June 7, 1998
TO: REGION I CROSS COUNTRY COACHES
FROM: DAVID EVANS, REGION I REPERESENTATIVE
RE: CROSS COUNTRY COACHES MEETING WITH WARREN CARTER , MARCH 24, 1998
I am sending you a copy of the results of the cross country coaches meeting with Executive Director Warren Carter.
We discussed several items: Location of the State Cross Country Meet; Hair, Watches, Fluids for Runners, Method for Qualifying for State Meet; One or Two Divisions at State Meet; Changing the State Meet from the present date to one that is one week later than the present date.
Hair - I believe that someone was ready to take the SSAC to court over this issue and they felt that it was a no win situation and dropped their argument regarding this matter. Hair color is not an issue but many of the coaches at the meeting and around the state would like to see hair remain a natural color.
Watches - can be worn. The National Federation allows this and the State is going to accept this as allowable to conform with Federation rules. (Cannot carry a stopwatch in the hand.)
Fluids - It is now permissable to give fluids to your runners while they are competing in a race.
Qualifying for State Meet - We discussed changing the method of qualifying for the state meet in the following way: If a team had a full team participate in at least FIVE regular season meets, that team would be counted as a full team at the Regional Qualifying Meet. This was agreed to by the coaches present, but the Board of Appeals turned this recommedation down.
DIVISIONS - For the second year in a row the question of two divisions came up. If I remember correctly, it was turned down because it would be unfair to the smaller schools and now that the State Meet will have sponsors and it will make a profit--there was no need to change from two divisions to one.
State Meet Site - The site of the State Meet is being changed to Williamstown, WV. The reason for this change is because Dorsey Cheuvront, Mike and Steve Taylor found sponsors for the meet and would insure the SSAC of making a profit on the meet as opposed to losing several thousand dollars as they have in the past. The location is very near Williamstown High School (1/2 mile or so) and is a course much like that of the St. Mary's course. It is not a flat course but will insure that the times are considerably faster than those of the Davis and Elkins course. Williamstown will be hosting an invitational that will correspond with the Forest Festival Meet, which has been held for several years. I do not know if the Forest Festival Meet will be held this year. Coach Shaw explained to Mr. Carter that construction was being completed on new facilities at the Fields and he was not sure if a meet could be held.
Meet Date - The reasoning for changing the meet date to one week later is so that it did not conflict with College Conference Meets. If the date was moved to a week later, college coaches would have the opportunity to attend our State Meet and view our senior runners in action. This may help to gain college scholarships for some of our athletes.
Region I Representative - A new representative is needed for our Region. My five year term was completed at our last meeting. If you are interested in this position, write a letter to Warren Carter, Executive Director of the SSAC, expressing your desire to fill this vacant position.
If you have any questions, which I have not answered in this letter - just call, or write to me at the above address. (Use home phone number for summer) Sorry about the delay in getting you this information, but
I have been busy with track. We would also encourage you to join our fledgling State Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches. We have only a few members at this time. We need all coaches involved in these sports to join and become active. We all talk about change and what needs to be done--what we need to do is become more involved in developing an association which will help bring about the changes which we desire. All of you are needed as active members! Give it some thought.
As an after thought, a STATE TEAM has been assembled to participate in the Mid West Meet of Champions to be held at Ohio Wesleyan College in Dublin, OH on June 12 and 13. Last year Larry Butcher took about six athletes. This year with the excellent effort of Bernie Dolan of Wheeling Park High School a team of 20+ will be participating in this meet. (Teams will be from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and West Virginia) The same type of meet is held for Cross Country and it would be great for WV to get involved in this meet. Again it is an opportunity for our athletes to be showcased to college coaches.
NOTICE - Region I Qualifying Meet will be held at Brooke High School on Thursday, October 22, 1998. A-AA schools should note that we have seven schools listed as having teams. It is essential that we make every effort to have complete teams at the Regional Meet. By doing so, this will insure that we qualify two teams from our region.
Yours in running
David Evans, EX Region I Representative
Thanks for the help over the past five years. I'll see you in the fall.