2015 Girl's AA Sectional Track Meet
Dunlap, IL
Today is Sectionals. This is the meet we focus on throughout the season. This is the meet these young ladies give up every spring afternoon during the spring for to work for ... work through discomfort, pain, injury, bad weather and adversity to have a chance to compete for a spot in the state meet. Regardless of the outcome, the coaches are glad to help them along the way. We are their biggest fans because we know exactly how hard they have worked to get here. Thank you for supporting our team ...waiting for practice to end, sitting for hours at meet waiting for your daughter to compete for minutes, listening when things aren't going well, cheering for all our girls regardless if it's a meet/school record or a personal best. Our parents are the best we could hope for ... a huge thank you for your kind words, patience and the countless ways you make this program work! Our U-High community is awesome ... thanks for helping make it a great place to be!
The meet is scheduled to have the last event start at 8:40p. That is assuming no weather or equipment delays. We will need to wait for final results so the earliest we will be able to leave Dunlap to return home will be close to 9:30p. Please be patient .... I am guessing a return time of between 10:30p and 11:00p ... hopefully sooner but I doubt it.
If you plan to take your athlete home after the meet, please remember, I need you to sign them out. I will need a note from your parent before I will allow you to ride home with another parent.
This is the single most important meet we have this year to date ... all athletes are expected to stay until the completion of the meet. Regardless of debate, this is a high school team sport, running a varsity meet. Being a part of the team means more than running your own events. Supporting and encouraging teammates who are trying to set season bests, PR's and qualify for the state meet needs to mean more than getting an early start home. All athletes have a ride on the bus back to school and, if necessary, I will give them a ride home from school if you cannot stay until the end. University High School is the two time defending Sectional Champion and we are extremely proud to have each athlete represent our school on Thursday and to experience the entire Sectional Meet. Program pride and tradition should override a bit of sleep. I realize there are sometimes exceptions, although I hope not for this meet. If you have questions/concerns, please contact me. (One disclaimer ... I did not have any control as to where we were sent or having the meet scheduled on a school night ... we can only work with what we are assigned. As coaches, we can only have our athletes as prepared as we can. We will be ready to go and leave the things we have no control over for other teams to worry about.)
On behalf of the team, we are very thankful for our parents and friends who have traveled so well and supported our entire team. We feel blessed to have the parent support we have and it is awesome to look up into the stands and see a large group of vocal parents who appreciate the talent and effort of our young ladies. They are a wonderful group to coach. They compete with confidence and conduct themselves in a manner we are proud of. John Neisler, Lester Hampton, Karonji Carr, Natalie Wheeler, Brent Seibring and I are very proud to wear the title of "Coach" for this program we have worked to develop. We all wish the best of luck to our young athletes. Finally, our wonderful group of seniors have finished their last days of high school! I want to recognize Ashley LaFayette, Katie Herrman and Danielle Baker. They have been here for years and helped our Class A sized school develop into a Class AA program capable of competing at any level ... winning multiple Invites, Conference and Sectional Championships and culminating in last year's Class AA state runner up! Coach Neisler and I owe so much to these young ladies and their positive leadership ... we are so happy you decided to help us build this program. We couldn't be more proud to be your coaches. Let's send them off with some great memories ... go U-High!
The Sectional assignments are attached.
Time Schedule:
3:00p Weigh in for shot, disc and vaulters opens
3:30p Coaches Meeting
4:00p Field events begin (Pole vault, high jump, flight 1 of shot put, flight 1 of discus, long jumps both flights, triple jump to follow long jump)
5:00p 100 prelims, 4 heats,winners plus next 4 fastest
5:15p 100 hurdles prelims, 3 heats, winners plus next 5 fastest
5:30p 200 prelims, 5 heats, winners plus next 3 fastest
5:45p 3200 run (heat 1)
6:05p 3200M Relay
6:20p 400M Relay
6:35p 3200M Run (Heat 2)
6:50p 100M Hurdle Finals
6:55p 100M Dash - wheelchair Finals
7:00p 100M Dash Finals
7:05p 800 Wheelchair Final
7:15p 800M Run Finals (2 Heats)
7:30p 800M Relay (2 Heats)
7:45p 400M Dash Finals (4 Heats)
8:00p 300M Hurdles (4 Heats)
8:10p 1600M Run (2 Heats)
8:20p 200M Dash Wheelchair Finals
8:30p 200M Dash Finals
8:40p 1600M Relay (2 Heats)
