Classes A, C state meets halted due to bad weather

The location of Saturday’s Class C State Championship track and field meet – in Bath at Morse High School – was appropriately named.

Organizers and participants did their best to battle Mother Nature and hold the meet at McMann Field, but after somehow managing to get six events finished on soggy turf and under a steady rain, they finally had to give in.

“It’s track and track meets, regardless of the weather, try to happen,” said Freeport coach Dave Watson, who was doing double duty while also working as a USA Track and Field certified official. “It was an honest and true effort to the sport that we tried to get it in today, but because of safety issues, and to a lesser degree the comfort level, we just had to stop it.

“The decision was a no-brainer because of the potential for injury to the athletes.”

The steady rains and driving wind that battered York and Cumberland Counties were also too much for the Class A state meet to be held, as Maine Principals’ Association officials postponed the event two events into it.

Both of the 4×800-meter relays were run, then during a discussion prior to the girls 100 hurdle trials, the MPA and meet directors decided to call it off.

Conditions in Saco got progressively worse throughout the morning, as the 4×800 was contested in heavy winds and strong downpours.

The makeup dates and sites for both the A and C meets will be made today.

During the Class C meet, at least three minor injuries occurred which were attributable to weather conditions.

“A hurdler from Sacopee Valley fell in his preliminary heat. He could have potentially been seriously injured,” Watson said. “There was also a boy who fell in the long jump pit and there was a young gentleman who had a shoulder injury in the shot [put].”

It’s like that the meet would be continued on Saturday and it would resume with the start of the boys hurdles preliminary heats.

“It was after the girls hurdles trials that the degrading of the track really occurred,” Watson said. “So I would think we’ll pick up the meet from the point where we stopped today with the boys hurdles trials and re-running the first heat where the boy fell.”

The decision to hold the meet despite Saturday’s early-morning rainfall and the rainy forecast was made around 6 a.m. With conditions worsening, coaches and officials met again 5 1/2 hours later.

“The members of the games committee got together and discussed continuing or discontinuing it and all five voted to stop the meet because of the safety issues,” Watson said.

Athletes, coaches and officials alike all looked more like they’d taken 2 1/2-hour baths as they slogged their soaked-through selves out of Morse High School’s multi-sport complex. You didn’t hear anyone complaining about it, however.

“I’m not complaining about stopping the meet because it was the right call, but if it were me, we’d do the whole meet over,” said John Bapst coach Bruce Pratt.

Pratt’s point is that because both early relays have been run, it changes the fatigue factor in the meet.

“If you use someone in the relay, now they’re fresh for their other two or three events when we pick this up again, which wouldn’t be the case in a regular meet,” he explained.

That’s just one of many complications Saturday’s abbreviated meet and subsequent postponement creates. Others include conflicts with graduation-related activities such as senior proms and the actual graduation ceremonies, the fact that next Saturday is the same day as the New England Championships, and possible transportation cost issues for participating teams.

“We graduate Sunday so it’s easy for me to say go next Friday or Saturday, but there are a lot of schools doing class trips, activities and graduations those days,” Pratt said. “I think some [Aroostook] County teams may not have the money in the budget to make the trip down again, especially teams that usually come down the night before and stay over.”

Watson said he can imagine a worst-case scenario with a significant portion of the number of athletes qualified to compete at states missing the rest of the meet.

“You have schools from way up north and now they’re talking about double travel costs, so there are a lot of issues,” said Watson. “We may have as many as 20 percent fewer athletes back here on Saturday.”