MONDAY MORNING FINISH LINE

March 8, 2021

By Michael Newman

[email protected]

I was driving Sunday to first pick up my daughter and then get her back to where she lives in Wisconsin. This weekend was busy for me and I decided on Thursday to write this before everything started to get going for me. By Friday morning, I put this aside and moved towards, track meets, videos, and uploading results.

I drove home Sunday night with thoughts going through my mind. I had received e-mails about the IHSA and parents / coaches asking what I thought. The way that I had patterned what I wrote before was in an entirely different tone. By the left my car, I had different feelings.

So, what the hell. Scrap what you wrote and start again and say what you mean, not what your readers want you to say.

Sometime today the Board of the Directors for the IHSA will finish a meeting in which they will determine if there will be a state series for Baseball, Softball, and Track & Field. I know what everyone would like to happen especially after missing last spring’s outdoor track and field season.

Where will this leave us at the end of today?

It is troubling that conferences such as the West Suburban Conference are limiting their schools to compete against only their conference schools this track season. It leads me to think to these AD’s and administrators in those conferences: What did you put in your coffee when making that decision?

Outdoor meets have been taking place over the past few weeks that have been doing the right thing. Masks are being worn by spectators and athletes as well as social distancing has been happening. There were moments that dual meets should have happened.  Now is not the time.

The IHSA and IDPH have declared the sport of track and field as a low-risk sport. Why are some of these conferences treating it as high risk? This is not football.

The limitations set forth are confusing. Track and Field conference champions are decided by a meet towards the end of the season. Football needs one team playing every other team in their conference to decide a champion. Why then you athletic directors are you treating track like football?

It seems like athletic directors are dismissing their greatest resources about information for track and field: their coaches. Please, go talk to your track coaches and how a track meet can be held. They are informed. Coaches have great ideas on how a high scale meet will occur. Do not dismiss your coaches for your own selfish reasons.

The IHSA has stated that there will be no limitations in travel for track this spring. It is again a low-risk sport. It does not come down to the IHSA to determine where a school can compete during the regular season. It comes down to the school.

The athletes of this sport do not deserve this abuse that could happen if limitations are set in the scheduling. They deserve better. The Class of 2021 athletes missed last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was understandable. We did not know what we were dealing with. There had to be some limitations during last fall. The IHSA changed the cross-country season extending it one extra week than originally planned.

This year’s seniors do not deserve the lame excuse of “Oh, with dual meets, they will get a chance to compete.” They deserve better. Dual meets are good for the developing athletes. The bigger meets bring out better competition, better performances. We have seen some unbelievable performances within indoor meets when Illinois athletes have not had an official season. Competition is a learning experience. You learn what you can do in a stressful situation. Those are experiences that you will use later in your life. Trust me, you will look back at those times. So then, why are these athletic directors and school administrators trying to stunt their student athlete’s growth?

Guidelines are going to change. We have a vaccine for this is virus that is being distributed. We are in a different place than where we were at one year ago. We have an idea of how to do things safely. The ignorance that is being shown in some conferences is punishing this year’s seniors (and juniors, and sophomores, and freshmen) with limiting where they compete is unfathomable. Our athletes deserve more. Why can’t you realize that?

This is a year we can test how meets are run. This is a year where ideas can be implemented. We have seen that with the meets held at Gately Park the past month have been held safely. The administrators at this facility have taken every step so that athletes can compete at a high-level while being done safely. That example from Gately Park shows that we can have some fun at track meets under the sunlight or calm spring nights when everything gets going in April.

The IHSA knows what they are doing. Let us be clear on that. The one thing that I hope for is that the IHSA does not make a decision today on whether we have a state meet in June. It would be nice if we hear from Bloomington this afternoon that yes, you will have sectional meets. The environment will change for the better, the guidelines will change for the better in a month. Why make a hasty decision today?

Ideas have been floated around to put the state meets in three different locations like what Ohio is doing with their state meet. It is a nice idea. I am sure that officials from the IHSA have been exploring that. Craig Anderson, the Executive Director of the IHSA, stated in one of his press conferences that they have talked to other states on how those states are executing their plan. It is good to be a sponge absorbing so much information. It gives you a better idea of which way to go. I am sure that Anderson and Kraig Garber, the Assistant Director for the IHSA in charge of Track & Field, have been inundated with e-mails and notes persuading them to have a state meet.

On January 27, Anderson stated in a press conference:

“The Board wants to do everything in their power to prevent spring sports from going two consecutive years with no postseason IHSA play,” added Anderson. “There are obviously no guarantees, as risk levels by sport and local region mitigation statuses will factor significantly. Postseason could mean being limited to a Regional or Sectional level of competition, but we have not ruled out the idea of playing a full state tournament in these traditional spring sports if possible. The overwhelming feedback we have heard from athletic directors and coaches was that returning to play in all sports should be the main goal.”

Anderson went on to say in that press conference that “There are still financial concerns conducting some of the low-risk sports or the spring sports. (Having a state meet) it won’t benefit the association financially unless we can have spectators beyond the limits that are currently in place. That will play into what kind of state series we are able to offer or if we get any give from our member…terms and conditions – it will be tough to give back to our membership for those hosting responsibilities. Those are things to be determined. There is still a financial concern with the loss of revenue with the result of no state series. If we do hold a state series with spectator limits it could hurt us financially and considerably.

Those are some of the things that need to happen.

At the same time, what happens if we have a scaled back state meet this June with a smaller number of athletes qualifying? What happens if it is something that the IHSA likes and decides to stay with? The partnership that the IHSA has with the City of Charleston and Eastern Illinois University is strong. Three days of revenue twice a year benefits the IHSA and more so Charleston.

Let us be careful what we wish for to have a state meet for the sake of having a state meet. I would LOVE to have a state meet. There might not be one, but we may travel down the road like last cross-country season and have an unofficial state meet.

I have confidence with the IHSA. I do not have confidence with some of the conferences and the administrators that run those groups.

The decision of a state meet will take care of itself starting today. Having a funky schedule with minimized meets starts with coaches trying to convince their administrators that there are well thought out plans that could make a “normal” season work.

It should not be for us that these decisions are made but for the athletes that have made the choice to compete in Track and Field.

The decision needs to be made for the good of our athletes because they deserve the opportunity to compete at a higher level. They deserve the best chance.

Don’t you think so?