The Illinois HS XC Journal - September 17, 2020

Blog #7: How We Attend or Watch a Cross Country Meet This Fall

By Michael Newman

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My preparation for a cross country meet used to be doing research on the teams before I headed out to the course. Now there is so much more to do considering the times that we are in.

It is different this fall. The IHSA has required media members to contact the athletic director of the school that is hosting an event. The purpose is for planning purposes as well as safety and health purposes. You cannot just show up at a meet unannounced The protocol of having 50 runners / meet officials / media members is followed strictly by some schools.

You would think that it would be the same rules /protocol at every place that you go to. I have been to over 10 meets already this fall with 10 more meets in the next week. The difference is there.

I was nervous the first meet that I went to at the end of August. It was the first event that I would cover (by choice) at the end of August. I contacted the school. No paperwork was required but wear your media credentials. Spectators were allowed but had to watch the races from designated areas.

I was bothered by one meet where most people were wearing protective masks. I had some spectators that approached me that did not have their masks on. “Don’t come near me unless you have a mask on,” I asked the crowd that was approaching me.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevent Director Robert Redfield said yesterday that wearing masks may protect people better from COVID-19 than an actual vaccine for the virus.

That is why I wear a mask. That is why it is welcoming to see spectators at meets doing the same thing. I do not mind the hoop jumping I seem to do before I go to a meet. I do not mind keeping our kids safe by wearing a mask.

There have been a couple of meets that have used Google Documents to fill out verifying who you are, health history, etc. One school stated that I was not media, but a spectator. I could not go around the course. I have not had that problem all year. Yet, there was a crowd of people (greater than 50) that were cheering on the runners. There was no social distancing in that area. I will not go back to a meet hosted by that school for the rest of this season.

There are schools where you scan a document, then fill out health requirements on your phone. One place had a document that you had to fill out. Some meets had no requirements on spectators or on me.

The one thing that I noticed is that there are so many different ways to make it safe for the student/athletes to run at. Different methods have come away with the same results. There have been no group breakouts with this virus because of going to a meet.

People will jump through hoops to watch their kids run. There have been some meets were no spectators allowed. We do not know exactly how this virus spreads. That is why there are some school administrators are protective of the meets they host. It has been weird being at some meets where there are only coaches on the course. A parent may be watching. It could be in a park that is adjacent to a course. It could be in a parking lot. I have seen parents watching through the sunroofs in their cars just to see the race develop. It was pouring at one meet I was at last week. Car lights were flashing, horns blaring as the runners passed. Anything to be a part of the race experience.

It is strange for me taking video. No excitement as a runner approaches a finish line in a spectator less meet. Just a black hole of quietness as the runner approaches the line for the win with the exception of their coach yelling.

Waubonsie Valley High School and York High School are some of the schools that are doing live video of races via You Tube so that spectators can watch from a far. There are media outlets that are taking video of races. Coaches are broadcasting meets on social media. Any way to broadcast is great and matters just to fill that gap of empty parks.

Meets are different. The size of meets are different with limits of under 50 runners allowed in each race. The way meets are run have not changed in some ways. The excitement of teams competing against each other is still in my heart. There are some meets that are run in waves permitting only three teams at a time with seven runners each competing against each other. Compare the times and see who is the overall race winners. Flight races were the #1 runners race, then the #2 runners, and so on run again merging the times. Not a real cross country meet but it keeps the kids racing.

The North Suburban Conference is allowing meets this season. The athletic directors in this conference agreed that teams from different schools should be competing against each other but not racing against each other. Each team has a time trial with runners leaving in 15 second intervals (for example). Compare the times and see who is the team and individual winner.

I feel bad for the seniors in that conference that will not have the experience this fall to race against other teams. But they do get to compete against their teammates. Reach out for the positive in this situation.

We watch a meet when we can get into a park or allowed to. We find different versions of how to run races and find different ways to view them. The big thing is we get to watch a meet this fall compared to what we went through in the spring.

We also get to appreciate student/athletes run for the love of the sport. That is all that matters.

Photo: Jesse Rocha, IHSA Official