"We knew of at least a dozen that had graduations on Sunday. We had an alternative plan to maybe go Sunday if we got postponed totally, but yet they had scheduled graduations on Sunday to avoid this cause the track was gonna be over on Saturday.â€
Since when do state athletic associations know or care what individual schools have scheduled? Anyway, what 18-year-old wouldn't choose running in a state championship over sitting in an auditorium all day?
Actually, I found only 3, not "at least a dozen".
Another gem from KHSAA comes from their decision in handling a Scott Co vs Lafeyette football game earlier in the year.
In the 3rd quarter the game (a regular season game...not even playoffs) was suspended due to lightening. KHSAA mandated Scott Co. return on a weekday (Tuesday I think) and complete the game. When Scott Co (who was winning) said they couldn't, KHSAA docked Scott a forfeited loss.
So, when teams CAN'T make the make-up, mandate it; when teams WANT to make the make-up, refuse it.
Colorado's state meet survives a blizzard but the KHSAA folks can't handle a 6 hour lightening storm.
The KHSAA has made very few statements since the meet but unfortunately each one seems to indicate that they believe they handled the situation in the best way possible and if faced with the same situation again they would do the same thing.
So here's a summary of some unpleasant truths from this incident.
1) The KY State Association can tell member schools to have contingencies for things like bad weather, but produce no public contingency plan for the one meet they organize, State.
2) The KY State Association can freely defend their decisions by embellishing the truth or lying, depending on your point of view, without any apparent concern over being called out.
3) The KY State Association will use a word like equity in stating their desire to avoid conflicts with graduations and any rescheduling of the State meet, but have no such concern with the original scheduling of the State meet.
4) Coaches and parents are even mocked by a Louisville-area sports journalist who works for a paper that ignores track in a city that's produced most of the state's best teams and performers.
If we follow the logic presented we are left with some really problematic scenarios. Given the fact that the KHSAA has only entrenched themselves in defense of their decision we have to assume that this is exactly how they would proceed in a similar situation in the future.
What if this same scenario had happened an hour earlier with several field events still being contested and multiple individual events yet to begin? I assume they'd follow the same protocol.
What if this were to occur at a regional championship? Should the coaches serving as regional meet directors follow the same protocol?
Sadly, the governing body seems much more interested in simple and convenient answers not in doing what is best for the sport. The same body hosts track and field championship meets without prelims/finals where competitors in one of three sections are competing against one another, with times compared instead of head to head competition. Strangely the KHSAA doesn't universally disapprove of prelims/finals as its own swim meets include prelims and finals.
It sounds like people won't stand up to this head guy, so if they're willing to take it in the a$$ with nothing more than a day or so of basic whining, then let em have the cream pie and move on.
The state as a whole doesn't appreciate Track & Field in any meaningful sense, and the state association basically mirrors that sentiment.
That basically leaves coaches in the state with several options. One option is to try and change the culture and generate some interest in the sport. I don't see that happening, when the opportunity to do something different comes along, something that could be really exciting for fans and athletes alike, too many coaches fail to buy in and don't support it. In my opinion, too many are ready for the season to end when it's all over, because track is probably much closer to a means of making a few extra $ than a passion.
Another option is to take current sentiment as given and fight decisions like this through different channels. If parents and coaches won't step up on the level of what someone mentioned happened in another state, where they took to social media and got a decision reversed, then we have to ask who the State Association answers to and focus efforts there. There is a Board of Control that I believe hovers over the state association, but all that board ever hears is what the state assocation chief tells them. Maybe it's time for coaches and parents to go through administrators, who eventually approach the Board of Control and get some changes made?
The final option is to shut up and just take whatever they throw at us. Clearly not the best option for some people, but if all we want to do is complain for a few days before finally dropping the issue, then maybe this is the option we've actually chosen.
midwest rain wrote:
We had 2 hour delays this past weekend at both our middle school and high school girls championships and there was never any question of canceling. Both facilities had lights - i guess that might be the only reason to cancel rather than force an extra overnight stay to finish the next day.
New Balance Nationals Outdoor 2015 had one more delays due to thunderstorms. They said they would not reschedule races for the next day. They planned to delay as long as it would take. The girls 5000 was suppose to have two sections starting at 9:10 PM while the boys was suppose to start at 9:50. They ended up combining the 32 girls into a single heat that was running at around midnight followed by the boys. And even though it was late it was still hot in humid. I guess it could have been worse. The 2017 NCAA DI Eastern Regional 10,000 races only had one section with 48 runners. That was a mess. One runner sprained an ankle trying to avoid a fallen runner. There were probably other injuries due to officials once again putting expediency before the safety of the runners in the distance events.
Since when is Kentucky a real state?
Kentucky is a commonwealth actually.