MileSplit GA

If you're interested in hosting a sectional track and field meet next year you will need to send in your intentions to host to Gary Phillips by June 1st 2012.his email is; garyphillips@ghsa.net, or call GHSA 706-647-7473 ext 6
Requirements to host:
8 lane all weather track
Two horizontal pits
Legal pole vault pit, high jump, and discus cage
Hy Tek software, and FAT primary and back up (this can be subbed out)

Reminder that the deadline is the end of May to notify if you want to host a sectioanal meet.
The GHSA Track and Field advisory board will meet in June to choose the regions that will go into both sectionals for each class.
What changes do you want to see in the sectional now that the new region allignments are up on GHSA.NET?
Class A will be in areas instead of regions in both private and public schools but will have one sectional for private and one for public. The GHSA STATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE on March 19, 2012 set the area as:
PRIVATE SCHOOL AREAS
Area #1: Region 3, 4, and 7
Area #2: Region 8
Area #3: Region 5
Area #4: Region 6 Area #4:
PUBLIC SCHOOL AREAS
Area #1: Regions 2A and 4
Area #2: Regions 2B and 3
Area #3: Region 1
Area #4: Region 5, 6, 7 and 8
We will need one class A sectional site for private and one for public.

Will the sectionals consist of the same regions as last year? Is there are a rotation of some kind? Example last year in AAA regions 1,2,3 and 8 were together and 4,5,6 and 7 were together. Thanks

No, with the new class (6A) and all sorts of schools changing regions and classes there will need to be a re-grouping for each class. In my opinion the Class A "sectional" should piggyback with another classification since each will consist of only half as many athletes and heats. There is no geographical compatibility between the private and public groupings so they'll need to be held in separate locations no matter what and thus it makes sense to put them in with a site that will already by organizing. That meet for Class A will be the "semi-final" round and thus will only have one heat of boys and one of girls for each track event so the scheduling would not be too challenging to fold it into another larger meet.
tp

Can you guys help me understand this better? From MCTFCOACH's post, it looks like the class A private schools will send 4 entries per event to sectionals. The sectionals will then have 16 entries per event and be just like the prelims for the state meet with 8 qualifying to Jefferson/Albany. Therefore, there will only be one sectional site for class A privates. From tpee's post is sounds like there will only be one heat of boys and one of girls for each event (therefore 8 entries). Does this mean 2 entries per event from 4 different areas and one sectional site or 4 entries per event with 2 different sectional sites producing 4 entries per site to the state meet? Of course the public side would look just the same. I just reread what I wrote and I am more confused than ever.

On another note, just eyeballing the "Areas" on the private side, it looks like Area 1 will have 7 teams, Area 2 - 9 teams, Area 3 - 14 teams, and area 4 - 12 teams (only 12 teams from area 3 have traditionally fielded track teams). Since these areas will only be getting together once (for the area meet) so travel shouldn't be an issue, it seems that the GHSA would have split the areas with a little more balance.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Roby Ross
Landmark Christian School

@JovialJaguar As I understand it - below are the basics (the details will be decided upon in June):
Private Schools:
- 4 athletes from each area to Sectionals (16 athletes total - 4 athletes x 4 areas)
- 8 athletes total from Sectionals to Albany/Jefferson (essentially state prelims for lane-running events)
- No prelim heats at Jefferson & Albany - just finals

Public Schools:
- exact same as Private Schools

When I say that the details have to be worked out in June, this is what I mean: Qualifying for distance events & field events (Will only 8 kids go to Jefferson/Albany for 1600 & 3200? How do you get 9 athletes from 2 sectionals to Jefferson/Albany for field event finals?)

Hope that helps.

Roby, the way I understand it is that each of the 4 "areas" will qualify 4, just like the Regions in the other classes. Two sets of 4 will meet in a Sectional Meet with 4 advancing to state for a total of 8. This will happen for both the four public groupings and the four private groupings. Since those groups are so different geographically from each other it would make no sense to worry about uniting those at sites for the purpose of advancement. In fact, it would be ironic if competing together (yet separately) was forced upon these groups whose existence is the result of one groups desire to separate from the other in the first place-but I digress.

The result of these 4 meets will be 8 public and 8 private finalists who will compete separately at State with the logic being that Class A will have 16 kids present at state just like the other 5 classes. I use the word logic very loosely as the effort to keep things the "same for all classes" is already so far afield when you consider the rest of the system as it pertains to Class A.

The long and short is that there will be two groups (Class A public and private) of qualifiers who will not require semifinal heats or multiple flights and thus will simply contest State Finals when they arrive to the State meet sites. They will create new and different needs that the State Meet site will have to accommodate but it will not simply be two new divisions that have to be accounted for.

How the 4 groupings will be spread for the Sectional (semi-final) meets has yet to be determined and to be honest I have not looked much at the public school "area" groupings to assess what might be the approach. I have looked more closely at the private school groups as my teams are directly affected.

For the public schools I am aware that the "Northern" group will be extremely widespread as it will involve the NW teams from Gordon Lee and Trion, the NE teams of Commerce and Towns Co (who doesn't usually compete in track) and then those in the East-Central region that reaches all the way over to the Augusta area. The other three groups are more southern and somewhat more cohesive geographically.

