I spent 8 LONG hours at a high school track meet—ask me anything

I really like this list. One other thing I've seen done I would add: We have a few meets in Colorado that run the 3200 in a super ally, the slower kids stay out in lane 4 and run about 7 and half laps while the faster kids are in lanes 1-4 running the normal 8 laps. You can run more than 40 kids this way and it works really well, generally few people get lapped in the fast race taking place on the inside lanes if you split it out right. It's a pain to get splits for the kids in the outside race, but everyone gets an automatic time in the end.

Space Ghost wrote:

Basically, I'd take the attitude that we owe the top kids a legal, auto-timed meet, and we owe the developmental kids a good competitive experience against other developmental kids. And we owe the parents a meet that lasts less than 4 hours.

+1

I think this nails it

Simple...You need two tracks at the same complex.

This is true, dead time between heats at swim meets is very close to 0. Sometime even negative - at some of my daughter's meets they have chase starts, where the kids start from both ends of the pool. As the kids from heat N are finishing at the right end of the pool, they know they better get their ass out in a hurry or get caught by the kids who started heat N-1 from the left end.

Funniest race I ever saw was a co-ed elementary school relay at either the Dallas or Oklahoma City indoor meet (it's been a long time - so don't recall which meet it was). It had a wooden track with pretty steep banking in the turns.

Every kid (there were probably a dozen per team) ran one lap. None of them had spikes so they all would slip and fall in the turns. Lead probably changed hands five or six times (due to falls) on the final lap alone. It was a riot.

How about only running half the events at each meet?

One meet has 100,110H,400,1600, Shot.

Next week its the 200, 300H, 800, 3200, Discuss.

The same kids usually participate in (and win) the Shot/Discuss, 100/200 , 100H/300H or 1600/3200. Everybody gets to run in one race. The meets over in half the time. And the kids don't over race.

We don't have an indoor facility in our state. However, I have officiated every one of the Twilight meets that my old high school has ever held, a meet that has grown to over 3,000 athletes. I'm now the meet referee. So a few thoughts:

1. every facility has only so much space and time. There truly is a limit to how many kids can participate. Finding where that limit is is probably not high on the agenda of meet management. No meet director wants to say no to entries. They want to give kids the chance to compete. Our facilities allow us to do more than most schools. We have two pole vault pits, two shot rings and three horizontal jump runways. So, for example, the top seeded vaulters are on one pit and those with lesser marks are on the other.

2. it's all about the details. There are a lot of little things that can increase or decrease the efficiency of meets. There is, therefore, no single, magic fix. Do (field) events start on time? I mean, exactly on time? "Just one more run through?" "Sorry, no. Smith is up, Jones on deck, Brown in the hole." Do you have a clerk of the course on the track, getting the next race's athletes lined up while this race is getting started? Or do you expect the starters to do that? Do you have a marshal getting runners off the running surface as they finish? And do they get medical out there immediately if a finisher goes down? What's the opening height for vertical jumps? E.g. high school girls' high jump. If you are starting at 3'6", it's going to be a very long day. Yeah, I know everybody won't get a mark but that's what practice is for, learning how to get an opening height. I did one high school meet where the coach sent a girl over to do high jump. She was approximately 4'3" tall! The opening height was neck level for her. What are you doing to that kid, coach? Not surprisingly, she ran at the pad three times, knocked down the bar and she was done for the day. IMHE, minimum marks to be measured in horizontal jumps don't save that much time. Having good rakers, and two or three of them, can make all of the difference in the world.

3. good officials get things done. Poor officials can't figure out what happens next, so they have to ask somebody else. When they can find them. Particularly teenage athletes need leadership. "This is what we're doing." Loud and clear. No "who did you say is up?" Silly, but the 20 seconds you lose every time they don't know who is jumping or throwing next adds up pretty quickly.

4. what events are you running? For example, maybe you deliberately limit the 200 M entries to only get the better athletes, but you do run a whole bunch of 4 x 200 M relays. Less time to do a relay than run the same number of runners over four heats of 200 M.

5. how big are your heats for races not run in lanes the whole way? I've seen 30 and 35 high school runners in a single heat of the 3000. Yeah, somebody gets to count laps but, especially with high schoolers, they get strung out pretty fast. Amazing, though, to see the pack, maybe six abreast, come around that first turn!

