Christ the King CYO Track & Field
How A Meet Works
To a new family, track meets can seem very chaotic! Our team typically has about 200-250 athletes, and we will usually be competing with a number of other parishes. The good news is that all of our "practice meets" (the first few of each season) are run exactly the same way.
Show Up and Sign In
Your first goal is to get to the meet itself. We like first-shift volunteers to sign in half an hour before the start of the meet (sooner if you are on setup crew.) Volunteer signups are typically held at a table on the field, in the finish-line area. Look for people with clipboards and radios: they know everything.
Even if you're not working the first shift, it's a good idea to show up early, so your athletes can check in with their coach. All athletes wear a label that shows their name, athlete number, and parish. This sticker is used to check athletes into their events. Once you and your athletes are signed in, you wait for the first event.
Order of Events
Practice meets are always conducted in the same order. Athletes are permitted to participate in a total of three individual events (two track and one field, or two field and one track), plus as many relays as they can run.
Track Events
Girls run in an event first, starting with grade 2 and working up through grade 8, then boys run the same event, in the same fashion. Both running and field events "open" at certain points through the meet: listen for the announcements. Running events close quickly -- athletes should report to the field to sign in as soon as they hear their event open.
The order of events is:
- 1600m
- 4x100m relay
- 400m
- 50m (grades 5 and under only)
- 100m
- 800m
- 200m
- Sprint Medley relay (100m, 100m, 200m, 400m)
- 4x400m
For practice meets, we sometimes make the following shortcuts:
- We typically run girls and boys together for the 1600m: all athletes are called at once.
- If we have enough volunteers and equipment, we divide the 50m and 100m races so girls will run on one of the straights of the track, and boys on the other.
- Sometimes grades will be run together to fill up the track for less-popular events. All times are counted only within the athlete's grade and gender, however.
Field Events
All field events typically open at the start of the meet, and run simultaneously with the track events. Because athletes must check in to track events when called, field events tend to remain open longer. It is not unusual for an athlete to check in at a field event, run a race, and then return to the field event. Events are:
- Softball throw
- Long jump
- High jump (5th grade and older only)
- Shotput (5th grade and older only)
Stay As Long As You Need To
If your athletes have completed all their events and you are not working in the afternoon or cleanup shifts, you may leave the meet. Do not leave the meet if you have signed up for an afternoon shift or are on the cleanup crew. Doing so will jeopardize your volunteer deposit. However, if everyone in your family is done (athletes and adults) then you may leave the meet.