IsTrack and Field becoming a lost sport?

[Riding Solo]

I read the results of the Deweyville relays on Kogt. The winning time for the boys varsity 1600 meter relay was 4:02.49. Our 8th grade boys in 1976 ran a 3:54.00. The winning times for the girls 1600 meter relay was 5:22.55. That  averages around 90 seconds a leg. Was wondering if they walked the curves and jogged the straight aways. LOL!!!!!

[Eagle11]

Wow......I was at a meet last week and the 8th place mile relay time was 3:35 and I thought that was slow

[Gabe]

What I am not enjoying this year is except for last week's Bulldog Relays, where are the results??? Media cannot go basically for all the other things going on this time of year, usually out of town. It is virtually impossible.

Then when media has to jump through hoops 2 or 3 days later to find them. It is strange.

[buchorn2005]

I was at the meet and there are several answers to your question.  First off many kids don't run track because they "don't want to".  Back in the day you ran track if you were in athletics.  This was a small school meet and 3 of the schools still have basketball teams in the playoffs so they didn't have most of their faster athletes at the meet. My son ran the mile at around 9pm.  It was about 40 degrees with about a 15 mile an hour wind.  Several schools had left by then.  The mile relay was after the mile.  So the results were skewed to say the least.  Overall times in track now are much faster than they were in 1976.  They set new records each year at the State Track Meet. 

[bjimbo]

Track isn't dying, track coaches are!  Lazy coaches these days!

[Riding Solo]

I do agree Buchorn, when I was in school it was mandatory you ran track through your junior year if you played football. Coaches knew that a successful track program led to a successful football program. We had way more depth back then. I guess my example is: I can only speak for Orangefield but in the past few years they cant even fill relay teams at some meets. Also back in the old days a track meet was two days. We never ran an event at 9pm at night or later.  Not even close. A few years back I looked at the times of the district meet and yes WOS was in it. The track team of 1980 for Orangefield would have won that meet by 64 points. That was when WOS won state a few years back.

[Riding Solo]

Lincoln High School use to have some badass track teams in the 80's. Memorial not so much. :)

[Riding Solo]

I have been looking at area times for years because I am a track guy. No way they compare to the old days. I will give you the state track meet comment, I have been to many. But that is the best of the best a little different story in the big picture.

[NDNation]

What I am not enjoying this year is except for last week's Bulldog Relays, where are the results??? Media cannot go basically for all the other things going on this time of year, usually out of town. It is virtually impossible.
Then when media has to jump through hoops 2 or 3 days later to find them. It is strange.

I've been checking the page everyday for results for the WOS meet. Nothing. I made the JV meet but couldn't make varsity. :(

[JSnipes]

http://www.ttfca.com/WOSMustangRelayResults.pdf

 

This is all I have seen released on any website. We received boys and girls through email.

[NDNation]

Thanks ! I was checking Dyestat.

[drich329]

To me it seems ever since most schools started track meets during the wk...and not on Fridays & Sat the interest slowly deteriorated. It is very hard to get info bout track meet results

[The Goat]

Lincoln High School use to have some badass track teams in the 80's. Memorial not so much. :)

This is incorrect! Memorial's first year of existence the team of Hood/Roberts/Charles and Gorrer set the NATIONAL record at the time in the 4x200 meter relay. Yes, Jamaal Charles was on that team. Gorrer currently plays in the NFL as well. Last year Corey Dauphine ran 20.67 in the 200 meters. Fastest kid in America at 200 meters. This years team is will be fighting for the overall team title.

[Chambers Co.]

You tell him Goat Man! Not picking any sides...just like Track in general. It is hard to get results from local meets nowadays. You have to have a coach that will call in or post the results somewhere. Like JSnipes said, ttfca.com is about the best place to get results if the coaches will post them. Yeah, back in the day(mid to late 70's) those meets were great. (2 day meets) Qualifying on Friday and finals on Saturday. I always said you could smell track season. Between the creamagesic(the stuff you rubbed on your leg muscles) and the fresh cut grass, you knew it was time to run. My Track Coach Gid Campbell, had a saying: Off your ass, on your feet, out of the shade and in the heat, cause we going to win this Track meet! I know coaches put in a lot of hours and really don't get compensated for it and that's why there aren't any Saturday meets. Most coaches don't want to spend one of their days off this time of year at a school event. IMO. I wish it were different. I think there would be more interest. Also, baseball cuts into track time. There is more interest in baseball than track. I hope this is not a dying sport for high school kids. A lot of good character comes from kids who run track. IMO!

[H-D BOBCAT 55]

Yes. Now that track meets are during the week at odd times, yes... Back in the day when it was on a Friday and Saturday, good hard working parents could show up to support they're kids. Now baseball is doing these weird times and dates...

[bmtdc1996]

A lot of coaches are football coaches coaching track. I was a track coach who coached football. There's a lot more to it than just "run straight and turn left". Technique in the field events at some schools is beyond terrible because there no coaching. If you have 4-6 fast runners who can win or place high in the 100/200/400 then you can put together 3 good relay teams and with the scoring the way it is in relays, you can win a meet. Not the way it should be in my opinion. Baseball definitely hurts the smaller schools. Who wants to run 400 meters when you can just run 90 feet. Coaches and schools want to get a meet on and run it as quickly as possible so they can get home and have as much of the weekend free as possible. It's definitely no like it was back when I coached, sad to say.

[The Goat]

http://parser.dyestat.com/meetresults.jsp?meetID=81813#.VTnGkcko7qA