CYO Track - Frequently Asked Questions

Q - How old is CYO Track?

A - It is estimated that CYO Track has been around since the late 1960's - so CYO Track is somewhere near its 50th anniversary!

Q - Why aren't spikes allowed at CYO Track Meets?

A - Spikes for runners (or shoes designed for spikes) and cleats for field event participants have never been allowed at CYO Track Meets. We do not want any of our athletes to feel disadvantaged because another participant is wearing something (e.g. spikes) that could give that person an "edge" over another. By not allowing spikes for runners or cleats for field event participants, we can "keep the playing field level" for all the athletes that compete in CYO Track.

Spikes and cleats definitely provide an advantage to the participant who is wearing them. There continues to be no overwhelming reason to allow spikes for just the few who can afford them to the detriment of the rest of the participants in CYO Track.

Q - Why isn't the CYO City Championship Meet held at Fairfield Stadium where we can take advantage of their sophisticated scoreboard?

A - The simple answer is that it is not available to us at the time of the year when we hold the CYO City Championship Meet. The Fairfield Stadium (and other stadiums in the area with sophisticated scoreboards and track & field facilities) are usually already booked at the end of the year for high school league and regional track meets. Secondly, facilities like these often charge organizations (like CYO) a fee (sometimes up to $500/weekend) for the use of their site. We (CYO) do not have budget funds for fees like these. We have been fortunate for the last four years to have access to the stadium and facilities at Northwest High School at no charge to CYO.

Q - Why are ribbons given to 2nd and 3rd place finishers at the CYO City Championship Meet in grades 5 through 8? Why not medals like at the invitational meets?

A - The simple answer is that it is too costly but this requires further explanation. Unlike the invitational meets where all the teams compete together in each grade level, at the CYO City Championship Meet the teams are divided between Division I and II. This means that at the CYO CIty Championship Meet for grades 5/6 and grades 7/8 we are conducting, in fact, 8 separate track meets:

Division I - Girls 5th/6th	Division II - Girls 5th/6th
Division I - Boys 5th/6th	Division II - Boys 5th/6th
Division I - Girls 7th/8th	Division II - Girls 7th/8th
Division I - Boys 7th/8th	Division II - Boys 7th/8th

At the CYO City Championship Meet we award twice as many individual awards than any invitational meet - AND - we also award 1st, 2nd and 3rd place team trophies for each of these 8 separate track meets (team trophies are no longer awarded at the invitational meets). It would cost CYO an additional $900 to present medals to the 2nd and 3rd place finishers.

Q - How are teams divided between Division I and Division II for the CYO City Championship Meet?

A - Starting in 2005, CYO Track changed the process for aligning teams from the Large School/Small School designations to Division I/Division II. Under the Large School/Small School process team alignments were based solely on school size. Prior to 2005, other CYO programs (football, basketball, volleyball) had transitioned away from the Large School/Small School process in favor of the Division I/Division II process where multiple factors are considered (strength of teams in a program, numbers of participants/teams, team dominance in a sport, and school size). The determination of which division that a school/parish track program is placed is the joint responsibility of the CYO Director and the CYO Track Commissioner. This determination is reviewed each year and teams have the right to appeal their alignment.

Q - How is the CYO Track Meet Schedule determined?

A - Generally, the CYO Track Meet Season starts on the last weekend in March and runs through the third weekend in May - this affords us 7 weekends on which to hold track meets (8 weekend minus the Easter weekend when no meets are scheduled). The CYO City Championship Meet is always the last meet of the season and it is held on the third weekend in May. The process for filling in meets for the other 6 weekends is a "joint adventure" during which the teams that are interested in holding a meet work together to determine which meets are held on which weekends. A major factor in this process is the date(s) when track sites are available to a team. While any team is eligible to hold a track meet, teams who have held meets in the past are favored for inclusion into a season's meet schedule. For the past four years we have begun the process of determining the next season's track meet schedule at the Off-Season CYO Track Coaches meeting held in early November.

Q - Why are non-CYO teams allowed to participate in invitational meets sponsored by CYO teams?

