As always, John has some
great points. I think in his previous
life he was a lawyer reincarnated as a CPA.
Put those two together and its tough to beat.
My personal points of view:
The expansion of the middle school and
elementary school divisions is one of the most exciting things going. XC coaches have complained for years that
soccer was robbing xc of its good athletes.
This was due to all the youth soccer programs for 5&unders,
6&unders, 6 1/2 & unders etc that parents got there kids involved
in. Now we have coaches working on youth
programs in XC which is great. As I told
Nick Cooley at the MOC Saturday, for kids that play team sports, many have to
sit on the bench and watch others play.
In XC everyone is out there running head to head and everyone is
important including the last person across the line(trust me I know, my #5 one
meet was the last across the line and the team managed to finish third). No other sport can provide that. With the development of the elementary and
middle school programs, we have also had a big influx of good, new young
coaches, in many cases, young coaches who have gone through out programs. That is also very encouraging.
As to the importance of the MOC, that
is left up to the individual coaches of every team and every coach has the
right to make decisions that he thinks are best for his athletes and team. The KTCCCA just provides an opportunity. Coaches decide whether they want to take
advantage of that opportunity.
Originally we set up the MOC as an opportunity to run on the state meet
course the week before the regional and for everyone by class to go head to
head if they so chose. The first few
years it really blossomed. Even in those early years some coaches opted not to
compete in the MOC or not to run their top runners. That was their choice. Something people forget is that when we
started running the MOC, prior to that the Franklin County & Lexington
Catholic meets were the only meets where you could get on the state meet
course. 10 years ago those meets were
huge and helped finance both of those schools programs. When we started the MOC, those two meets
gradually started taking a beating in numbers.
Either of those meets could have closed up shop because they were not
making much revenue or barely making ends meet.
However, they hung in there and now both meets are larger and did very
well this year.
When the Horse Park would not let us
use the Park last year for the MOC, Cave Lake was an opportunity the KTCCCA
could not refuse. Cooperation with the
owner was better than with the Horse Park.
The parking situation was better and much SAFER. For years a major concern of mine was
crossing the roadway at the Horse Park with continual traffic including RV's
through the entire meet. It was really a
logistical nightmare that we have been very, very lucky with. Thank God no one has been run over. Parking was a problem and still is at the
Horse Park because some people think they have the right to park anywhere along
the road which creates and even bigger nightmare. This year with the starting line moving up
toward the finish line, teams will be
allowed to set up tents in the area of the ditch and probably save a whole lot
of road crossing except to get to the awards pavilion. Some people thought there would be more grass
in various areas but a reminder-with the drought this year if anyone grew any
grass this year, they probably did a lot of watering. The road ways were muddy(getting there at 7
AM in the dark, i carried three extra pounds of mud around on my shoes all
day. However, the course was in good shape. Tell tale sign of a sloppy course is the mud
streaks up the backs of uniforms and very few kids had any such signs coming
across the finish line.
Last year the late notice caused teams
not to go to Cave Lake due to expense that hadn't been planned. This year the notice was earlier and the some
teams still opted elsewhere. Some
complained and did not come because there was no JV race last year. We added that and had 48 runners with boys
and girls combined. Go figure.
At the all state meetings, the MOC
results were taken in to account when comparing individuals but athletes were
not penalized for not competing in the MOC, it was just another good comparison
tool if needed.
With the changes the Horse Park is
planning for next year, it may be
a good possibility the state
meet may be at Cave Lake. Julian
Tackett was
supposed to attend the meet
Saturday, but was called to Nashville for a lawsuit case and called to say he
would not make it at the last minute.
The state xc committee meets November 13 and decisions will be made then
for next years state meet. We will see
then.
I
made this comment to some people last year about
yet) Then again they may be the ones who have to
be at the starting line when the gun goes off and at the one mile mark and two
mile mark and at the finish line. The
starting area is the best I seen for any meet with a 600 meter straight to keep
people from bumping in to each other before the first turn. The results/concession area is really shaping
up. With the enclosure, you can sit down
and relax. Where else do you have a
ferry taking people back & forth across the lake or a haywagon transporting
those back & forth from starting to finish line? Plans for next year include having a walk
bridge across part of the lake. The
awards on the island are unique. In my
opinion teams can run a meet elsewhere if they want and they can get another
meet in, but they have missed something special if they have not been to Cave
Lake. I don't begrudge any coach the
decision to do that. I know my kids enjoy the experience at Cave Lake.
Thanks to all those who attended and
especially all those who helped officiate.
It could not have been done without you.
Thanks, John, for your comments and your numbers.
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