Actually, they started to happen when the National Federation of High School Sports decided it was time to change the language of the rule concerning “deliberately” knocking down a hurdle. Rather than interpreting an interpretation, what follows is the NFHS announcement, straight from their web page:
2010 Track and Field Rules Changes Announced
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Becky Oakes
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (July 7, 2009) - Beginning next track and field season, officials no longer will need to interpret the intent of hurdlers who knock over a hurdle by foot during the race. The competitor must attempt to clear the hurdle, but will not be faulted for knocking over the hurdle with his or her foot.
This change to Rule 5-13-2b and 10 other rules were made by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Track and Field and Cross Country Rules Committee at its annual meeting June 14-16 in Indianapolis. The changes subsequently were approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.
The committee changed Rule 5-13-2b language from "deliberately knocks down any hurdle by hand or foot" to simply "knocks down any hurdle by hand." Although the words "deliberately" and "foot" have been removed from the rule, competitors must attempt to clear each hurdle.
"The committee decided to take out the issue of determining whether an athlete knocks the hurdle down deliberately or by mistake," said Becky Oakes, NFHS assistant director and committee liaison. "If the hurdler knocks down one after another after another, then the official can determine that the competitor is not attempting to clear the hurdle. It isn't to a hurdler's advantage to hit and deliberately knock down hurdles."
In both the Boys 110 and 300 meter events, hurdles (and in the 110 finals a Spruce Creek hurdler) were flying everywhere, forcing competitors to jump over and run around misplaced obstacles. More than one observer was heard to remark “that can’t be legal!” What followed were DQs, appeals, and redistributed points.
In the end, Joyce was credited with a 14.35 win in the 110, but was less than successful in the 300.
Asked if the hurdles flying every which way were a distraction, he responded, “I’m used to that because I practice with a guy who hits hurdles. I don’t pay attention; hurdles get hit and fall.”
If that wasn’t enough, Mark was concerned about a teammate.
“My home boy, Eldrick Bright, went to the hospital. They said he couldn’t breathe, or open his eyes. He couldn’t talk.”
Although Mark had only one “bad meet” this year (“I finished third in the 300 at the Spruce Creek Invitational. It was early in the season and I wasn’t in shape.”), he was well aware of his vulnerability.
“I take it (the event) seriously, because Kenlee (Critcher, FPL) almost beat me at the East Coast Classic (Mark ran 14.92, Critcher 15.12), so I wasn’t joking around.”
Perhaps, despite his normally exceptional technique, the distractions did get the better of him.
“I think I got DQed,” he said although being first past the finish-cam. “My hurdle went into someone else’s lane.”
While he and Critcher were (no doubt) worrying about each other, Spruce Creek senior Jonathan Hemingway slipped in between them and won (39.08).
Like the six pound pullover force of a 39 inch hurdle, much can be taken for granted when preparing for a meet. Two athletes found success in the 3200 by reaping the rewards of being rested for their sole race.
Senior distance runner Jason Lust has slowly, but steadily turned back the timers’ clock in his four years at Flagler-Palm Coast High School. He came in to the race with a 10:15.67 personal best (March 12 th Bolles Bulldog Classic). Match that with favorite Spruce Creek’s Greg Frye (10:00.63 at the Holy Trinity Classic on March 26th) and you can see why “Gary the Greek’s Wager Web” had the latter as the odds on favorite.
“My last two races were horrible: 10:30s,” Lust admitted. “I wasn’t too excited about the meet. I thought it would be just another race. I was looking forward to the District, Regional, and hopefully the State (Meets).”
Initially, the lead pack consisted of Andrew Epifanio (Deland), Jordan Tager (New Smyrna Beach), Jason, and Greg. But by the second mile, it was becoming increasingly apparent that the race would be between Lust and Frye, as they steadily slipped further and further into the lead. Jordan opened a gap on Andrew, and Spruce Creek junior Mat Miller chased the four seniors. In the closing sprints, Lust and Frye exchanged small leads several times before Jason just won, 10:08.52 to 10:08.68; .16 second in an eight lap race. On the backstretch of the last lap Tager, seemed to “come back” a tad towards Epifanio and Miller, but found a second wind and knocked nine seconds off his 10:27.65 PR (Lake Brantley on March 6th) for third place; 10:18.61. Mat Miller (10:23.23), who didn’t run the 1600, edged Epifanio (10:23.71) who did (4:42.67; his best so far).
