Blogs : Michael McCoy

2008 NCAA Champs - Day 3

"How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop?"

That question popped in my head when I arrived at the horizontal jump pit to help out with the men's & women's triple jump qualifying round.  The reason why that question was in my head because it was decision time as to what direction the TJ was going to be contested.  The main horizontal jumps runway/pit @ Drake Stadium runs north-south (or south-north).  For the first two days of the championships, the athletes were jumping from south to north.  Prior to today's events taking place, the wind shifted from a swirling direction to a more definitive north-south direction; hence the decision on switching the direction to take advantage of the wind.

One would think this would be an easy decision to make, but this is no ordinary meet.  This is the NCAA National Championships.  There is an established protocol that must be followed.  While the meet referees are in control of the operational aspects of the meet, the NCAA Track & Field Committee has a say in how things are set-up since it's their meet.  The competition rules call for the runway direction to be established at least an hour prior to the start of the event.  The problem with switching the direction to the south was that it was in the direction of the track start/finish line where the FinsihLynx camera, TV cables, and a host of other go-gobs of stuff that's generally cluttered around that area at a major championship.

The most obvious concern that all of us (the competition officials, meet referees, and NCAA Committee) was the safety of the athletes.  If you have ever seen triple jumpers warm-up, you know they do a series of run-throughs to establish their steps.  Often their momentum carries them clear of the jumping pit when they perform their run-throughs; and our big concern was the possiblity of an athlete hurting himself/herself with all that equipment assembled at the end of the jump pit.  The other concern was the where the FinishLynx camera was.  No one wanted an athlete to hit that because that would have a serious impact on the running events.

The meet referees consulted with the Committee regarding the direction and it was decided the athletes would jump in the direction of the finishline to take advantage of the aiding wind from the north.  The decision was made just in time as the first flight of athletes was brought to the competition area.  Marshals were positioned around the FinishLynx camera and at the end of the jumping pit to insure the athletes didn't hurt themselves or the equipment.

We received another taste of good ol' NCAA bureaucracy as the laser measuring device was moved from one side of the jumping pit to the track side of the jumping pit.  The event chief received permission from the NCAA rep who was on-site at the event.  The reason being, the NCAA rep felt that moving the measuring device to the opposite side of the track wouldn't be so much of an obstacle for the athletes as they exited the jumping pit.

Unfortunately that didn't sit well with the field referee as he confronted the event head (which wasn't me...thank God ) and demanded why the measuring device was moved without his say-so.  While that confrontation was occuring , I busied myself in helping groom the pit so the athletes wouldn't injury themselves while warming up.  Once that situation was resolved between the field ref and the event head, we got the event underway.

In both the men's & women's triple, the favored athletes made the finals.  Arkansas' Nkosinza Balumbu was the only auto qualifier surpassing the 53' 2" mark.  The other 11 qualifiers would make it interesting for Saturday's final.  One of those qualifiers is Austin Davis of North Carolina.  I've known Austin since he was little (his dad & I officiate a lot of meets together plus his dad does my taxes from time to time....) so I was real happy he made it to the final.

On the women's side, Erica McLain of Stanford led five other ladies pass the auto qualifying standard of 44' 3-1/2" to set up a nice final for Saturday.