I'm a big Penn relays fan (from NJ) but they need to do a better job of treating the athletes right. The way the facility is designed makes everything a logistical challenge (warmup field takes at least 20 minutes to get to track), then you get penned into a coral for who knows how long. Ever since Drake got the HyVee money I've been a bigger fan of their meet, shame the weather has been poor. As far as I'm concerned this Yankee couldn't care less about the SEC
People are delusional if they think Pat Henry really cares about what's best for the sport. Pat Henry cares about Pat Henry and Texas A&M, period. He tries to get other people to go along with his ideas by claiming they are what's best for "the sport".
Funny.... so many people claim they don't care about Penn or Drake Relays but as soon as Ches (i.e. Jordy Williamsz) or Jenny Simpson does something special then all of a sudden people will be happy the meets exist... God forbid the SEC try to cooperate with the rest of the country.
PS what is the Florida Relays then? The SEC Relays + some schools that didn't want to go out to California to race? okok
Typical southern isolationalism. Some coaches and some fans eschew meets outside their region bc of their inherent inferiority complexes. The fans of penn/drake will miss out a bit by not having these great schools, but nothing compared to how the athletes of SEC schools suffer. There are inherent challenges to running at penn, but i guarantee it's worth it to the athlete who gets to run in front of 45,000 people on Saturday for probably the only time in his/her life. The coaches/fans can't experience that, so what do they care?
Also Oregon tried having their own relay event a few years ago. Guess how that went.
Couldn't have said it better myself. Also, think of all the track fans who are track fans because they went to or participated in these meets.SEC relays seems contrived.
BS wrote:
Upfront I will say I am likely biased having grown up in NJ. But if you are looking at this from a branding perspective, as a sport we should be protecting both Drake and Penn. As many have mentioned on this thread there are those who don't care about either meet but there are more that do care than just about any other two meets in the US.
Building equity takes time, why throw that away by weakening two of our most history laden events. If you are part of the group that does not care, take a look through Penn's Program (and Drake's I am sure as well) it reads like a history of track and field.
Everybody complains that track gets no coverage - Penn has gotten its own pull out section in the Inquirer (Philly major paper) what track meet gets that in a major city?
So I agree that Pat Henry's thinking is selfish (from a sport perspective) and short sighted but he knows who signs his paycheck, so on one level I can understand. I just hope it fizzles.
Henry has a manjina wrote:
Also Oregon tried having their own relay event a few years ago. Guess how that went.
I don't remember it, but it probably sucked. Because relays suck. Like Penn and Drake. They both suck.
I'm glad Florida and others went to Penn. They might have a recruiting advantage over the schools that don't go.
The concept of an SEC relay meet is a good one for normal sports fans. Seems like the meet could be contested in 2 hours.
However, it's not such a good idea to take away from Penn or Drake. Have it a different weekend.
Just looked at the schedule. There is a 2 day meet with individual events on Day 1.
http://www.lsusports.net/pdf9/5375026.pdf
They're even giving away watched to winners trying to copy Penn and Drake.
https://twitter.com/LSUTrackField/status/857631145659420672
They should just give watches to who wins relays at the SEC conference meet.
I also want to say good for FLA and SC. With Mizzou's history at Drake the coaching staff should be ashamed to go to the SEC relays instead.
Bad Wigins wrote:
You should ask him why the hell A&M needs an indoor track. Watching NCAA indoors when it was in the 70's outside was crazy.
- Sometimes it rains in College Station & might get cold/windy
- More than likely, the football team needed a place to practice to prepare for domed stadiums
- I don't think anyone would care if Indoor Track went away other than the sprinters.
wejo wrote:
I'm glad Florida and others went to Penn. They might have a recruiting advantage over the schools that don't go.
The concept of an SEC relay meet is a good one for normal sports fans. Seems like the meet could be contested in 2 hours.
However, it's not such a good idea to take away from Penn or Drake. Have it a different weekend.
Just looked at the schedule. There is a 2 day meet with individual events on Day 1.
http://www.lsusports.net/pdf9/5375026.pdfThey're even giving away watched to winners trying to copy Penn and Drake.
https://twitter.com/LSUTrackField/status/857631145659420672They should just give watches to who wins relays at the SEC conference meet.
- Agree that the individual sports = "yawn"! and works against Coach Henry attempting to create a "team" versus "individual" theme toward the sport. Furthermore, this lasting more than 1-day is not "fan-friendly."
- They probably could pick a weekend different than Drake & Penn, but why bother?
- How will Drake/Penn & USATF react? Could we see a greater emphasis on the professional clubs competing against each other?