“I’m really glad I could run with Greg. He really helped me,” said Jason.
His next goal? Why breaking ten minutes of course.
“I’ve been after that for the last four years,” sighed Lust. “I’ve been trying and trying. I told myself, when I break ten, I’ll buy myself my favorite stuff: ice cream cake, IBC cream soda and a bunch of Reeses.” (Can you just taste the possibility of an endorsement deal?)
FGCU-bound Chris Rudloff tried the opposite approach: run first, then rest. That evening was the Mainland senior prom, so he chose to skip the 3200—which he won in 2009 with a time of 10:27.28—and concentrate on the 1600.
“It’s my first prom—I didn’t go last year—so I didn’t want to cut it too close.”
The finish of the race was close enough. Running neck and neck for 1599 meters, Greg Frye’s size may have been the difference, as .13 seconds separated his 4:33.54 from Rudloff’s 4:33.67 (two seconds better than Chris’s Lake Brantley PR).
“I thought he’d be with me for most of the race,” explained Frye. “I wanted to stay with him and surprise him at the 500—instead of the 400—and kick it in at the end. I’m pretty sure that I’ve been working out pretty smart, so I’d be fresh coming in to this meet. I really just wanted to win. If I ran a PR (4:30 at the ERAU Invitational) that would have been good, but I wanted to win. (Next) I want to go sub ten in the 3200.”
Rudloff was gracious in light of his second place finish. “He’s (Greg) worked really hard. I was talking to him the other day and I told him that if there was anyone in the area that I’d want to beat me, it was him. He’s a hard worker.”
While the Flagler and Volusia County distance runners are quite familiar with each other, that interplay is a little less common in the throws.
“This is my first season doing the discus,” explained Spruce Creek’s Erin Weinreich. “I played softball—started at third base and played left field—but quit. I felt like I had to join a sport, so I talked to the head coach, and he agreed, let me join.”
“I had her in class,” added Creek coach Stephon Gallon. “I tried her in running….” He paused to smile. “Then, I thought, ‘she played softball,’ so I tried her in the throws. She threw 30’ (shot) in practice without trying.”
That was two weeks prior to the meet. Besides tying the PR of their team’s best thrower and winning the 5 Star Championship in the shot put, she also placed fourth in the discus with an 82 foot throw.
“You know what?” mused Gallon. “You almost don’t want to train her…you don’t want her to think. That 32’4” was, like ‘Wow!’ She really stepped up today. Our best thrower, Melissa Justice, was at a volleyball game.”
Another “natural” in the throws, who—like Erin—has a tall, slim basketball build, is Deland’s Julencia Curtis. After placing second in the shot put (31’3-1/2”; an inch behind Weinreich) she moved into ring number two.
Hillary Albertson of Spruce Creek: “I was winning. I threw 101’.”
Curtis: “I was kind of upset that I threw my first two out of bounds, so I put all my power into the last throw.”
Albertson: “It was the last throw; dramatic. Great stuff.”
Curtis: “The temperature helps me, because I throw better when it’s warmer, and the (tail) wind kind of helped. But my coach, Mr. Pataki, helped me with my technique and I adjusted my spin.”
(So, in summary: Last throw + power + temperature + wind + technique = a new spin. Result?)
Albertson: “…she threw 107’”
Curtis: “It was a good day.”
Where to now?
Curtis: “I usually do the high jump—they’re at the same time—and it’s all the way over there (pointing to the opposite end of the track)…I think they’re done.
What if they’re still jumping?
Curtis: “I’ve got basketball practice later.”
While some winners were inexperienced, many others were both young and inexperienced. If you added up all the points that freshmen girls earned, they would have scored 91 points, and that was without relays (and sprint events is where they showed some of the most productivity).”
Leading the way, with wins in the 200 (26.94), high jump (5’0”), triple jump (33’1”), and long jump (15’11”), were, respectively, Deltona’s Briana Young, Spruce Creek’s Allison Lampert and Rachel Wofford, and Deland’s Erin Graham.
Young Young (Briana’s 15) finds her biggest challenge is the many heats she has to compete in to advance.
