I. Members
present: Frank Calise (Guest – Computer Consultant), James Camburn (South Section Director at Buena High School), Bill
Collins (Guest – Representing South Jersey Track Coaches Association), Lou Fraulo (North I Director at Wayne
Hills), Marty Holleran (Coaches’
Representative – Metuchen High School), Matthew
Jelley (Coaches’ Representative – Toms River North), Bill Milone (North II Sectional Director and Coach – South
Plainfield), Rich Refi (Central
Sectional Director and Coach – Hillsborough High School), Carl Rickershauser (State
Rules Interpreter), Dr. James Sarruda
(Executive Committee Representative – Superintendent Northern Burlington County
School District), John Schwartz
(North II Sectional Director – Parsippany High School), Pam Willson (Coaches’ Representative –Hackettstown High School) and
Don Danser (NJSIAA Staff).
II. Correspondence
A. Large volume
of correspondence dealt with an incident at the South Sectional at Buena over
jewelry. After reading and discussing the material presented, the committee
drew the following conclusions:
1. The rule
about hairpins and other hard objects in the hair has been “on the books” since
2002, as documented by a 2002 written ruling by the State Rules Interpreter.
The coach should have been aware of the rules.
The official was enforcing this rule. No one was disqualified. One of
the two girls ran in the race, the other ran in two other races after the
incident. The coach also knows that if there is a special problem or concern,
the coach could have asked for relief in advance of the meet, as this coach has
done in the past.
2. The
coach’s behavior at the meet is best summed up by a third party who had no
connection with any of the parties involved: “That was an interesting show
about hair pins. I agree that the rule may not be the best one, but it is a
rule and the referee did the right thing. Unfortunately, the coach made his
statement at the wrong place and time and did put on quite a show. That
certainly wasn’t the best thing for his kids to witness.”
B. Robert
O’Dell asked to have the wheelchair events expanded to include the discus and
javelin. A circle is not needed, even for the shot and discus. According to the
rules, and the wheelchair sport specialists who attended, often a circle and
sector are drawn on a field and all three events are contested from the same
spot, from the same throwing chair (which
C. The 3200m
Run’s place in the schedule (It is presently on Saturday) was the subject of at
least 4 e-mails. The 3200 used to be on Friday. Many coaches wanted it to be on
Saturday with the 1600 on Friday, because it allowed for better “natural”
doubles: 1600m & 3200m, 1600m & 800, and 800m & Relay. The coaches
on the committee and the representative from the South Jersey Coaches
Association felt that it should remain as is. Also concern was that if running
on a warm day, meet management should have supplied “misters” during the race
to help cool the contestants. There are two problems with that: 1) finding the
appropriate equipment to do the job safely, and 2) who decides when it is hot
enough to use the equipment if it were available? One person’s perception of
heat can and usually is very different from another. It was suggested that
perhaps a “mister” could be available, let’s say on the infield so any
contestant could cool off in it before or after competition as he or she so
desired. Meet management will look into that possibility for all sights next year.
D. 400IH – The
Committee decided to return the 400IH in the Group Meet to the same place in
the schedule that it was in the past: It will be the first event on Friday in
both the Sectional program and the Group Meet Program.
E. Non-Public
Classification is a problem. The NJSIAA Constitution requires that when schools
are divided into groups for the purpose of championships, the groups must be of
equal size. While on paper, this looks fine, in practice, the groups are not
balanced. Non-Public A was averaging 40+ entries per event, while Non-Public B
averaged around 18. On paper, there was the same number of schools in each
group. The Non-Public schools themselves must come up with a solution to this
situation.
F. There were
a few requests to change how athletes qualify for the Meet of Champions to get
the “best” athletes into the meet. The NJSIAA philosophy concerning
Meets/Tournaments of Champions has never been to get the best teams or
individuals into these events. They are designed to get the GROUP winners into
a tournament. All NJSIAA Tournaments have state group titles. To achieve the
goal of getting the “best athletes” into the final round, the group titles from
sectionals on up would have to be abandoned. There would only be boys and girls
events throughout the tournament. The Committee felt the present system is what
most want.
G. Qualifying
for the Meet of Champions in the pole vault was also well-represented in
e-mails and letters. Presently only the top 18 medal winners, with ties for the
18th position being broken where possible by using misses is used
only in the Pole Vault. All other events, all 36 medal winners automatically
advance, plus six additional athletes take from the best performances in the
Group Meets from all Groups advance, making at least 42 athletes eligible per
event in all events but the pole vault. The Committee decided to advance pole
vaulters the same way as all other events. This means that the Meet of Champion
site must have two pole vault pits. If this requires a site change, then that
will have to happen.
H. Track and
Field meets on the scale of the NJSIAA tournament will always have problems.
There are over 400 officials working the sectional meets. As hard as we try, we
can’t seem to get all sites “on the same page.” To help solve this problem, in
the Group Meet and Meet of Champions, all legal attempts in all field events
will be measured. In entry level meets (Sectionals for Public, Group Meet for
Non-Public) the MINIMUM STANDARDS will be used. In these cases no measurement
will be made unless they make these standards. The problems at the Group A meet
was caused by officials using the wrong procedure to determine the cutoff for
measurement distance. Hopefully, this will make it clearer.
I. With many
things going on at once in a track and field meet, officials must be aware that
the press are an important part of the process, especially for the athletes and
schools. We should all be aware that they have a job to do also and should help
them as much as possible, especially photographers at the finish line. By the
same token, photographers need to know that they cannot stand on the inside of
the track between the starting line and the starter which blocks the starter’s
view of the inner lanes. Timers/Judges should be aware that photographers are
present and do their best not to obstruct picture taking whenever possible.
J. Again, in
attempt to help standardize procedures and practices, the Committee asks that
all sites used in the tournament have takeoff boards in the triple jump at 24’,
28’, 32’, and 36’ to accommodate all athletes in all groups at any site.
K. One
advancement was made from the Group Meet to the Meet of Champions. A
disqualification in a 1600m run was upheld, but the Appeals Committee felt that
there was enough doubt about whether or not the correct athlete had been
disqualified, to allow the athlete to advance, unseeded, to the Meet of
Champions.
L. This year
was the first time we were able to have fully automatic photo timing at all 11
meets of the tournament. However, the Central Sectional at Hillsborough would
have been a total disaster if the officials and coaches (Marty Holleran of
Metuchen in particular) had not stepped up to save the day. The company from
III. Tournament
Regulations
A. Dates
1. Sectionals
– Friday,
2. Group
Meets –
3. Meet of
Champions –
4. Entries
will close
B. Times
1. Sectionals
and Group Meets – Friday Meets will start at
2. Meet of
Champions –
Every
year we get comments about proms and testing with requests that we change
starting times to accommodate these problems. To accommodate Friday night
proms, some have suggested we start Friday’s schedules at
To
accommodate the testing, it has been suggested that Saturday’s schedules start
at
C. Groups –
Assuming both sites are the same and both sites are classified the same as this
year,
Respectfully submitted,
Don Danser
Tournament Director