major competitions is routine at the college level (between conference meet and regional meet there is an off week and between the regional meet and the NCAA meet there is a week off). So this break between competitions for most student athletes would not be unprecedented.
The next item to discuss is how the ITSC Meet will be run. With 16 teams qualifying for each ITSC Meet, and two athletes being entered by each team per event, that means that a full field will have 32 athletes in it. In the field events, this won't be a problem as there will be three flights and then finals. In the vertical jumps, the bar would need to start at a reasonable height, and not a height in which every athlete can clear. For the sprints and hurdles there would be four heats per gender. For the distance races (800m and up) there would be two races, a fast heat and a slow heat. There would be two heats of the sprint relays and one of the 4x800m relay.
Seed all races by the athlete's or relay's time at their District meet, if an athlete didn't compete in the event at the District Meet then the athlete shall be entereed as a NT and be last on the seeding list. In the distance races there will be a need to run a "slow" and "fast" heat in a timed finals manner. In sprint and hurdle races, qualify each heat winner and the next four fastest times to the finals.
If the ITSC Meet is going to be a single day meet, it will be held on the Saturday between the new District Meet date and the current Regional Meet date. It would be possible to run the meet in one day and do prelims for the sprints and hurdles if the NFHS suggestions are followed. These suggestions by the NFHS for the Order of Events for meets where preliminary rounds are required can be found on page 8 of the NFHS Track and Field Rules book and is Rule 1, Section 2 Article 1B (pictured at right).
If the ITSC Meet is going to be a two day event, it should be run similar to the traditional State Meet with a Friday night session and a Saturday afternoon session. Prelims for all sprints and hurdle races as well as the sprint relays would be held on the first night with the finals on the second day. The big change from the traditional State Meet schedule would be that two distance events would be run on the first night, the 4x800m relay and then 1600m run. The event order within the meet should be changed slighlty though for the distance events. The boys 4x800m relay would be the first running event. The Girls 4x800m relay would be in the typical 1600m place. The boys heats of the 1600m run would be held during the typical 800m run place, while the girls heats of the 1600m run would be held during the typical 3200m run place. This would give athletes that are doubling, tripling, etc a little more recovery time in some spots.
The final day of a two day ITSC Meet would be like the traditional State Meet, but again with slight changes to the order of events for the distance races. The boys 800m races would be run at the start of the meet. The girls 800m races would be contested during the typical 1600m run spot. The boys 3200m run would be run in place of the typical 800m run place, while the girls 3200m run would stay in it's traditional spot. This again would be built in rest for athletes that are trying to double or triple in certain events. It would also allow for a distance runners to more easily double or triple up their events.
Field events would be contested on both days, with one throw going on each day per gender, as well as one vertical jump each day per gender. Only one gender would compete in the long jump each day as well.
Finally, the location of the meet would need to be determined, actually three locations would need to be determined, one location for each division. The meets would need to be held on tracks that have at least 8 lanes and would be able to accomodate 16 teams. Most facilities that host invitationals would be able to host this type of meet. A central location would be nice, but it wouldn't have to be in the Columbus area, the meets could rotate among schools that bid to host the meets in different areas of the state.
An Invitational Team State Championship Meet would add to the current state tournament without taking anything away from it. It would not eliminate the current procedures for qualifying for the traditional State Meet, but it will reward schools that work hard at having well rounded teams or programs in all divisions. An Invitational Team State Championship would truly find the best team and not just the team with the best studs or a few good studs. And finally, an Invitational Team State Championship could increase participation in the sport by giving athletes something else to strive for, a true TEAM championship.
1 1954 - Glenn Davis - Barberton - 20 points - 1st in 220, 1st in 180 Low Hurdles, 1st in Broad Jump, 4th in 100
1964 - Craig Wallace - Dayton Dunbar - 18 points - 1st in 100, 1st in 220, 1st in Broad Jump
1971 - Eric Penick - Gilmour Academy - 30 points - 1st in 100, 1st in 220, 1st in 440
1991 - Lincoln Cobb - Pettisville - 28 points - 1st in 100, 1st in Long Jump, 2nd in 200
1998 - Ryan Wilson - Westerville North - 30 points - 1st in 110 Hurdles, 1st in 300 Hurdles, 1st in Long Jump
1983 - LaVonna Martin - Trotwood-Madison - 30 points - 1st in 100, 1st in 200, 1st in 100 Hurdles
1984 - LaVonna Martin - Trotwood-Madison - 38 points - 1st in 200, 1st in 100 Hurdles, 1st in 300 Hurdles, 2nd in 100
1996 - Sarah DeWolfe - Defiance Ayersville - 38 points - 1st in 100, 1st in 200, 1st in 400, 2nd in Long Jump
From OHSAA Official Track and Field Championship program for 2011