Cahokia demonstrates the art of relay running out front with jumps guru Ja'mari Ward in control (Colin Boyle images)
Another indoor track and field season is now in the books...
Before we move on to spring and outdoor season I want to take a moment to pause and reflect on what was the indoor season.
As most of you know indoor track and field is not officially recognized by the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) as a separate entity when it comes to a sport. But they do count and include indoor meets as the official part of track and field as one season. To add more confusion there is an unofficial indoor state meet known as the Illinois Top Times. But more on that later.
I remember when the first track meets getting underway in early December around the time I was wrapping up cross country with the Nike Cross Nationals and Footlocker Cross Country Nationals. Many east coast schools and individuals were getting started on their race chops one weekend after another. Back home in Illinois, my good friend and videographer Abe Jones was taking his Track My Speed Track Club to some meets as well. He and his athletes even went to a meet in Canada at the end of November!
Finally the Illinois season opened up in February-
The Illinois season officially starts on the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday weekend and the first meet can commence several weeks later in February. We normally start slow statewide with just a handful of competitions and in those meets nothing much is discussed. If you are lucky you can get into a quad meet at one of the few quality venues around the Chicago land area. Proviso West High School in Hillside has a nice start of the art field house equipped with a Mondo track. From there the University of Chicago and other places open their doors for high school competitors.
As time goes on small meets turn into invitationals and the competition gets stiffer. By the end of February most of the state's top squads and individuals usually have a major competition notched in their belts. Unfortunately, though, there are a lack of quality facilities in which teams can compete in. But there are a few others out there that have a venue for those not privy to Proviso West, University of Illinois, or some other fancy meet. Specifically, the Chicago Public League arguably composes the largest conference in the country but they don't have anything of their own to call home. CPS Sports Administration has to rent out a facility to host a championship. In some instances past and present they have been subjected to vultures. Vultures? That terms depends on what context in which it is used. For example, the CPS Indoor Championship was conducted at Proviso West HS for a nice sum of $8000. The price does not come with the amenities of a finely tuned run meet like the host school runs. Nor does it comes with getting timely and accurate meet results so respectable media outlets can report. Proviso West is a great place to compete and it gives the athletes a top notch facility in which to be in, but $8000??
In staying with the vultures theme I have heard from the most reliable source out there that De La Salle HS in Chicago who run a series of meets featuring many of the CPS schools who can't get into quality meets, have been put in that vultures category. If I were a coach trying to move my program from beginning to emerging to championship status, I would find it hard trying to pay $250-300+ per gender for a meet. Keep in mind that you can't wear spikes and the track size is 160m. How about the competition? We haven't seen the top notched marks come out of there have we? Before anyone gets mad at me, I know that a lot of schools with field houses have very small tracks and limited competition. I was referring to a specific venue.
The Illinois Top Times-
Before the meet was called Illinois Top Times it was the Illinois Prep Top Times. It was called something else prior to me as a meet manager. I still enjoy attending and working at the ITT. But I must admit there was something missing last weekend. That something missing is having a unified championship meet. I like the three class structure because it is aligned with the IHSA structure. It also allows each classification to get a taste of glory.
Track and field is a great sport that in most instances success and failure is determined by how fast you can run and how far you can jump and throw. So let's pick on the largest classification: 3A. There were only two state best marks reached on the boy's side. On the girl's side, there were five (two by ITT veteran Brittny Ellis of Warren). This means that many top performers stayed home or started their outdoor seasons. I made a joke on twitter about the weather being too cold to be outside so why not come to lovely Bloomington and compete in a great meet. We as promoters of our beloved sport must do more to get our very best athletes interested in coming.
NEVER EVER QUIT ON YOUR TEAM... that includes your coach, team, and yourself!
Quitting on your team-
Quitting is such a harsh term. But sometimes you have to use harsh terms in order for some folks to really feel you. I saw something at the Top Times that embarrassed me as a coach, fan, and all around general supporter of the sport that I love. The Proviso West Boys 4x200 relay is a good and talented bunch of kids. How would I know this? I've seen them perform several times and their coach Johnny Jenkins is a close friend of mine. He had been going non-stop about his quartet all season long. I have never seen a coach more proud of his team through thick and thin. He has gone as far as to call me in the middle of the night to rave about the prospects of his guys. I have yet to see a coach go all out for his team (to a fault in many respects) as Coach Jenkins has. But at the same time there has been a troubling trend with the Panthers quartet. This same group has dropped the "hot potato" (or sorry) I mean baton several times this season in crucial situations. They did it at their conference meet and they would do it again at the ITT. I had to go and review the tape to witness what I missed live. The outcome of the race was bound to occur because Proviso West ran such a sloppy and reckless race. If you are fast enough to get in the lead then you have to do it. The Panthers supposedly were going make adjustments in allowing that to happen. They never did it. When you run close to your opponents and then run blind handouts during an indoor speed relay, you will get a disaster.
The Panthers finished dead last in the 4x2 relay. The quartet was dejected and upset. Things happen in the sport. Things happen in all sports. You are supposed to talk about what went wrong in closed quarters. Heck you can even fight about it before moving on. That is what team sports are all about. But you never ever supposed to tell your teammates and coaches in the moment that you are not going to race. That's what happened with the guys. They told their coach Johnny Jenkins that they were not going to race in the 4x400 relay. And they didn't. So in essence they quit on their coach, teammates, and themselves. These young men are fortunate not to have me as a coach. Why? I would have drove them to the Union Station in downtown Normal and had their parents come and pick them up from the meet. There is no way they could ride home with me or their teammates who dedicated themselves to the sport.
Match ups part 1-
Our trusty resident blogger B-Side talked about match ups in one of his blogs. Well I am a fan of match-ups too. Of course everyone gets hyped about the post-season and state. As a former prep runner I would get extra pumped when competing against rival opponents or teams. So in my mind from past experience as an athlete and now coach I know that April is the relay month. We have the Drake Relays, Penn Relays, and Arcadia Invitational which features every relay known to man and woman among its arsenal. This is where we often get our fastest marks when kids lay everyone down for the sake of time and maximum performance. I will talk about match ups part 2 in a later time.
Weather is the final frontier-
Let's just hope the recent string of good weather is something we all will enjoy and bask in for the outdoor season. We live in the Midwest and we know there is going to be mood swings with Mother Nature. That's just how she rolls. We are going to get sunshine, wind, cold, and downright gorgeous days throughout the season. So at the very least let's all take each day as a blessing and not complain too loudly. Remember Mother Nature is always listening.