I had never attended the MOC down at Dublin High School before.
Sadly, it certainly didn't match the atmosphere and decorum or professionalism that I had witness when attending the NCS MOC at Edwards Stadium.
Three things really bothered me besides the chilly temperature and windy conditions...
1.) The starter was on the infield and was difficult to see.
Couldn't believe that they didnt have him elevated with some kind of a ladder style podium.
2.) They put out the 300m hurdles BEFORE the Girls and Boys 800m race.
Flights of hurdles starting in Lane #4.
For obvious reasons, this is a big No No.
It's clearly a safety issue even though there really is nothing that addresses this in the NFHS Rule Book.
Kids came off the turn in the 800m and out of a big headwind and started to make their move down the front-stretch to only see the track be "narrow" and as a result, several kids fell. It was difficult taking evasive action knowing that there were hurdles just to your right. One of the top seeds in the Boys 800m actually had 2 other competitors fall in front of him and when he took evasive action to avoid going down himself, he moved to the right of the track only to find out that there were several lanes of hurdles in his way. And this is MOC?
Yes folks, you just can't make this stuff up!
3.) Meet Management saw no reason to have an "official" videotape of the meet.
This is mind-blowing to me given that this is the penultimate T&F meet leading to the CIF State Meet.
If reviews need to be made due to protests made by coaches, how are the meet managers ever gonna get past the proverbial "Oh, the official didn't see anything" response.
It's as if they treated this meet like a League Meet somewhere.
The kids deserve better!
Just my 2 cents after watching track meets at every level for the last 50 years.
"Cults don't end well. They really don't."