Members Present: Jim Camburn (South Sectional Director, Member of the Executive Committee, Head of Guidance at Buena High School), James Casey (Central Sectional Director, Assistant State Meet Director), Lou Fraulo (North I Sectional Director, Chief Scorer of Group Meet and Meet of Champions, Head of Guidance at Clifton High School), Wayne Letwink (North II Sectional Director), Aaron Oldfield (Coach at Hopewell Valley), Carl Rickershauser (State Rules Interpreter).

Absent Members: Ryan Hashway, (Coach at North Warren), Joseph McLauglin (Coach at Notre Dame), and John Shea (Coach at Eastern).

Others present: Frank Calise (Computer operator for State Meets), Don Danser (NJSIAA staff, Tournament Director).

 

1. Tournament Assessment – All felt that the three weekends went well. The new parking and bus drop-off system for both athletes and spectators seemed to work without many problems. Thompson Park, the new site for the Central Sectional seemed to be accepted by the coaches and athletes as a more than adequate course for the meet. The only shorting-coming was the lack of a refreshment stand.

 

2. Correspondence – Most correspondence (3 e-mails) dealt with the conflict of the sectional date with the S.A.T. dates. By now, coaches should be aware that both the S.A.T.’s and the sectionals will fall on the first Saturday of November [except for those years when there are 5 Saturdays in November as will be the case in 2008. In 2008 S.A.T. will be on Nov. 1, since they always use the 1st Saturday in November. The sectionals in 2008 will be on November 8. The sectional date is determined by Thanksgiving Day. The sectionals are held on the 3rd Saturday before Thanksgiving Day. In 2008, Thanksgiving Day will be Nov. 27.] There are seven dates during the year when these tests can be taken. Coaches need to advise their runners and the parents of their runners well in advance to avoid the possible conflict. They should be telling their sophomores and juniors now. The committee did not feel it was necessary to change the corresponding dates or starting times of any of the meets.

 

Another e-mail dealt with the annual question of advancement from the Group Meet to the Meet of Champions. As long as the meets are at Holmdel Park, for safety reasons, increasing the number of runners in the Meet of Champions is not possible. Also, the Executive Committee has made it clear more than once that taking away the automatic qualifiers in favor of wild card qualifiers is not acceptable. However, another e-mail dealt with classification. Upon examining the groups, it was determined that some sections in Group I had as many as 10 schools not supporting cross-country teams. This meant that there were only five or six teams competing in the girls division in Group One in three of the four sections, and 7 or 8 teams in the boys, while groups 2, 3, and 4 were averaging 18 teams per section. Therefore, it was proposed and passed by the committee that the public schools be classified for cross-country using sports-specific methods now used in non-public cross-country, in both divisions of football and in wrestling. This proposal needs to pass the Program Review Committee and two readings of the Executive Committee. The Program Review Committee will meet in January 2007.

 

Another e-mail dealt with the awards ceremonies in the Group Meet. The schedule for the ceremony is tentative. It tries to be 35 to 40 minutes after the group was scheduled to run. The committee felt that trying to extend that time would be too long and teams and spectators may start leaving before the ceremonies began. The announcer tries to adjust the schedule as needed if coaches report that their athletes may be delayed in arriving at the stage exactly on time.

 

The final topic mentioned in correspondence dealt with the wearing of hats and/or gloves during cross-country meets. The rules say that it is up to the games committee or referee. The committee agreed with the writer saying that if a runner wants to wear these protective items, the referee should automatically allow them, as long as they are not baseball type hats or are attempts to draw attention to the runner by means of outlandish decorations on the hats or gloves. Carl Richershauser, our State Rules Interpreter, will stress this with the Executive Committee of New Jersey Track and Field Officials when they meet on December 5 and with the local chapter rules interpreters when they meet in February.

 

 

3. Changes in the tournament regulations:

 

            1.   Next year’s Dates:

                  November 3, 2007 – Sectionals (N1-Garrett; N2-Warinanco; C-Thompson Park; S-Delsea)

                  November 10, 2007 – State Group Meets - Holmdel

                  November 17, 2007 – Meet of Champions - Holmdel

             

            2.   Sectional Order of Events

                        10:00   Group I   Girls              11:40   Group II  Girls

                        10:25   Group IV Girls              12:05   Group III Girls

                        10:50   Group I    Boys            12:30   Group II  Boys

                        11:15   Group IV Boys             12:55   Group III Boys

 

             3.  State Group Order of Events

                        10:00   Group IV Girls              11:40   Group III Girls              1:20     Non-Public A Girls

                        10:25   Group I Girls                12:05   Group II Girls               1:45     Non-Public B Girls

                        10:50   Group IV Boys             12:30   Group III Boys              2:10     Non-Public A Boys

                        11:15   Group I Boys               12:55   Group II Boys              2:35     Non-Public B Boys

 

 

                        Awards Ceremony for each group will following (approximately) the following schedule:

 

                        10:40   Gr 4 Girls                     12:20   Gr 3 Girls                     2:00     NP A Girls

                        11:05   Gr 1 Girls                     12:45   Gr 2 Girls                     2:25     NP B Girls

                        11:30   Gr 4 Boys                    1:10     Gr 3 Boys                    2:50     NP A Boys

                        11:55   Gr 1 Boys                    1:35     Gr 2 Boys                    3:15     NP B Boys                 

            Site: Holmdel Park

 

            4.  Meet of Champions

                        10:00   Girls

                        10:45   Boys

                        11:15   Awards Ceremony (starting with Girls)

            Site: Holmdel Park

 

4.  Miscellaneous: There is talk that Holmdel Park will be adding a lot of paving, especially around the starting line which may make it necessary to change the course. We will try to keep on top of this during the next several weeks.