MileSplit GA

I have seen some posts that said how well the meet was ran. I must point out a few things that concerns me. For one, I think that USATF should run the meet. Having HS coaches from the Dougherty area was not the best in my opinion. There were some discrepancies that could have changed the scope of the meet. No disrespect to any athlete, this is simply a critique of the officiating.

1. Girls 5A triple jump- The official that worked this event made two huge mistakes. The first one that he measured a young lady's jump from the wrong board. When her coach pointed it out, he said he would give her another jump. That's not proper protocol. Not only that, the winning jump was a scratch and everyone saw it except the official. This drew awes from anyone near by.

2. Girl's 5A 100m- This will be remembered as the "old switcharoo." for most of the meet they had the results posted incorrectly. I witnessed several coaches try to appeal the results, and I also saw the meet director blow them off. I know that the state meet will always have chinks in the armour, but we owe to everyone involved to make sure it's right. It seems as if the officials and meet director were offended by coaches acting within their right to appeal. Thank goodness a media photographer had a snap shot of the results that made the director reconsider, but he would not listen to other coaches appealing. If this wasn't corrected we would have had co-champions, instead of the right champions.

@CoachAlpharetta Would the USATF be able to supply the amount of officials needed? There are mistakes made in Jefferson as well.

@rcampbell

I agree there are some mistakes that have occured in Jefferson, but the Albany "switcharoo" was done in 2010 also for the 5A girls 100 meter dash. I can't remember when the timing or officials in Jefferson got the times & places of the runners wrong.

@CoachCage

I would also like to make a last appeal to use a wind gauge in Albany (my understanding is that there is one but it is not used). We now have nearly instantaneous results for the whole nation to see and superior marks are big news. However, when you are getting results nationwide, there is (and rightfully so) a skeptical eye cast on those without critical information. For this reason many of the jumps and sprint times this past weekend will not get the recognition they deserve - esp. since wind was not a factor (I can see this making a difference as well in seeding in such meets as Outdoor Nationals). I know this has been discussed by many and I am hoping that someday the plea goes in the right ear.

This ^

Track and Field News (Michael Kennedy) spoke with me this evening for 1/2 an hr on the importance of wind gauge readings being recorded and reported and I'm confident with Phil Logan (my timing mentor) timing the Georgia Olympics this will happen. There was a wind gauge setup before 100m finals on Saturday in Albany though, how it was used, I don't know..I brought 2 Gill wind gauges that work and could have been used for horizontal jumps.

There were a few issues over at the shotput as well. Luckily neither of them affected the top 8 finishers.

In one instance, the shot landed on the line and was measured for a mark. The rules clearly state that the line is out. A coach made mention of this fact and was told "no coach, the line is in."

In the second instance, a girl made a throw that clearly did not orginate near the neck, and was more of a "throw" than a "put". A coach tried to call a judge over to bring his attention to it for the next couple throws and was completely blown off.

@rcampbell Yes. there are over 200 certified USATF officials in the Georgia Association. If you housed them, feed them and gave them a t-shirt you could most definetly get them to help with the state meets.

@robsk044 Let's use them then. Sectionals and region meets also.

@CoachAlpharetta

You know I am appall that we would put some much emphasis on Champion/co-champion etc. Great the photo got to the right individual, I wonder who went through such great effort to do that, so it could be corrected, but let me remind you, officials are not PERFECT and professional athletes have suffered defeat from errors of an official. What makes a Champion is Attitude and guess what regardless MLK has the Attitude, the Records and talent to say it doesn't matter if it was corrected or not "WE ARE KING". REmember Winning is not everything or to be #1, but to possess good sportmanship is always "Good Winners" Congrats to Walton, MLK and ALL the officials for their HARD work at Albany, maybe some people can learn from them.

@sbrown

Well we see theres a lot of emotion involved in this post. This was just a observation of officials, not calling any team out. Who wouldnt want the emphasis on the champions? If I am Walton I am happy they got it right. It all about the integrity of the sport. And having co-champions under false pretenses would be a tragedy. There is always next year! You may be Kings, but you are not 2012 state champions! Officials may have worked hard, but they made glaring mistakes. It is what it is...

I think the point in getting USATF officials involved has more to do with the fact that you move to officials judging the events who are the "experts" at the rules and tend to be an unbiased 3rd party as opposed to a coach who might have skin in the game. Officials are not perfect they make mistakes like everyone else but the likelyhood of mistakes being made is reduced by having unbiased 3rd party making those official calls.

@truathlete01
It must have been emotional for you too :=) with all the energy you have put into this. Again I am are very proud for Walton and also that MLK was 2011 champions. So many schools have not had that opportunity, yet. So within itself the experience of winning the title is GREAT, hope you can share that feeling one day too. Good Luck next year!!

I am so glad this discussion was started. I've been thinking about it all weekend. The girls state meet was a mess. The way this meet is run just reflects Georgia attitude about Track and Field overall in this state. I am in agreement with every previous statement so far. But just to add a few more........ The personnel at the meet were rude, it was gnat infested and parking was a nightmare! Why is this meet not held at a better venue! If Georgia gave a darn about track and field like they do football, they would have more atheletes take a higher interest and be able to keep the majority of its homegrown talent. It's a shame that this state meet was covered by ESPN/Dyestat HS and none of the tops times were ranked. Tennessee's state meet puts us to shame, and they don't have a fraction of the talent we have in Georgia.....

Albany took the wind readings and they should show up on the national
database soon.

OK, I am seeing it hinted at here, what is the deal with Walton and MLK? I wasn't paying complete attention because I was so focused on our team. I did notice though that MLK was 10 behind Walton entering the 4 x 400, and then MLK won the 4 x 400, yet they lost to Walton by 1. Was the "scoreboard" wrong or did something else happen? I feel like I also remember coaches from both schools being called down to the field on a couple of occasions.

@aparish

The results were wrong for Girls 100 meter race. Jada Martin was listed as finishing 3rd(MLK) when actually Jasmine Abrams(Grayson) was clearly 3rd. Once this was protested the numbers were re-calculated which gave Walton the win.