2021 Outdoor Track: MTFXCCGA Invitational Recap

Mar 20, 2021

The inaugural MTFXCCGA Invitational felt like a state championship and a major national invitational rolled into one. "It felt like we were at an out-of-state meet," said Westlake coach Jason Cage, co-meet director and board member of the Minority Track & Field and XC Coaches of Georgia, which hosted the meet at McEachern on March 13. "The competition was fierce. Even with my kids, it took them two or three days to recover," Cage added. "We had in-state competition, but it felt like we were out of state."

The 400 meters, both boys and girls produced fast times. In the boy's race, the top nine times were 48 or 49 seconds. The girls produced top eight times from 54 to 58 seconds. The meet also produced the nation's four leading boys 400 meter hurdles times. "The actual quality of the meet was more than I ever envisioned," said Cedric Sapp, McEachern coach, meet director, and MTFXCCGA planning, virtual meetings, and weekly coaches education clinics by the organization to bring coaches, parents, and athletes together, Sapp said. "It was the first time we could all come together as one big family," Sapp said. Like Cage, Sapp added the meet was much more than a regular Saturday invitational that most Georgia schools are accustomed to competing in. "It felt like an out-of-state invitational where you have the best teams from multiple states coming together for one big classic," Sapp said. "Even though it felt like it was such an intense environment of competition, the overall environment felt like a fellowship or a big family coming together to celebrate one another."

During the planning stages, the 400-meter hurdles were added because Georgia athletes rarely run the event and college coaches expressed a desire to see 400 hurdle times for athletes they may be recruiting for the long hurdles. "It does give us the most pleasure," Sapp said of the 400 hurdle results. "There were a lot of apprehensions… looking at it now, it was one of the best things we did because it allowed some of the kids to compete in something that they are considered as some of the best in the nation right now."

Throughout the meet, Sapp took the time to speak of MTFXCCGA's mission and to celebrate several pioneering African-American coaches who helped pave the way for current coaches. Those coaches included Napoleon Cobb of Southwest Dekalb, Willie Johnson of Bass, Murphy and Crim, the late Rosalind Wallace of Stephenson, and Paul Jones of Monroe-Albany. Recognizing the pioneer coaches was important because many coaches formed their coaching philosophies from those coaches' influence and the influences of coaches like them, Sapp said.

Though the competition produced some of the state's and nation's leading times, Sapp emphasized the meet is about more than just fast times and stellar performances on the track. Another purpose is to bring coaches and athletes together on a yearly basis and help them and their teams improve. The meet also gave McEachern the opportunity to host yet another big meet as the school prepares to host the state championships on May 13-15 for 1A Private, 2A, and 7A. "This was a dry run," Sapp said.