As a former hs track coach, I agree totally. I believe the problem is twofold. Regular season meets with a few teams should NOT have a full roster of events that championship meets do. Why do we need three distance races, three sprints, three or more relays, etc etc for small meets? I even tried to come up with two abbreviated schedules. Each knocked out one of the jumps, one of the sprint relays, one of the sprints, one of the distance races. Never got anywhere. It drove me out of the sport. Dreaded going to a Tue afternoon meet, finishing past suppertime, then getting up at the crack of dawn to teach the next day. Brutal.

My day:

Dual meets Tuesdays or Wednesdays. We'd get off the bus, and literally run to the track, where the 3200 was lining up. I'd have to race their stud guy who was warmed up, and nearly get schooled running a 10:15, and have to run a 59 to win. The meet would be over before it was dark, which was a thing during April in the Midwest.

Invites were Fridays, during the school day, mostly. We'd bus somewhere, a bunch of teams were there, and the 1600 would be in the dark most of the year. Took a few hours, but maybe 3 heats of the 200? Two of the 'mile?'

Were any kids lapped in the mile? Not that it ever happened to me.

Those who are arguing that it needs to be this way are forgetting that track meets don’t plan themselves. We are using an antiquated system of running these meets. At this point, if there is the type of growth in the sport that we are suggesting, then a serious look at logistics and maybe new tech needs to be taken into consideration.

I might also consider that allowing every kid to run any event such that there are an ungodly amount of heats, may be good for the host track budget, but it’s terrible for the sport.

What if your child played basketball, and after each quarter another two teams would play their quarter, then two girls teams, then two terrible teams. Then 2hours later your kid plays the next quarter. The analogy seems ridiculous, but an honest look at the current state of track meet logistics is equally perplexing to anyone outside the sport who hasn’t bought into the notion that “this is just the way it needs to be. “

That is not true. In fact, this is the way we have made it. No wonder even die-hards like us can’t deny the soul-sucking experience of watching our sport bungled so inefficiently week after week.

Se could speed things up considerably if we reduce the time between each heat/race. Officials feel they must slowly line up runners and then give instructions. The worst part though is that the kids arent ready. In sprint races the athletes dink around with setting blocks, doing run outs and then walking slowly back to their blocks. I say no run outs. Plus they dink aroind removing sweats that they dont even need. On top of this there are athletes who go thru a series of routines that are unnecessary. For mid d and distance runners the athletes should be lined up 15 seconds after the last runner with the gun going off in another 10 seconds. This whole circus requires good clerking, starters, and athletes being ready to go.

Track meets take too much time because there are offen too many teams/athletes as well. In addition, coed meets double the time. Its like having a boys baseball/girls softball double header every time.

Like watching the grass grow wrote:

Some of my recommendations are as follows :

1. Combine slower heats of the mile and two mile, even if it means combing boys and girls

2. Consider separate meets for boys and girls so neither gender has to wait for the 11 heats of the other. The total time may be the same, but the athletes can more predictably gauge their start times.

3. There should never be multiple heats with 2 or 3 athletes in it. Combine the heats.

4. Consider separate distance and sprint meets. Give ample time for rest for those doubling and it will still be far less time than 7 hours between a 4x800 and a two mile.

From a my perspective as a coach when my team is being scored against other team:

1. It's better to have standards for regular meets and separate JV meets than to have any situation where you are running a ton of slow boys and girls together. Not good for the sport in my opinion. Try that on an indoor track for the 3000 meters and you'll have several kids running a lap short. Funny how they never run a lap more! Solutions that take away from the quality of the meet to save time are not the answer.

2. Yes, agreed.

3. They do the best they can with this. For example at a high school meet when the 300 meters is near the end, they set it up for the heats to be filled but kids bag last second. You can't bump other heats ahead for a kid who thinks they are in heat 9 but are now in heat 7. You might say "why not?" It's because a lot of these kids are doing other field events at the same time. Then you have the entire meet stopped waiting for one kid. Just run the heat of three at that point. There are other organizational reasons but this is the major one.

