Disappointed

BW is a good call. I had forgotten about Finnie Stadium. It seats 7000 or 8000 and I believe that the track surface was recently upgraded. As was pointed out, would parking be a concern? The folks in SW Ohio would probably not like the NE Ohio location.
 
Newton's Third said:
I know Pickerington North is being used for D2 this season. I have only been there once, several years ago. Have they kept up the middle school track that sits right beside the high school stadium? If so, this should be a major selling point in them hosting anything and everything possible if they meet the other necessities. Athletes having an entire track to warm up, cool down, stretch, practice hand-offs, and a number of other things should keep them at the top of the short list in my eyes. I assume this alleviates a lot of battles with officials. Can those who have competed there give their opinions.
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The middle school track is still there. The biggest issue they would have is crowd size. The seating capacity is a little under 4000. Otherwise it is great from a parking and physical facility standpoint. The MS track is a huge selling point. In a more normal year I can’t see doing more than one division there.
 
Just walked the track at WN. I get that schools had to put in to host and kudos to them for stepping up but it is embarrassing that this is where the pinnacle of the track season is being held. The facilities are not up to par for a championship meet. I will say it again, the kids deserve better.
 
Move the D3 meet to Piqua, Troy or St Marys. Kids can compete at a first class facility. Screw trying to find a central location. Make it work!!!

PS - text from my daughter: the track is god awful. My son: the track is so bad, it’s ridiculous.

Thanks OHSAA. We are the red headed step child.
 
Second text from my daughter: no I will run fine it’s just kind of disappointing.
u know u work so hard to get to state and it’s a dump.

as a parent, how couldn’t you be pissed with this. Sorry but not sorry.
 
Some of the people who are beating the drum for the OHSAA to strong arm Ohio State into hosting the state meet would be some of the first to complain about a $5 box of popcorn, a $6 soda, and a $8 personal sized Donatos pizza that they sell in the concession stand.
 
Ericles said:
Some of the people who are beating the drum for the OHSAA to strong arm Ohio State into hosting the state meet would be some of the first to complain about a $5 box of popcorn, a $6 soda, and a $8 personal sized Donatos pizza that they sell in the concession stand.
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As a parent, this isn’t about dollars. It’s about the state recognizing our athletes. For some reason, we don’t have this problem in football, basketball or baseball.
 
Rohbino said:
BW is a good call. I had forgotten about Finnie Stadium. It seats 7000 or 8000 and I believe that the track surface was recently upgraded. As was pointed out, would parking be a concern? The folks in SW Ohio would probably not like the NE Ohio location.
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Nice facility, but the freakin boondocks for those in SW Ohio.
 
gatornation said:
How is it that all these large stadiums do not have enough parking for track? How do they handle football games with all those fans?
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Based on the few OWU football games I attended in college, they never came close to filling the place, not even for Homecoming. The stands were built in the late '20s when the school was playing against the likes of Ohio State and Michigan. I wager many of the fans were either students or locals who walked to the game. Also, as time went on, I'll guess that some of the original parking areas were eliminated either in favor of buildings or additional athletic fields, but I'd have to look at some campus photos to be certain 1 way or the other. All the buildings directly across the street from Selby were built in the '50s or later.

To give you an idea of how crappy the parking situation was at OWU, the school had roughly 1800 students during my years. A student had to either be a commuter, be at least 21, or have junior year academic standing before a parking pass could be acquired. Even with those restrictions, parking was rather limited near the academic buildings, so having a car was rather useless for getting around campus itself. If you knew someone with a car, you worked hard to befriend them, so you could get the heck off campus on the weekends.
 
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Don't rule out Jesse Owens Site just yet. Hearing they are in talks about going back there. The main reason for not going there this year was not that osu did not want HS sports, it was that they were only allowed to host big ten teams at their facilities that were using the same testing procedure as them. All decisions were made many months ago and not something that can be undone over night. Yes money was an issue for OHSAA and the rental of the facility but that is what they are discussing with them now.
 
This really disappoints me also because I have a senior, so if they go back to Jesse O next year, it will be too late for him. This whole year has been one disappointment after another when it comes to senior year and sports. However, we as parents can choose to be super excited for our kids that they got to State track, or we can bring down their energy and excitement by being negative about the facility. Being positive and proud of your child will do a lot more good than ruining the day by being upset about the track.

Best of luck to everyone!
 
Finishtiming said:
Don't rule out Jesse Owens Site just yet. Hearing they are in talks about going back there. The main reason for not going there this year was not that osu did not want HS sports, it was that they were only allowed to host big ten teams at their facilities that were using the same testing procedure as them. All decisions were made many months ago and not something that can be undone over night. Yes money was an issue for OHSAA and the rental of the facility but that is what they are discussing with them now.
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This is great news.
 
The other issue that comes about with each division having its own site is when the boys are in one division and the girls in another.

Let's look at Bexley as an example. The girls are competing in the D1 meet at Darby, which in and of itself is hardly fair, but I digress, and the boys are at the D2 at Pick North. There are conflicts in the schedule. Bexley has boys entered in the 400 & the 800. The finals for those events are on Saturday at 3:10 for the 400 & 3:35 for the 800. The girls' 3200 final is at 4:15. Darby and Pick North are 35 minutes apart at best.
 
Rohbino said:
The other issue that comes about with each division having its own site is when the boys are in one division and the girls in another.

Let's look at Bexley as an example. The girls are competing in the D1 meet at Darby, which in and of itself is hardly fair, but I digress, and the boys are at the D2 at Pick North. There are conflicts in the schedule. Bexley has boys entered in the 400 & the 800. The finals for those events are on Saturday at 3:10 for the 400 & 3:35 for the 800. The girls' 3200 final is at 4:15. Darby and Pick North are 35 minutes apart at best.
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Any issues with throws coaches who have a girl throwing the disc and a boy throwing the shot at the same time in 2 different locations this morning (i.e. boys and girls in different divisions)?

