This project has been expanded backward in time to the beginning of the orginal SW Ohio District meet in 1923 at Oxford, OH. I have all but 10yrs worth of winners (a few others are missing here and there) now compiled. Working towards an anticipated release the 2nd week of May. The following is the general timeline of the district meet and how it morphed over the years.
1923
Start of Class A & B district meets at Oxford. Meet was essentially what the Dayton Regionals are now. It remained this way till the mid-1930's (I think 1935) when a "northern" half of the SW District developed for the Dayton area schools as the population grew and a new district meet was held. The meet location moved from Oxford (1923-1934) to UC (1935), to Western Hills (1936-194x), Walnut Hills (194x-1944), Withrow (1945-1952?), then Central's Trechter Stadium (1953?-1971).
1957-1958
Class A & B re-named Class AA & A. District meet is the same format and held at Trechter Stadium.
1959
The SW Ohio District Class AA meet at Trechter is divided into 2 sections, the Cincinnati Section & the Oxford-Middletown Section. Class A remains the same. All 3 meets are held at Trechter in 1959. The meet records of 1923-1958 for Class AA appear to be applied equally to both sections in order to provide continuity of meet records.
1960-1962
The Class AA Cincinnati Section and Class A remain at Trechter Stadium, while the Oxford-Middletown Section of Class AA moves to Oxford for a 3-year stint.
1963-1966
The Class AA Cincinnati Section and Class A remain at Trechter Stadium, while the Oxford-Middletown Section moves to Hamilton Taft HS for a 4-yr stint.
1965
The regional meet is introduced into the state tournament format. Previously, all district meet qualifiers moved directly to the state meet.
1967-1970
The Oxford-Middletown Class AA Section moves to the new synthetic track surface at Sycamore Stadium (now Sycamore Jr. High). It remains there through 1974. The Class AA Cincinnati Section and Class A remain at Trechter Stadium except for 1969, where the Class A meet competes at Princeton.
1971
The current 3-class/division format is introduced. Class AA becomes Class AAA, while Class A is basically sub-divided into Classes AA & A. The meet records of both Class AA sections become those of the new Class AAA sections, and it appears that the Class A records of 1923-1970 are equally applied to both Class AA & Class A meets in order to provide continuity of meet records.
1971-present
Cincinnati Class AAA Section
The meet spends time at Lockland (1972-74), Norwood (1975-76), Forest Park (1977-79), Norwood (1980), Lockland (1981-82), Norwood (1983), Princeton (1984-1988), and Fairfield (1989). During the years, 1972-1975, the section is split into two sections (1 & 2) where teams are seeded and funneled into the appropriate section. In 1990, the Class AAA designation becomes Division I and the meet moves to Anderson where it stays until 2004 (except for 2002 at Mason). In 2004, the meet is permanently moved to Mason where it continues to the present day.
The girl's state tournament is introduced in 1975 with the Cincinnati section girls competing at the same sites as the boys. This continues to the present day in what is now the Mason district meet.
Oxford-Middletown Class AAA Section
The meet spends time at Sycamore Stadium (1967-1974), Princeton (1975-81), Norwood (1982-83), Princeton (1984-88), then moves to Fairfield (1989) for most of the next 20 years (1989-2009). In the 1997-1998, the meet temporarily moves to Hamilton HS, but then moves back to Fairfield through 2009. In 2010, the meet moves to Winton Woods, which is at the same site as the old Forest Park HS.
The girl's Oxford-Middletown sectional starts at a different site than the boys in 1975. The meet starts at Deer Park (1975-76), but joins the boys site in 1977 where it remains to the present day in what is now the Winton Woods district meet.
Class AA
The boys' Class AA meet starts at Reading's Veterans' Stadium in 1971 where it stays through 1987. In 1988, the meet moves to Glen Este through 1992. Note: The Reading track had remained a 440yd track, making for a mix of metric & yards marks through 1987 despite the move to metric in 1980 by the state tournament. This was one of the reasons for the move. As another footnote, the Dayton Regional also remained a mixed meet (metric/yards) through 1981, so Reading was certainly not alone in their challenges. The 1980s were a time of old 440yd tracks being re-configured to the metric format, and some happened earlier than others.
In 1975, the girls' meet was started at Reading as well, and continues to be held concurrently with the boys' meet sites to this day.
In 1990, the Class AA designation becomes Division II.
In 1993, the meet moves to Amelia where it remains through 2002. In 2003, the meet moves to Lockland's Roettger Stadium for a 3-yr stint. In 2006, the meet moves to New Richmond where it remains till this day.
Class A
The boys' Class A meet starts at Reading's Veterans' Stadium in 1971, but separates from the Class AA meet in 1972 when it moves to Lockland for 3 years (1972-74). In 1975, the meet moves to Cincinnati Country Day (where the girls start their meet in the same year). In 1981, the meet rejoins the Class AA meet in Reading (except for the field events that were held at Country Day for that year). From 1982 to the present, the Class A meet competes at the same sites as the Class AA meets. In 1990, the Class A designation becomes Division III.
I hope this provides some insight regarding the history of what are now the 8 Cincinnati-area district meets (4 boys, 4 girls) that grew out of the orginal 2 meets.