“The most difficult thing was running it (the preliminaries), and then running it again (the finals), because you have barely enough time to catch your breath,” said a deceptively rested Briana.
Her best race, at this point, is probably the 200.
“I got lane four. When I got to the “Home of the Wolves” sign (painted on the football press box, about 50 meters from the finish line), I knew I had the lead and just had to keep it (home wolf advantage).”
Briana also placed third in the 100 (13.33), which was won by sophomore Valerie Wiggin in 13.23; the former was also a member of Deltona’s winning 4X100 relay team (50.22).
Melissa Roberts, although not a freshman, was introduced to a new event—the 300--at the start of the season. By the last hurdle of the 300 finals, she found herself dead even with a Deland senior Rochelle Chavers—and in contention for a conference title.
“I didn’t do the 300 last year, but I’ve been getting better and better, so it’s exciting,” she said.
Running both hurdle events, Chavers twice found herself virtually tied with a Spruce Creek girl coming off the last hurdle. In the 100 meter event, she ran the exact same time—16.81—as in the preliminaries, but came in second to Amanda Maholias (16.64). In the 300 it was almost as close.
“I was still trying to beat her at the last hurdle,” explained Roberts. “We were neck and neck. I guess it was all heart.”
And perhaps heart breaking for Chavers, as it was her last conference meet. However, when she initiated a congratulatory finish line embrace with Roberts, Rochelle proved she was second to none in class. The final times were: Melissa Roberts 48.95, Rochelle Chavers 49.12.
Toni Brown, a 16 year old sophomore running for Flagler is, like Roberts, “learning” her event, the 800. As luck would have it, she too drew one of the toughest competitors in the conference: Spruce Creek’s Zoe Volenec.
“This is my first year,” she said. “I thought I could win it. I knew my only competition was Zoe and I beat her in the 4X800; we ran the first leg-both of us. I passed her in the second lap.”
Brown’s Flagler team mates extended her lead to win the 4X8 (10:04.14), with Creek finishing second (10:35.79). And that’s precisely what she did this time too, winning in 2:27.03. Volenec picked up the second (2:30.94) of what would be three second place finishes on the day (she ran 5:33.36 behind Danielle Hagins [5:30.14] in the 1600).
Flagler’s Boys swept the 200 (Corey Shelling in 21.76, Tyler Cue in 21.77, and Gilbert Absolu in 21.79), the 400 (Yeovanti Williams in 50.49, Cyril Stubbs in 52.43, and Mike Hyman in 53.09), the 4X100, the 4X400, and the 4X800. (They just missed also doing so in the 100, taking first (Tyler Cue in 11.06), third (Corey Shelling in 11.08) and fourth (Gilbert Absolu in 14). By the end of the meet’s last event, the 4X400, they were breathing just hard enough for an overweight, sixty year old former distance runner to trap them behind the coach’s corral. There, with no hope for another victory (but only because they had exceeded the participation limits), I asked them the questions that are no doubt on the mind of everyone witnessing their spectacular day:
Question: What is the hardest thing about track?
Corey: Competing with each other every day at practice.
Question: Who’s the toughest guy you have to face on the track?
Tyler: I’d have to say Corey.
Question: Who can you count on to make up the best excuse to cut an interval (repeat) workout short?
Gilbert: Corey again; he’s full of excuses.
Question: Who’s the first one to fall asleep on the bus during the trip home?
Cyril: Yeovanti Jacques Jamaal Williams...but don’t tell him who gave you his full name.
Oops.
GIRLS TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP Placing in all 17 events, most multiple times, Spruce Creek won with a whopping 242.5 points. Next closest was Deland (147.5), then Flagler with 98. Right behind them, with 91, was the all-freshmen team…only kidding about that last one. Hmmm, I wonder if there is a possibility of holding an all-class meet? We could name it the “Class Classic (copyrighted 2010 by Ralph Epifanio).
BOYS TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP Like the Spruce Creek girls, the FPC Boys team was deep; very, very deep. They failed to score in only two events, the discus and the triple jump, and their total was 180.5 points. Spruce Creek was second with 149, and host school, Deltona, was third with 78.
ALSO CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE MEET BY RALPH EPIFANIO