Track news for the week of March 22

Meet #2 recap

I hope everyone enjoyed the hospitality at Ygnacio Valley this week -- and the shorter drive. I appreciate all the help from our volunteers, and YVH appreciates your support of their students. If you hired a helper for your family, your fees will be deposited this week and credit should be given to you for the shifts.

It may be hard to believe, but Saturday's meet marked the halfway point of our season. We have two more practice meets left with a special relay meet in the middle. That takes us to the end of April, and the start of the championships in the form of the Qualifying meet.

Meet #3, Saturday March 28, Ygnacio Valley High

But first, we have another practice meet to look forward to. We're back again at YVH this week, though running with different teams. The league tries to rotate all the teams around during the season so the athletes get a chance to meet and compete with the various parishes in Section 1.

On Saturday, we're co-hosting with St. Mary's, and running with St. Francis and Queen of All Saints.

Meet times at YVH are the same:

• Setup at 8:30, done quietly
• First shift starts 9:00 when the gates open
  
• First event at 9:30
  

At meet #3, the boys will run their 50m/100m on the "away" side of the track.

Hiring a YVH student for meet #3

Please alert Gina and me if you wish to hire a YVH student to help your family earn credit during the next meet. You may hire a student to cover your shift(s) at the low, low rate of $25 per shift.

Pay me at practice by handing me an envelope with your name on it and the meet (meet #3) to reserve a student. Checks made out to CTK CYO Track

You must get this to me by Thursday at the latest: we have to get our numbers to YVH so they can find a helper to give up their Saturday for you. Emailing Friday night is too late.

Practice Tuesday and Thursday as usual

PH Middle on Tuesday, College Park on Thursday, 5:00-6:30 both days.

Make sure your athletes are coming to practice well-fed and watered. As we get into warm spring weather and longer runs, we want to keep all the athletes safe and healthy.

Results and awards

Results from meet #1 are online again at Athletic.net after some technical hiccups. Ribbons from that meet are in the sorter's hands, and I anticipate them showing up at practice this week.

Results from the most recent meet will be out soon, with ribbons to follow after that for place and any personal bests set.

Please keep in mind that all the marks are hand-timed and hand-measured by you, our fabulous volunteers. The quality of the results lies literally in your hands. No pressure!

There are some rough spots as we all learn the mechanics of timely button-pushing, tape-reading, and popsicle-stick-dispensing. The key goal is fun for the athletes, not a drawer full of ribbons. Keep perspective, and enjoy the meets.

Uniforms, "spikes" and surplus

A few people still need to pick up paid-for uniforms and/or sweatshirts. I've emailed those that remain, and I'll have them at Tuesday practice for you to claim.

We have extras for sale, too. Maybe a spare for your athlete, or a sweatshirt, or even something for yourself? A few parents have already purchased our spiffy new uniform shirts, which is a testament to Coach Trish's excellent designs and your fine fashion sense.

• Shirts are $15 each, and need to be kept to your parish assignment to minimize confusion
• Sweatshirts are $35 each and are parish-neutral

Supplies are limited to stock on-hand: I have more CTK shirts, some St. Catherine's, and a few St. Stephen's shirts.

I also have a few pairs of loaner "spikes" (track shoes) in a bin that athletes are free to borrow and return at the end of the season. Donations of gently-used and outgrown track shoes are welcome, too.

I carry extras of the metal spikes, and the tool used to remove them or tighten them down.

Looking ahead

• Practice Tuesday at PH Middle: uniform pickups/sales
• Practice Thursday at College Park: last day to reserve a YVH student for meet #3
• Meet #3 on Saturday March 28, YVH
• No practice Thursday, April 2
• No meet April 4-5: Happy Easter!

Easter is approaching fast, and CYO takes the weekend off. There are no activities starting the Thursday before Easter and through that weekend. Spring break for area schools starts that week, so I know we'll not see many of you for a few days.

Signup changes afoot

My family joined up with CYO way back in the dark ages, when registration was done on clay tablets and we started races by banging two rocks together. Mercifully, times have changed.

What has not changed is the way we handle volunteer signups: those big pieces of paper and spreadsheets and lots and lots and lots of emails. (Little known fact: ancient spreadsheets have been found buried under the pyramids.) Even CYO can break free of tradition now and again, though.

We're looking to move to "Signup Genius" to handle our volunteer shift management for the post-Easter meets.

Here's the web site, if you're not familiar with it:

http://signupgenius.com

We're in the setup process now, but are not ready yet. I'll send an email when we have our meets in and are ready for signups. I hope to be organized in time for the relay meet, and set up for the remainder of the season.