A - While the invitational meets subscribe to and follow the CYO Track Rules for their meet, they are not restricted to just CYO Team participants. The only meet in the CYO Track Meet Schedule that is limited to only CYO sanctioned teams is the CYO City Championship Meet. The decision to allow or not allow non-CYO teams to compete in an invitational meet is the responsibility of the meet director for each invitational meet. Some reasons for allowing non-CYO teams to participate in invitational meets are the promotion of community/Christian friendliness, the increased level of competition that some of the non-CYO teams bring to a meet, the increased revenues that the addition of non-CYO teams afford a meet, and the success of our invitational meets (i.e. teams want to participate in CYO Track meets).

Q - Why aren't track meets called off when the weather forecast may call for threatening conditions?

A - Since all of our meets are now run on "all-weather" surfaces, the only conditions that would warrant the cancellation of a track meet are severe winds, lightning, or extreme heat/cold. It is the responsibility of the meet director and the official starter for a meet to "make the call" about cancelling/postponing a meet or going ahead with a meet. The conditions that may affect this decision are generally not clear beforehand and often this information is not available until the meet director and official starter are at the meet location right before the scheduled start time for a meet. Unfortunately this may mean that some people may be enroute to a meet or actually at the meet location when the decision to cancel/postpone a meet is made.

Some other thoughts to consider. If it is raining moderately or even snowing lightly, a track meet can be run on an all-weather surface as long as the runners are not placed in a dangerous situation. The situations concerning extreme cold or extreme heat are more clearly determinable and as such may warrant the early cancellation/postponement of a meet. However, the presence of extreme conditions during the early afternoon before a Friday night meet may not warrant the cancellation of a meet - these conditions may clear up by meet time. All of us who have lived in CIncinnati know the cliche "if you don't like the weather in Cincinnati, just wait five miuntes - it will change". Also, the threat of heavy rains or rains with high winds and/or lightning for the Greater Cincinnat area may or may not be present at the site of a track meet. We all are aware of situations when the weather conditions are frightening in Loveland but nothing is happening around Oak Hills. Since many weather conditions are fast moving, it may also be that a delay of 30-60 minutes will allow a meet to continue after they pass. In the case of lightning the procedures are more clear - a meet is supposed to be suspended for 30 minutes after the latest lightning strike is seen.

Q - Why is the official start date for CYO Track practice always the first Monday in March?

A - According to the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) the official start date for junior high school teams in Ohio is identified as the first Monday in March. CYO Track follows this guideline.

Q- Why are athletes allowed to participate in only three events at a track meet?

A - " Per the Ohio High School Athletic Association for grades 7 & 8 : In any one track and field contest , a participant may compete in a maximum of 3 events . The events may be any combination of track and field events including relays , or may be 3 track events or 3 field events . Participation limitation Penalty : An athlete who exceeds the participation limitation becomes an ineligible athlete . Per Federation Rules Penalty : All individual points , team points and places earned by that competitor exceeding limits in the meet shall be forfeited and the competitor disqualified from further competition in that meet." CYO adheres to the three event limitation rule for all athletes in all grades in CYO Track.          

Q - Is anything being done to make CYO Track Meets run quicker?

A - I wish I could say that we have identified one or two things that would instantly speed up our track meets. Unfortunately we have not identified any one thing that will make our track meets run quicker. At our coaches meetings this is usually the prime topic being discussed. We are well aware that the delays and slow running times of our meets is a problem - for our kids, for our parents and for our fans in the stands. Some factors have been identified that contribute to this problem - increasing numbers of teams and participants at our meets, slow-downs while staging relay races, problems in the timing of races and problems in compiling event and meet statistics. Some of these situations can be improved by more experienced workers at our meets (e.g. developing experienced timers and compilation workers, using experienced timers and compilation workers from meet to meet, etc.). Others may be improved by educating our coaches, athletes and parents in expected behaviors at a track meet (e.g listening for your race to be called, paying attention in the staging areas, having stickers filled out correctly, etc.). Please be assured that with everybody's help, we (CYO and CYO Track Coaches) will try to "speed up" our meets this year