07/11/13 Track Season Date Changes Pending

July 11, 2013 Athletic Department Blog Updates

Over the past months, staff has spent quite a bit of time reviewing future plans in Track and Field. We were very concerned about the fact that due to natural calendar rollover situations, the track season was going to be shortened in 2014 and 2015. This, coming on the heels of the movement of the region and state competitions a couple of years ago due to testing, forced us to examine the entire season and its parameters.

Regardless of state venue, which has not yet been set, the staff at the KHSAA has identified several issues regarding both the original dates and potential alternative dates for the track and field postseason.  

• The University of Kentucky is hosting an SEC meet the weekend currently set for the high school regional weekend.  Because so many of our officials are collegiate caliber and beyond officials, this conflict would prohibit the KHSAA from providing the highest quality officials that we think are necessary for our schools regional competitions.  
• The University of Louisville also has a potential conflict with the College Twilight Meet that they have been chosen to host.  The dates they are requesting to host are on the same weekend that the state high school championship meet is scheduled.
• May 23 and 24, which represent a possible alternative weekend in 2014, is Memorial Day weekend.

We have chosen to prioritize the concerns regarding the shortening of the track season and the need to provide the best possible officials and management for our region and state meets, and due to those and other issues, the Commissioner will be presenting a request to the Board of Control at the July 22 board meeting.  The request will be to place the state meet to its normal corresponding date for 2014 and 2015 regardless of the Memorial Day weekend conflict, effectively eliminating the possible shortening of the season. 

The recommendation to the Board will be to move the State Track Meet for 2014 to May 23 (2A) and May 24 (1A, 3A), and May 22 (2A), and May 23 (1A, 3A) in 2015.  It is imperative that schools begin discussion with their administration to address the possibility of graduation date issues and other potential spring calendar conflicts that could be the result of this change. This is Memorial Day weekend, both for 2014 and 2015, and therefore getting the conflicts resolved early is essential. We are confident that this early announcement will help to alleviate as many calendar issues as possible if they are addressed immediately. 

The venue for the state track and field championship will be announced at a later time and “yes” a revised alignment more in line with the current enrollment boundaries will be discussed at the July 22 meeting as well. 

I will keep you informed as more is known.

Angela Passafiume, Asst. Commissioner