South Carolina Track and Cross Country Coaches Association
SC High School League Office
Minutes January 8, 2011
www.sctrackworld.us
10:13 – President Eric Cummings (Riverside) called the meeting to order and led the group in the Pledge of
Allegiance
10:14 – Cummings told group that track season is closed through January 30 and teams may begin practice on
January 31. Scrimmages can begin on February 7 and your first official contest can be in early March.
He also told coaches that there is a sign-up sheet for officiating at the Coaches Classic and the State Championships. There are two All-State Certificates left from cross country on the counter and if you have an athlete that did no receive an All-State Certificate from the past state track meet to let Cummings know.
10:15 – Cummings introduced the officers – 1A VP Rodney Adamee (Christ Church), 2A VP John Javis (Eau
Claire), 3A VP Michael Steward (Lower Richland), 4A VP Jeff Buys (Dorman), Secretary/Treasurer Ed
Boehmke (Eastside)
10:16 – Boehmke submitted the minutes from the Summer Clinic for approval. Skip Frye (Broome) pointed out
a misspelled name and then the minutes were approved. (That correction has been made on the official
copy on the webpage). Boehmke reported that since July the association has spent $23,758.06 and
received $35,994.20. We currently have $12,236.14 in the bank. The report was approved.
10:18 – Awards were given for the fastest times in the state for the past cross country season. Javis announced
the fastest female as Jasmine Polite of Stratford with a time of 18:18. The trophy was not picked up.
Steward announced the fastest male as Roland Hakes of Dutch Fork with a time of 15:34. A coach from
Dutch Fork accepted the trophy. These trophies should be presented to the athlete at an upcoming
school event.
10:19 – The VP’s gave the Coach of the Year Awards for Cross Country in their respective classifications.
4A Girls-Jerry Kimbrell of Dorman, 4A Girls- Bailey Harris of Lexington, 3A Boys-Marc Pryc of Fort
Mill, 3A Boys-Rick Zeller of Wade Hampton (G), 2A Girls-Pam Wheeler of Pendleton, 2A Boys Skip
Frye of Broome, 1A Girls- Marie Kernell of St. Joseph’s and 1A Boys-Jeremy Darby of Landrum.
Cummings made note that the plaques for the coaches have been ordered and will be given to the
coaches soon.
10:21 – Michael Steward recognized the 2010 Assistant Track Coach of the Year as Matthew Hawkins of Lower Richland. His award was presented at a LR home football game earlier this year.
10:22 – Jeff Buys announced the 2010 Assistant Cross Country Coach of the Year as Jessica Collins of
Dorman. She will be presented her award at the summer meeting.
10:23 – John Jones announced the new inductees into the SCTCCCA Hall-of-Fame. The late Whiteford Smith
of Gaffney and Mark Bedenbaugh from Pelion. These coaches will be recognized at the Coaches Classic in March.
10:24 – Jeff Buys reminded the group of the email list and if your not on the list to send him your email asking
to be added at buysjs@spart6.org
10:25 – Rodney Adamee made a short report on the 2010 Shrine Bowl Run. He thanked Cummings and the
Association for the sweatshirts given to the runners and Skip Frye for taking over some driving duties, unexpectedly. Cummings added that even with poor weather, it was a great bunch of kids and thanked all for their help.
10:30 – Ed Boehmke went over the meet calendar for the upcoming track season and coaches were allowed to
comment on their meet(s) and add others to the calendar.
10:45 – John Blackburn talked about the New Balance Meet, the Indoor Nationals in Boston, and the Outdoor
National at NC A&T. He said to check the website for entry standards and other information. The website is www.nationalscholastic.org.
10:48 – John Olson of SCRunners spoke about the website and asked for coaches help. Make sure that results
are sent to him as either Hy-Tek or Race Tab results otherwise they will NOT go online and not into the rankings. He reminded coaches that a lot of the site content is by subscription only and said they he would soon have information about team discounts for subscriptions. Reach Olson at jolson@milesplit.us for more information.
10:51 – Bob Jenkins made a comment on how far track and field and cross country has come.
10:52 – Cummings reminded the group to apply for the Herlong Scholarship from the SCACA. Students must
apply by the deadline and the scholarship is renewable every year as long as a 2.0 GPA is kept.
10:55 – Cummings opened discussion of old business. The All-State selections for Track and Field were
determined by the top 2 places and by a performance standard. Jeff Buys will send the performance list out and it will be posted on the webpage. John Jones proposed that we change the constitution to show this selection process. It was seconded and three was no further discussion. The proposal passed unanimously.