UPDATE: Not sure if they have the same throwing coach, but Norwayne has a girl throwing discus at Pickerington at the same time that a boy is throwing the shot at Westerville.
 
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effit said:
What’s really sad is 15 miles away, Jessie O will be sitting empty while some kids will be running their last HS race at this dumpster fire. Ohhhhh the memories!!!!!
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Columbus Academy is about 8 minutes away .
 
weddingsinger said:
This really disappoints me also because I have a senior, so if they go back to Jesse O next year, it will be too late for him. This whole year has been one disappointment after another when it comes to senior year and sports. However, we as parents can choose to be super excited for our kids that they got to State track, or we can bring down their energy and excitement by being negative about the facility. Being positive and proud of your child will do a lot more good than ruining the day by being upset about the track.

Best of luck to everyone!
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Thank you. It is so important to remember that as coaches and parents (I was both this year), our kids‘ experiences will be greatly influenced by our words and attitudes.
 
If anyone were to be able to seriously consider a non central Ohio site, Austintown Fitch would absolutely be able to host a state meet. Lots of seating and parking, great meet management, great officiating crew etc. FWIW, at the new State XC venue, informal conversation was had with the owner about building both an outdoor track and indoor track facility to host state meets. With TOSU dropping the ball as they have with XC and TF venues, it would probably have to be a private sport complex that would have to step in to provide championship worthy facilities. With as much $$ as TOSU generates from athletics, it's just about criminal that they can't make this the best situation it could be for HS kids in Ohio.
 
Kudos to Hilliard Darby today. They did a great job I thought. It was very nice to see the camps and athletes be able to get so close to the track, it was a fun atmosphere.

Nothing will beat Jesse Owens, but, I thought they did as good as they could have done.
 
Many things about the D1 meet today left a lot to be desired. No reasonable person is expecting a production the level of JO, but I could name at least a dozen things off the top of my head that were glaring omissions today.
 
Jaws31 said:
After having their season canceled last year, extra effort should have been put in to make this season a special as possible in my opinion. The OHSAA needs to be held accountable for decisions like this and reminded that they are there for the kids that are competing, not by how much money they can make.
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so who was the member of the OHSSA that visited this site.... and said... this is a PERFECT site to have the State Track Meet..... by the way when was this announced that this was the site thye have chosen
 
Rohbino said:
Without Ohio State, we're very limited on options. As was mentioned, the facility does not need to be centrally located but even with that consideration, the options, and ones that are decent, are not numerous.

Welcome Stadium in Dayton certainly has the capacity to host the meet with seating for around 11,000. It has hosted state meets in the past. It's not a good place to watch a meet.

DiSanto Field at CWRU is a nice facility but only seats about 2500.

The track at Ashland is nice but, again, not enough seating.

There's not a lot available. Without OSU being available, it really seems that OHSAA's hands are tied.
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so has Ohio State said they DO NOT WANT TO EVER HOST again?
 
weddingsinger said:
This really disappoints me also because I have a senior, so if they go back to Jesse O next year, it will be too late for him. This whole year has been one disappointment after another when it comes to senior year and sports. However, we as parents can choose to be super excited for our kids that they got to State track, or we can bring down their energy and excitement by being negative about the facility. Being positive and proud of your child will do a lot more good than ruining the day by being upset about the track.

Best of luck to everyone!try having a senior from last year......
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weddingsinger said:
This really disappoints me also because I have a senior, so if they go back to Jesse O next year, it will be too late for him. This whole year has been one disappointment after another when it comes to senior year and sports. However, we as parents can choose to be super excited for our kids that they got to State track, or we can bring down their energy and excitement by being negative about the facility. Being positive and proud of your child will do a lot more good than ruining the day by being upset about the track.

Best of luck to everyone!
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at least your senior had a chance to do spring sports this year..... how about the seniors from last year that had every game cancelled and didn't have a chance to compete for anything, or have a prom, or really having NOTHING from Winter on to do....... be thankful.....for being able to compete this year...
 
bigkat said:
so who was the member of the OHSSA that visited this site.... and said... this is a PERFECT site to have the State Track Meet..... by the way when was this announced that this was the site thye have chosen
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No idea, but they shouldn't be allowed to select any site again.
 
OHSAA should put together an advisory board of a cross-section of COACHES ONLY from ALL DISCIPLINES that should be responsible for site selections...PERIOD.
 
JAVMAN83 said:
OHSAA should put together an advisory board of a cross-section of COACHES ONLY from ALL DISCIPLINES that should be responsible for site selections...PERIOD.
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Not just site selections, but decisions for rules and tournament format as well. The coaches associations should have the power to make decisions about the sport.
 
Supertramp said:
Not just site selections, but decisions for rules and tournament format as well. The coaches associations should have the power to make decisions about the sport.
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I think the schools are members of the OHSAA; not sure having people[coaches] making financial decisions [site selection] is a good idea; obviously because they are not the ones having to come up with the money.
Because of COVID, only one tournament sport made money this year - Football
The rest of the sports have lost $$MILLIONS$$ this year.
 
Termite2 said:
I think the schools are members of the OHSAA; not sure having people[coaches] making financial decisions [site selection] is a good idea; obviously because they are not the ones having to come up with the money.
Because of COVID, only one tournament sport made money this year - Football
The rest of the sports have lost $$MILLIONS$$ this year.
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Track is doing just fine. Yesterday's paid attendance at the D3 meet was announced at 5100+ at $15 a pop. It was the largest of the 3 meets btw.
 
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