Modifications approved for indoor track
Finding facilities is next hurdle
The MIAA Track and Cross Country Committee unanimously agreed to the sport modifications for the Fall 2 and Spring seasons to send to the Sports Medicine Committee for further approval.
Where some of those Fall 2 (indoor track) modifications will eventually be implemented remains to be seen.
The Reggie Lewis Center, which has hosted countless indoor track meets in recent years, indicated that their facility would be closed for the duration of the academic school year due to the pandemic. Boston University also said it would not be available as is the case with several of the prime venues in the Central and Western part of the state.
Wheaton College scheduled four events this month for the Massachusetts State Track Coaches Association, but told the MIAA that once the students were back on campus next month, their facility would not be available.
One distinct possibility is running some of those indoor track events outdoors, an option brought up by commitment chairman Pete Rittenburg. He said there shouldn’t be any issues having those longer distance events outside. Rittenburg, the athletic director at Brookline, also was quick to reject a notion put forth by some to combine the indoor and outdoor track seasons into one.
The committee, which met earlier Tuesday morning, also agreed to form a subcommittee to determine the future rotation of the state cross country meets. One of the concerns was trying to come up with a way so that runners would not be at an advantage or disadvantage by running at the same venue on consecutive weekends.
Another issue was the possibility that six state championship cross-country meets could be held at three different sites. That possibility did not sit well with several committee members.
“They should be held at one site,” said Lincoln-Sudbury athletic director Art Reilly. “You have so much excitement that day if all six races were run at the same place.”
Longtime track icon Frank Mooney expressed some concern as to whether they could get enough officials to do indoor meets, saying he didn’t receive a lot of feedback via emails (he did admit the lack of interest could have come from a bad e-mail address). Both Ed Hichborn and Fred Doyle felt that would not be an issue, Hichborn pointing out to the Tri-Valley League meets running without a hitch, while Doyle said he’s run into officials who openly wanted to do those meets.
The alignments moving forward for each of the three tracks were as follows: three divisions with three sub-divisions for cross-country, five divisions for indoor track and six for outdoor track. The official announcements as to where schools were placed are slated to come out next week and appeals would be heard shortly thereafter.