You could not possibly miss the PA announcements. All in attendance were told that this would be the last of the Mullen Invitational.
So, I exchanged emails with John Hancock--to make sure I understood any nuance that might have been intended with those announcements but lost to my ears (and my ears routinely miss nuance).
What John told me was that the Mullen Invitational wasn't necessarily gone, but that it needs some younger hands to take over roles that have been handled by people who aren't as young as they once were when the meet first started, and many of those older hands are now headed in a variety of directions.
So, the Mullen meet might very well be back next year, but will--in some respects--take on a different personality. You can't bring new people in without expecting those new people to lend some of their own personality to a meet.
All that to say, even though Fort Logan National Cemetery is directly across the street from the Mullen track, there's not yet reason to conduct a funeral and have a burial.
And, that's a good thing. This is a meet with a lot of fight left, as evidenced by a very large number of yesterday's results.
And, it is one of a handful of meets around the state where you can send your kids who are likely to qualify for State and get them a very good feel for what state events with feel like. Especially for events like the 800 and 1600, there are only so many opportunities available for kids to get into a heat of a dozen or so very evenly matched individuals and have to jostle a little for position before the state meet.
Mullen is one great opportunity to do that.
So, if there was a hint of panic in your evening owing to the prospect of having to find a meet to replace Mullen on your schedule last night, that panic might have been a bit premature.
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