At this point, we all know the Armory is not the greatest track and field venue. With that being said, it can not go without saying that the state did a great job putting together a state championship meet. Had there been no championship, it would have set a very bad precedent for future championships and seasons. The logistics of finding, organizing, and convincing venues to host meets certainly took quite a bit of effort.
Following that, if the purpose of track and field is to compete, there was a lot of competition and there were many fantastic races. In the 3200s, everyone was racing and competing; there was jostling, shifting, and strategy, and it was very fun to watch. In the 300s, no one tip toed around the turns; when the gun went off, the kids were moving and rolling around the turns.
There were many great performances, but a standout performance of the meet was:
John Condon, Cambridge South Dorchester-was out for 3 months with a stress fracture during the winter then won the 1A mile in 4:39, finished second in the 800 in 2:06, and JUMPED 11-06 IN POLE VAULT, then he ran on his team’s winning 4×400
While not perfect, it certainly felt like championship meets on each of the days and the athletes stepped up. In mid January, there was a strong possibility there would be no meet, so kudos to coaches and athletes for staying focused. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity, or more esoterically, in the words of Triple H, “Adapt or perish. That is evolution.”
Some complaints are certainly warranted.
-The 14 entries per gender per school certainly came from limiting numbers for each facility, but it could have been done differently. Interestingly, many schools did not use those 14 entries, but that is for a different article. The limited numbers certainly affected the 3A and 4A schools more than the 1A and 2A schools. The smaller schools got more entries per capita. Looking at past state meet results, it is pretty obvious the 1A/2A Indoor meet on President’s day is always smaller than the 3A/4A meet held the next day. In theory, they should be exactly the same size, but in practice, it’s not even close. Limited entries made sense, especially considering the meets were held in Baltimore City with different restrictions than other jurisdictions. Still, 3A and 4A should have had a few more entries to account for school/team size.
-For much of the meet, there was plenty of space for athletes to warmup along the hurdles and dash area, but they were kept away. Not sure why the athletes couldn’t warm up there.
-Several shot puts found their way across the track during races. The Armory has literally hosted track meets over the course of 100 years. Is there no contraption or design to prevent the shot put from entering the track? Even in this shortened season, there were double digit meets hosted at the Armory and we still can’t keep the shot put away from the track.
-The finish line area looks like construction on 695. Why are there so many random cones serving no purpose strewn throughout the track? While coaches should be telling their athletes where the finish line is, why are there two large cones near the finish line of the 300 and 500 when they are completely unnecessary? How come the officials standing right there can not point to the finish line when a runner stops early thinking s/he has reached the finish line?
-The headline on the MPSSAA website says, “22 years later, Indoor Track State Meet returns to Baltimore Armory.” There’s nothing wrong with going retro with the meet in the Armory to remind yourself what you have in life.  Still, humanity just launched the James Webb telescope, but that was the press release. If you survive Y2K and Corona, you get the state meet at the Armory.
Stay tuned for stats on regionals and some history of the Armory, which is pretty interesting believe it or not.
Thank you again to the MPSSAA for hosting the meet. “The Armory is not the track we deserved, but the track we needed.”-Gordon
For thoughts or anything else, you can send them to louisfoudos@gmail.com