“Track – Part II”

I wrote last week about why covering track and field sports in the county has been tough. One of the reasons that I listed was because all of the track meets are held outside of Jackson County. I was surprised to learn recently that the reason there are no track meets within Jackson County’s borders is that there is no full fledge track complex at any of our high schools.

Even with as little as I know about the sport of track and field, I am amazed that a county with four varsity track and field teams has no full fledged track complex. Several have a track around the football field, but I’ve come to learn that a track around the football field is far from having a full fledge track complex. That is kind of like saying we have a backstop and four bases so therefore we have a baseball field.

The closest thing to a real track complex is located at the new Marianna High School around the football/soccer/band practice field just east of the school. The track is new and is one of the modern “rubberized” surfaces. The first thing that I’ve learned about track recently is that they no longer run on dirt or concrete. The new surfaces are some type of composite material that has a spongy feel to it.

But even the new track is lacking in many respects. While they have just recently added a pole vaulting pit, there is still no long ump, triple jump or high jump stations at the complex. There are no stations for the discus or shot put events and the program does not have any hurdles.

Not having a full fledge track complex hurts in two ways. First for the athletes they really can’t get the needed practice time in some of these more specialized events. That makes their success in the recent district meets even more amazing. There are a total of 51 track and field athletes from our county that placed high enough in their district meets to advance to the regional meet in Jacksonville this Friday. That’s not bad not have a full fledge track complex in the county.

Secondly it means that you really can’t host a track meet in the county because other teams from around the panhandle don’t want to come to a meet that does not field the full slate of events. So our athletes from the county must continually travel out of the county for track meets, using up more of their time and our tax dollars for travel cost.

I am hoping that the powers to be recognize that the lack of a track complex in the county should be addressed and rectified. I know I closed with this same line last week but, Simply Put, our county’s track athletes and coaches deserve it.

From the Front Porch: Uncle Bob said you think you are a person of influence, just try ordering someone else’s dog around.