10:58 – J.J. Iagulli of Carolina Forest of commented that he was waiting to see what to do with the idea of an officials organization. He said he sent the football and basketball officials a survey asking them of their interest being a T&F official. The response was very much in favor of them helping. There was a lot of discussion about the use of such an organization. It was finally decided that the organization would be a list of officials that could be used for any meet, hopefully beginning with the State Meet, then the qualifiers and then the Region Meets. Rick Crumpler of Spring Valley proposed for the HSL to base this decision on the NFHS website. It was seconded and passed 67-1.
11:13 – John Javis of Eau Claire proposed that the 2A Classification eliminate the Lower and Upper State
Qualifying Meets and go to a 1 site Qualifying Meet (like the 4A and 3A). The motioned was seconded. Discussions revolved around the necessity for this and arguments that this method gets the best athletes into the State Meet. The motion passed 45 – 5.
11:26- Jerry Kimbrell of Dorman proposed a new time schedule for the Coaches Classic Cross Country Meet.
His proposal was made to increase the number of races, start a few races within a few minutes of each other, and help eliminate an over 700 runner field in the JV boy’s race. It was seconded. Discussion centered on the start and finish times and the problem of scoring officials and the overlapping of the races. Crumpler made a point that the Spring Valley coaches have made a few changes in the course so that there will be no overlapping of the course. The motion was tabled with a consensus that a new schedule was necessary. Cumming will put together a committee to propose a new schedule at the summer meeting.
11:35 – Patrick Kelly of Blythewood proposed that any boy that runs under 17:15 and any girl that runs under
20:45 at their qualifying meet will advance to the state meet as an individual, even if they finish outside the top 20 places in the qualifying meet. The motion was seconded. There was a lot of discussion about the purpose of the motion and the significance of adding these athletes. The motion passed 15 – 10.
11:50 – Kelly proposed that 20 teams will qualify for the 4A State Meet (increase of 4 teams over the current
field of 16). The motion was seconded and passed 19 - 13 after some discussion.
12:00 – Jackie Borowicz of JL Mann proposed moving the 3A and 4A 3200 meter run to Friday night and
move the 3200 Meter Relay to Saturday morning as the first running event. It was seconded. Discussion focused on the decrease in time between the 200 and 1600 Relay and the heat for the 3200 runners during the late morning. A lot of good discussion, but the motion was defeated 11 – 31.
12:18 – Jones proposed that the Association ask the SCHSL to change the practice rule back to the way it was
prior to the 2010 – 2011 school year (eliminate the 3 weeks of practice in early November) and allow 11 athletes per practice session. The motion was seconded and discussion was the useless 3 weeks we have now, which are the last week of XC and the 1st two weeks of basketball. The motion passed unanimously.
12:30 – Jones made a second proposal that if the SCHSL denies the 1st proposal that the HSL move the 3 weeks
to the 3 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The motion seconded. The point was made that these are the three best weeks, with the exception of the 1st three weeks of January, which would only extend our practice season for the entire month. The proposal passed unanimously.
12:37 – Glover Smiley of Spartanburg proposed that the SCHSL sponsor an Indoor Track season with NO state
Championships, It was seconded. The reason for no state meet is to allow schools to choose to have an indoor season with no undue pressure to have one because other schools are having one. The proposal passed unanimously.
12:46 - John Jones proposed that coaches use a set of guidelines for the Indoor Track proposal that he had
printed in a form letter that he planned to use earlier. He said that the possible guidelines include the start practice date, 1st play date, final play date, and the events contested. Because of a lack of indoor facilities, school may elect to hold indoor events on an outdoor facility for 4 or fewer teams. A school would be limited to a maximum of 8 meets. The proposal unanimously passed.
12:50 – George Moss of JL Mann proposed that this meeting be made mandatory. The motion was seconded,
but after some discussion it was decided that even though it was a great idea that it could not be enforced. The proposal was defeated unanimously.
12:52 – Crumpler proposed that the start time of the State Cross Country Championship be extended 30 minutes
if we are on standard time and left at the original time if we are on daylight time. This was seconded and passed unanimously.
12:55 – Jones proposed that the association ask permission from the SCHSL to attend the Clemson Indoor
Meet this winter (January 22). The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. Nessie Harris of the SCHSL said that it would not be approved because it is before our starting practice date.
No further business was discussed. Cummings reminded the group of the Region Meet Directors meeting at the SCHSL office on Wednesday April 13 at 9:00.
1:02 – The meeting was adjourned.