LetsRun.com wrote:
So this week when the Penn and Drake relays are both going on, the SEC schools voted to have the first SEC Relays meet. Most of the SEC schools are going to that and not Penn or Drake. That makes A&M coach Pat Henry happy - what do you think?
Here is Henry's quote.
12thman.com wrote:"This should be a fine competition this weekend. With the exception of a few schools, such as Florida and South Carolina, most everybody is going to be at the SEC Relays. It's a shame some decided to go a separate way after we all voted to have this meet. We just need the SEC office to step up and say we're going to do this every year now. I think it will be great for the sport, great for the conference, and it's great for the athletes as well."
Ok, we get how it could be good for the conference, but we don't get how it would be good for the sport. Shouldn't we be doing everything we can to support the big events we have? Penn may not be ideal for running fast but it's an event like the Belmont Stakes or Kentucky Derby.
It seems to me that one of the problem's our sport faces is everyone takes stuff for themselves. Relay meets are great. So instead of making Penn and Drake even better - we now have World Relays and the SEC relays diluting them.
http://www.12thman.com/news/2017/4/27/track-and-field-initial-sec-relays-feature-nine-conference-schools-competing-at-lsu.aspx
I agree!
This year I attended my first World Relays and loved it. Track & field needs meets were the best athletes and more specifically relay teams are forced to race each other. Without Drake and Penn, the top relays would only race each other 2-3 times a year. One of the top 3 biggest problems facing our sport is the fact that the top athletes don't race each other enough, the same applies to relays. Also, why would anyone not be in favor of meets that showcase our sport on TV media with full stadiums.
Someone smarter than me might explain how a defacto Conference Championships a couple weeks before the Conference Championships is a good thing?
But everyone on your team can't get into ONE meet. So Cal/LAX in April has two dozen relays one after another and some on the same day down the million miles of freeways, and you can surf, sighteee, Disneyland, San Diego, etc. You can still fit in Kansas Relays etc later on which we do.
wejo wrote:
I'm glad Florida and others went to Penn.
Dafuq, dude? Florida is hosting a home meet this weekend.
How about NO bear wrote:
wejo wrote:I'm glad Florida and others went to Penn.
Dafuq, dude? Florida is hosting a home meet this weekend.
He meant Florida State
about half a million people attendants and athletes disagree with you every single year. and that wont change any time soon.
I don't think this will destroy Drake or Penn or make a big hit to the sport.
But the bad thing that I think it is does is takes a way the opportunity for those kids to experience those meets.
I've never been to Drake but I know it's a big tradition.
I've been to Penn several times.
Yes, it's actually a pretty crappy place to run and there are very few good seats because a part of the track is almost always obstructed anywhere you sit.
But the atmosphere of the large crowd and the event running race after race after race is great.
It is something to experience and remember.
BS wrote:
Everybody complains that track gets no coverage - Penn has gotten its own pull out section in the Inquirer (Philly major paper) what track meet gets that in a major city?
So I agree that Pat Henry's thinking is selfish (from a sport perspective) and short sighted but he knows who signs his paycheck, so on one level I can understand. I just hope it fizzles.
Having 25,000 people a year come into your city for 3-4 days is a big deal for a city. The Inquirer knows it can boost its sales over those days.
For a collegiate stud runner Penn is a crappy weekend
You might have
Prelims - 4x1, 4x2, 4x4, Open 100/110s/100HH
Finals - 4x1, 4x2, 4x4, 100, Shuttle Hurdles, SMR
Basically a really good 100, 200, 400 runner or hurdler has the potential for 6-8 races over 2-3 day span. That's a lot of warm ups, cool downs. Not only that but late April weather in Philly is usually sucks. That stadium can stay cold all day.
Why not have a two day meet closer to home? Maybe you can bring some more of your squad and get them some times. I know Penn and Drake supplement some of these teams with travel costs but it's still much better weekend to be close to home.
As a high school coach it can be a fun weekend. Kids get to see a wide variety of competition. And it can get them excited for the future. But you also lose a lot of training days and it's hard to be away from your own family for 3 days.
Drake and Penn will be overthrown by new Relay meets in the notsodistant future...college coaches are sick of these meets are the poor treatment and are o the verge of creating an all college relay meet
Coach K-chef wrote:
Someone smarter than me might explain how a defacto Conference Championships a couple weeks before the Conference Championships is a good thing?
- Great point!
- Relays should carry-over in SEC Point Totals
- The following weekend = Individual Events only -- No HEATS! You are selected in the heats based on the number of times you've raced or beaten other SEC athletes ... this encourages the best to race & often. No 4 x 100 or 4 x 400s ...