Doug Speck - Editor DyeStatCal

Over the last couple of decades we have had the chance to see Track and Field Meets all around the world at all the different levels. We consider ourselves very lucky with memories that could not be recreated or would be traded for anything. A meet that combines a couple of levels of interest turns out to be our most enjoyable each year. It is often held in venues that leave one cringing in anticipation, as we tremble in asking, “Is the press box air-conditioned?” I think the record heat-index at one of them for us was 118 degrees, an affair where I figured if it kept up I would be deposited at a local hospital as green gatorade was followed by a green ring around the sweat pouring from my ampits, with orange gatorade leaving, well, I think you get the picture. I have seen rain and lightning sweep in and seen 5,000 people clear a stadium in 30 seconds. Those folks were smart enough to figure the possibility of dying from one of the huge bolts of lightning hitting all around them while they sat on the University of Florida aluminum bleachers watching junior run.  I have announced these meets where meet management puts a little walkie-talkie right next to you and they say, “If someone talks through that thing you better listen because it is on the emergency channel, and it means a tornado is headed our way, and we can put 10,000 people in the rooms under the gym.” I remember thinking, “I did not sign up for this!” Anyway, at these meets, I have seen the future of the sport coming, as athletes like Angela Williams and Obea Moore and others shattered records while moving up through the age divisions, and waved good-by to those we cover as they move out the end of their high school careers, next year to become agate on some web site or magazine as we are not able to make it to their college or open level meets.  We have seen mind-blowing efforts such as those by Ken Hall from Louisiana, who suddenly simply went from 51 to 56 feet in the Triple Jump a couple years back, leaving you shaking your head in amazement.  Each year we head home from the competition with a precious handful of memories about young athletes like Marion Jones or Monique Henderson who we just know will be so very, very special during the next few years when we follow them at the high school level.

We hope that you can figure out that the competition that we are talking about is the USATF National Junior Olympic competition, which will be held next week from July 24th through the 29th in Walnut at Mt. San Antonio College in Hilmer Lodge Stadium. It will be hot, with none of the weather possibilities above taking place, and with the name of the game in the sport speed, athletes should record some great marks in the warm conditions. The mid-summer National JO Championship meet is preceded by Regionals around the nation, with an amazing percentage of the top three finishers from those competitions making their way to the National Championships. There is some flexibility for others to be included, with those good enough to run in the US Junior Nationals, or those who were team members of the US Junior National or World Youth Championship squad and maybe not able to fit the JO Qualifying meets in their schedule, also allowed to attendance. I have sat high in stadiums at the National JO Championships and viewed a club with a group of 150 athletes, parents, coaches, and followers along, and been amazed as I thought through the fund-raising and financial commitment of families and groups to this competition. Over 6000 athletes are expected, with the youngsters divided up into five divisions:

     

Age Division Year of Birth
Bantam 1997+ (10 and under)
Midget 1995-1996 (11 and 12)
Youth 1993-1994 (13 and 14)
Intermediate 1991-1992 (15 and 16)
Young 1989-1990 (17 and 18)

The first couple of days of the meet are primarily multi-events, walks, steeplechase runs, and 4x800 qualifying. Days three and four have some fine field event finals with a ton of qualifying in the running events. In California at the high school level, especially in the southern part of the state, we lose a sense of “build” though qualifying on to a finals contest in a meet in the shorter events on the track. The JO’s feature this chance to view the best purring through qualifying rounds, many times leaving those watching rubbing their hands together in anticipation at the potential match-ups in the Finals when quick and talented stars look so good in earning a finals spot. The last day and a half (last part of Saturday and all of Sunday) is about all made up of finals’ races on the track and the continued field events. The lining up of these athletes in finals’ running events starts with the little guys and girls, with essentially fifth graders and younger at the Bantam level, followed by a gradual moving up through the divisional ranks to the Young Men and Women, with some at that level Collegiate first year athletes. Remember, counting both males and females here, you have ten of these finals races in a row, starting with the little folks, and moving up through the age and size ranks to the near-adults in the oldest divisions. You do not like to call the sport “cute,” but there certainly is that element as just the number of steps it takes for a ten year old to cover 100 or 400 meters compared to an 18 year old having a real entertaining element to it, with times some of the real young athletes able to achieve quite surprising.

We will be reporting all the meet information here at DyeStatCal.com and be in attendance each day, so tune back in here. If you can squeeze the final day in try to wander up for the Sunday session, which starts at 9:00 a.m. and goes through mid-afternoon, and features a lot of what we speak of above, with the little folks all the way up through the prep seniors or collegiate frosh stars in a series of “finals” only events that are a lot of fun to watch.

     

 

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