Honestly, it's a slow day on the cross country front. Teams are traveling and/or under media "bans" leading up to the state meet. So, it's a great day to insert a little track and field news.
Here's what's new in the area of track and field news:
University High School will be hosting a team decathlon meet this spring. April 14 would be the precise date. Now, there's a fresh idea in CHSAA-sanctioned track and field! To be a qualifying meet, it has to have all of the state sanctioned events, so it will. But the team scoring for the meet will be based on decathlon scoring.
Each team is allowed two entries per event and their top mark in each of the ten decathlon events is converted into a decathlon score using the usual tables. The winning team is the team with the highest decathlon score.
Sounds like a good way to build a little decathlon awareness among us, no? For those who already have some decathlon awareness, the 1500 will be replaced with the 1600 (so athletes can get qualifying times and the meet can stand as a qualifying meet), but the times will be converted for scoring purposes. Also, the 800 meters will replace the javelin for scoring purposes.
If this idea appeals to you, you can contact University track coach Dan Betz at dbetz@universityschools.com.
The meet will be limited to 12 teams and run (at least mostly) under the lights at University High School.
If you are hosting a concept meet this spring and would like a little free exposure for that meet, please send me the meet information and we'll take care of that for you.
While on the topic of outdoor track and field, please pass along any meet dates you have established so we can continue building the spring calendar here on Colorado Track XC. There are plenty of folks waiting to see what happens with the last two weeks of the season before state before making their league date commitments, so the more information that gets out there, the easier it becomes for all. I'll post meets to the calendar as that information comes to me.
Before spring, however, is winter.
For those wanting to get an early start on their track and field seasons, the Air Force Holiday Open, which typically takes some high school entries, will be held on December 12. Adams State and Colorado Mines are also hosting open indoor meets that weekend, but Adams State has specifically said "no high school athletes," and there is no word yet on that from Colorado Mines.
Indoor season, of course, gets more seriously underway after the holiday break. I don't have many USATF-Colorado meet dates yet (please send those along if you have them and can share), but we do know that both Western State and the Air Force Academy are hosting major indoor meets and January 31 and February 7. At this point, it is unclear if there will be any additional meets here in Colorado this winter dedicated to high school age and younger athletes. Colorado Mines has hosted a high school indoor meet in the past, but passed on that opportunity last winter. I will certainly be posting information about any such meets as it becomes available, however.
The Simplot Games are scheduled this winter for February 19 - 21, and we should expect a slate of high school meets to run at the Albuquerque Convention Center in New Mexico as well. The Great Southwest Indoor meet takes place this winter on February 8. New Balance Nationals Indoor is on the calendar for March 13 - 15 this year.
The CHSCA coaches clinic is scheduled this year for January 30 and 31, once again at the Red Lion Inn in Aurora. As information about the slate of speakers becomes available, it will be posted here on Colorado Track XC.