This is catered to Anne Arundel County, but pertinent to all, as scheduling for next season has started. These are ideas for next season scheduling.
The point here is that Anne Arundel (and everyone else) should move to a dual meet schedule for track and field for shorter meets and more development of JV athletes. With 5 duals, this still allows for 5 invitationals where teams can complete.
Below are points in support of scrapping Inter-County meets and creating dual meets. Other counties can use this as a template. Baltimore County may have difficulty based on number of schools, but they could follow the MOCO template.
JV Development
In track, there are not many opportunities for JV athletes to race. And certainly not consistently. In Anne Arundel County, there are four opportunities for JV athletes to race, which is a fair amount, but it is not consistent enough to develop talent. Those dates this year were March 23, March 30, April 13, and May 8. With a dual meet schedule, JV athletes would have 5 opportunities to race consistently and possibly prepare them for counties and regionals.
Supermeets
As more and more meets go to supermeets, with entry limitations, this takes athletes away from the sport. Most local weekend meets are 7-9 hours long. With travel time, this easily gets to 10+hours on a Saturday. Dual meets allow more opportunities for all athletes, in particular JV athletes to race, in a reasonable time frame.
School Start Time
Anne Arundel now starts their school day one hour later than in the past, with a start time of 8:30. School gets out at 3:18. Howard County is set to start later next year too. Other sports now start their games at 4:45. Athletes and teachers (coaches) now have to miss more school time due to needing to leave early. Dual meets create shorter meets that can start later and still finish earlier than Inter-County meets.
End time of meets
The Anne Arundel All-Comers’ meet started at 3 p.m. on March 30th, a school night. The meet ended at 9:00 p.m. The 3 p.m. start time was because March 30th was a 2 hour early dismissal. If it started at the normal time of 4, the meet would have ended at 10:00 p.m. Kids have school the next day and most coaches are teachers. How is it acceptable to have a meet go to 9:00 on a school night (indoor is not pertinent here due to venue)? Even the inter-county meets often go well past 8:00.
How to run a dual meet
A dual meet should take 2 to 2 and a half hours. Even a tri or quad meet shouldn’t take any longer than 3 hours. Each team gets 3 Varsity entries that go towards the team score. Dual meets are scored 5-3-1 and relays 5-0. JV gets 3 entries per event. Combine the boys and girls 4×800 for 1 heat and the 3200s all run together. One heat of 1600 for boys and one heat of girls for 1600. No blocks for sprints. 3 relays per school for each relay.
Season Champion
Having a season champion is important. Having a won-loss record is important. Establishing meaningful rivalries is important. A dual meet schedule is an easy way to get a season champion.
Season Schedule
Meets are Monday-Thursday. Meets would be run as double duals and in the case of a quad meet, triple duals. Meets start at 4:45 and end at 7:30.
Next year, you can go (accounting for spring break)
Week 1:Â Week of Apr 1
Week 2:Â Week of Apr 8
Week 3:Â Week of 15th
Week 4:Â Week of 22nd
Week 5:Â Week of 29th
Or bump it by one week if you want a week off before county champs.
Louis:Â chasingthestandard@gmail.com