4. Wow, maybe for invitationals but never for championship or dual meets. I can give you many reasons why. Bring half my team up on two different days without the resources to coach the team left behind. Scoring over a two day period. For kids doubling you have two long meet days of no studying instead of one - Yes, it takes a couple of hours on either end for us with transportation. Nearly double the bus fees for the school. If you organize the separate meets on the same day it's still the same horrible torture show.

rojo wrote:

My wife recently gave birth. Many family members have been like, "Robert, you were a runner, I bet you are hoping he's a runner." I'm like, "I hope not. Sport is way too boring and long. I hope he's good at soccer or baseball or something"

Congratulations.

Be careful what you wish for; running is about the only kids' sport left that is truly merit based. Individual sports like swimming and gymnastics are limited due to access - facilities, cost. Outside of Parks & Rec leagues, baseball, soccer, football, basketball are based on seniority with the coach.

Running, for kids, is probably the last, purest representation of sport. My suggestion to avoid long meets is to not go. Just let the kid run a local 5k or race during PE at their school. No reason for grade/middle schoolers to run in a track meet anyway.

OAN - family members call you Robert?

Coaching track now almost 40 years. Now everyone gets to run at a varsity meet. It was not like that back in the early 1970s when I ran. You had to be the top 3 in the event to run varsity. As the years have gone by we now have the 8 min miler and 15min 2 miler 15 heats of the 200 meters 4 hours into a thursday after school meet at 8 pm that still has the 4x400 and clean up or a bus ride home. My throwers were done 3 hours ago and are now done with their homework and sick of being there. It is a mess. Then the Saturday meets.. It is still in my blood but there are real issues that need to be addressed. A varsity meet should consist of limited entries.

Like watching the grass grow wrote:

Rojo, you are wise beyond your years. Basketball is the best kid sport to watch though. Exciting at any age. Over quickly. Decent seating (rather than sitting on the floor at the second turn). I love basketball games and I’m not a basketball fan. Also have to watch soccer, which is interesting, but outdoors in the fall for a tournament in most parts of the country can be miserable.

Xc has also been easy. In and out without a hassle. Races only last 1630 :)

Hey, it could be swimming. You can barely see what they're doing because they're half underwater. Sometimes 20 or more heats.

Very dishearting your attitude to the sport that is feeding your family. I hope that someone comes and steals this passionate community from under your nose, while you're at some damn soccer game. You sound like James Dolan, the owner of the Knicks. He really doesn't give a hoot about the team or the sport. He real love is music.

rojo wrote:

Like watching the grass grow wrote:

I loved running track in my time. Watching my kids now is terrible. This sport needs to be updated. Even baseball was able to limit crotch adjusting to move things along. Any ideas?

My wife recently gave birth. Many family members have been like, "Robert, you were a runner, I bet you are hoping he's a runner." I'm like, "I hope not. Sport is way too boring and long. I hope he's good at soccer or baseball or something"

Eight long hours is wonderful at these events. The athletes get to learn if they're smart by watching other athletes. In Arizona, all of the state championship qualifyers in every division compete on the same day. In other words, Division 1's championship follows Division 2's championship, etc. . It's wonderful for the kids when they can go get ready for an event and watch the previous state champion finish up!

https://wiseolmanager.com/

https://wiseolmanager.com/2018/06/30/who-is-this-lady-stefka-kostadinova/

Indoor Track just has a complete lack of facilities nationwide. You may have a Friday or Saturday invitational in the winter but everyone is attending. 2-3 entries per event per team and next thing you know you have 80-120 kids per event = 8hr plus track meet

To solve the indoor issue you need more facilities

Outdoor is much easier to fix. Don't go to as many weekend invites.

Our team used to go to one every other weekend plus we had our standard dual or tri meets.

Thats a lot of track. The kids dont mind because they like being with there friends but parents don't want to sit there all day. Coaches like to coach but not for 8 hours plus you need to catch a bus to the meet and take it home. That is a 10hr day.

We've found that scheduling a tri or quad meet on Saturday morning is the best. Not only that but you get each school that is attending to help out.

Everyone gets to run, jump, throw and you can get in and out in 3hrs. Easiest way to solve the invite weekend issue and the weekday mandatory district meet.