The 6th Annual Jimmy Carnes Indoor Track and Field Meet is gearing up for 1,500 plus participants this year in the O'Connell Center on January 26 and 27, 2013. This year has seen some significant changes to the competition schedule after listening to comments from the athletes, coaches and fans from previous years. “We hope these changes will help with the flow of events and competition," said Meet Director, Larry Holsey.
The primary difference between this and last year's event will be to the Saturday schedule. Age groups 0-14 will compete on the track in the following order in the first session: 4 x 200m relay, 4 x 800m, 55m dash, 1mile run, 400m dash, 800m, 200m dash, 3000m, and 4 x 400m while the 15-18 year old age groups will compete in the three field events: long jump, shot put and pole vault. In the second session, age groups 0-14 will compete in the long jump, and shot put and the 15-18 year age groups compete in the 4 x 200m relay, 4 x 800m, 55m dash, 400m dash, 800m, 200m dash, 3000m, and 4 x 400m.
"Most of our participants are from the older age groups and the new schedule will create more flexibility for the athletes. It will also shorten the schedule for each of the two sessions," said Holsey. "We feel this will give the athletes, coaches and fans something similar to a typical track meet schedule."
The Rising Star competition has been removed from the schedule and the two distance events, the 1mile and 3000m have been split over two days. The hurdles will also be featured on the second day. "The organizing committee felt that the splitting of the two events would give the distance athletes and the hurdlers the opportunity to run in front of the college coaches on Sunday," said Holsey. “The Rising Star declaration process caused some confusion and left the fields small on the second day. We felt this would be the best resolution to the problem."
The College and Open competition will remain unchanged. The meet again will offer one of the only opportunities in the southeast for a pentathletes and heptathletes to compete and only the second indoor meet in Florida on the indoor track and field meet schedule.
"The meet has been well attended by the state schools and Florida track community throughout the 5 years of the event,"said Holsey. “We are hoping to see some great performances on the college side and possibly some past Olympians participate." Past participants have included Kellie Wells, 2012 Olympic bronze medalist 100m hurdles; Justin Gatlin, 2012 Olympic bronze medalist 100m, 2012 World Indoor Champion, 60m and David Oliver, 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, 110m hurdles.
All entries for youth (ages 0-18) are to be completed online at www.coacho.com. All entries for open and collegiate are to be completed online at www.directathletics.com between Saturday December 15, 2012 - January 21, 2013. Entries will close for online registration at 11:59pm on January 21, 2013. Entry times and distances will be used to seed the events by age group for Saturday and Sunday's youth events. College and open events will be seeded by entry times and distances. Medals will be awarded for the top 3 places in each of the following age groups according to final results: 0-6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13- 14, 15-16, 17-18, 19-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70+
"Offering track and field meets to the masses was one of Jimmy Carnes's visions," said Holsey. "Two years ago prior to succumbing to his bout with cancer, he sat on the infield watching and enjoying the athletes participate and visiting with longtime friends and fans. We hope to continue his legacy."
An expanded vendor area will be added to accommodate the official photographer, Amazing Sports Photos and other vendors as well as the award area pick-up. Vendors interested in a sponsorship booth should contact Joleen Cacciatore at (352) 338-9300 ~ jcacciatore@gainesvillesportscommission.com for more information.
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