A Meet Exceptionally Well Done

I probably don't have to convince any of you that I've been to a lot of track meets in the last 10 years. In fact, I'd venture to guess that it's entirely possible I've been to more track meets than anyone else in the state of Colorado over the last 10 years.

In those 10 years, I've been to a lot of meets done very well. A LOT of them.

And, against that background, the 2017 Texas Relays stood out as exceptional and without rival.

If you've never been to the Texas Relays, you may not understand, but let me try to help you understand in the points that follow. 

• The Texas Relays is, hands down, the largest track meet I've ever been to. In addition to being a meet that draws high school teams from across the entire length and breadth of Texas, plus a little, it is also a full-scale collegiate meet. Collegiate teams in attendance included all the major Texas programs, LSU, Clemson, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, and many more. 
• Everything in the general vicinity of Mike Myers Stadium was spruced up for the event. It was difficult to find anything that could be painted that was not wearing a fresh coat of burnt orange and white.
• Parking was handled masterfully for such a large-scale event.
• If you read your pre-meet instructions, everything was just exactly as the University of Texas Athletic Department said it would be. Packet pick up was exactly where pre-meet information said it would be, and plenty of signs led you right there. And, they were so well staffed at that station that the wait time was less than two minutes. Media packet pick up was equally efficient. The man handing me my media packet very sincerely insisted that if I had any needs come up during my time there that I was to come back and find him.
• At every point that I dealt with a human being all weekend long anywhere on the University of Texas campus, I was met by a happy, cheerful face. The lady I met doing bag inspections was wonderfully pleasant. I was met by smiling faces and positive words at athlete check-in, media check-in, at the gates around the track, when asking about where I could take photos in the discus area, and absolutely everywhere else I went. Maybe you've heard about Texas hospitality? It is alive and well at the Texas Relays!
• The facility is first-class in every respect. There's good reason why the NCAA West Regional keeps coming back to this location. They don't build track and field facilities any better than this. More importantly, I've never seen anyone keep up their track and field facility as well as this one is kept up. Disclaimer: I've never been to Hayward Field--maybe that one is as magnificent as this one, but I've been to plenty track and field facilities and not seen one like this. 
• The competition was excellent. When you're pulling from the top high school athletes around the state of Texas, that would seem to be pretty much a given, but sometimes you have to see it to believe it.
• The spectator experience at Mike Myers Stadium is outstanding. 20,000 spaces of real seating, a state-of-the-art video board, a sound system that can be heard with clarity at every point inside or around the stadium, great views of the action, you name it. And, it's easy to get around--walkways are spacious and areas critical to the flow of foot traffic are clearly marked as no-standing areas.
• Temperatures in Austin at the end of March and beginning of April are just about perfect. And the meet has the good sense to put distance events at optimal times of day so athletes aren't left to wilt in the midday heat.

There are some things to consider, though, as you ponder putting this one on your schedule for next year:

• There are a lot of places in this country cheaper to fly into than Austin, Texas. And, a few of those places have pretty good track meets on one end or the other of spring break.
• Traffic in Austin is--in a word--horrendous. Use your device of choice and you'll get through, but leave plenty of time for commuting.
• The Texas Relays doesn't draw exceptionally well from outside the state of Texas. To be sure, there were some big-time out-of-state programs and individuals in attendance, but the out-of-state crowd was more limited than at some other spring break meets around the nation. Perhaps the Texas Relays has a solid enough athlete base simply drawing from the home state that they don't feel they need to market heavily outside their own borders. If they ever do decide to market this thing aggressively outside of Texas, watch out!
• For the most part, Texas high school athletes are ahead of Colorado athletes in terms of their seasons. Texas began competing in a serious way on the second weekend of February and they have only one more week of invitationals before district and regional competition takes over, marking the beginning of the long, arduous road to State in Texas. So, if you go down, you'd better go down with your 'A' game.

Note: Nobody asked me, or even remotely suggested, that I needed to write this article. It was simply a very good experience at the Texas Relays this past weekend, and I wanted to share. I do wish they hadn't siphoned off Sam Worley and Reed Brown to a feature mile race, but they had their reasons for doing that, too.