The private have the reverse with a broad southern group stretching from Columbus to Macon to the East side of GA including Augusta and Savannah. The other three are a NW GA + North Atlanta, a NE GA + Northeast Atlanta, and a more Central to South Atlanta Group.

Thus trying to pair those private school groups and then also pair them with a pair of public school groups would seem illogical and I will lobby hard against that approach. In my opinion, if we're going to be separated, then don't try to combine us with each other but let us do something more geographically sensible such as join an existing sectional site from another class being held in a location somewhat central to the groups involved.

Sorry for the length of reply, this issue offers few easy answers.
tp

Back on topic please. We would like your input on sectional realignment, site host, and any way we can make the sectionals better next year.

Two things that should be addressed to help make sectionals better-
1) With PV and HJ, once top 8 has been determined, those events need to end. Very time consuming, especially when you possibly have to go back and establish 9th and 10th, in some cases an hour or so later. (I know this is something someone has already suggested.)
2) Possibly move the time schedule up an hour or two. Depending on the host school, teams traveling will already plan on staying overnight. Start at 9:30, keep the same schedule, and you could be done by 5 or so (especially if you cut short the PV and HJ). I know this might help with the issue of conflicts with prom too.

CoachJK

Two things that should be addressed to help make sectionals better-
1) With PV and HJ, once top 8 has been determined, those events need to end. Very time consuming, especially when you possibly have to go back and establish 9th and 10th, in some cases an hour or so later. (I know this is something someone has already suggested.)
2) Possibly move the time schedule up an hour or two. Depending on the host school, teams traveling will already plan on staying overnight. Start at 9:30, keep the same schedule, and you could be done by 5 or so (especially if you cut short the PV and HJ). I know this might help with the issue of conflicts with prom too.

@CoachJK Thank you for your input.

I will push for an earlier start for sectionals.

How would you seed the HJ and PV at the state meet if you stop the event after top 8 are found. State is won or lost a lot of times on who has the last jump. I think an early start will solve #1

MCTFCOACH

How would you seed the HJ and PV at the state meet if you stop the event after top 8 are found. State is won or lost a lot of times on who has the last jump. I think an early start will solve #1

@MCTFCOACH Use season-best PRs based on reported/verified results from that season. Our Region meet this year was seeded using only times/marks from the Milesplit database.

MCTFCOACH

How would you seed the HJ and PV at the state meet if you stop the event after top 8 are found. State is won or lost a lot of times on who has the last jump. I think an early start will solve #1

@MCTFCOACH
How do the Olympics do it? How does the NCAA do it? Both stop their prelim rounds when qualifiers are identified. Compared to how they seeded prior to this year (region place first, then by region height), any reasonable method would be far superior. (E.g., the better of their region or sectional height (if better) would be fine, with ties broken by sectional place then region place).

I think the key is the cost/benefit, cost of delaying other events verses the value gained. (We had great weather for sectoinals this year: what if it was like two sundays ago with almost nonstop rain?) Actual competition time would be less than half that of a full competition if they stopped at 8 (and used remaining time to break ties for 8th place).

There are no bad lanes in the PV and HJ. I think jump order is really only an advantage (and a minor one at that) when 1) you are down to two, and 2) lower seed has the lead on all tie breakers, and 3) lower seed is first to clear a bar that might possibly be the winning height; in that case, higher seed might want to decide to go for the hail mary by passing and trying to grab the win at the next height (since clearing the current height would not give them the lead). At lower bars, seeding order is at best only a very minor psychological advantage (and arguably a lower seed that takes care of business is capable of putting a lot of pressure on higher seeds).

I am not in a position to host a sectional, however Thompson Stadium in Macon is an ideal place for AAA. Three schools (Southwest, Central and Peach County) are in that class. Another comment,not just to make sectionals better but the State meet better, they should both be run using the same format for finals qualifing. Sectionals use the better format. Top 2 from heats with next 4 fastest, instead of Top 4 from heats as used at State. Using the sectional format will eliminate a 5th place finisher being knocked out because they were not in the Top 4. This will make certain that the top times make it to the finals. You don't pick the Top 4 from Field event flights so why do it for the Track events. To all that read this thank you for your time.

tjmasterschamp

I am not in a position to host a sectional, however Thompson Stadium in Macon is an ideal place for AAA. Three schools (Southwest, Central and Peach County) are in that class. Another comment,not just to make sectionals better but the State meet better, they should both be run using the same format for finals qualifing. Sectionals use the better format. Top 2 from heats with next 4 fastest, instead of Top 4 from heats as used at State. Using the sectional format will eliminate a 5th place finisher being knocked out because they were not in the Top 4. This will make certain that the top times make it to the finals. You don't pick the Top 4 from Field event flights so why do it for the Track events. To all that read this thank you for your time.

@tjmasterschamp
We are going to bring up with the state meet directors when we meet in June that top 2 plus next 4 best times would be a better way to advance.

@Divalent
I will bring up the solution you propose about the high jump and pole vault. I am not in favor of your solution right now as we can solve the problem we had last year by starting earlier. I would rather see the meet have some meaning in that you are seeded coming out of sectionals.

Can I host a cross country sectional?

Sorry. I had to ask.

@aparish

Glad to see that other regions are doing it that way now, too.