Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / BONUS: New Jersey State Meet featuring Tim Cook from Ocean City HS

Transcript

BONUS: New Jersey State Meet featuring Tim Cook from Ocean City HS · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

• 0:00
  It's bonus time here on the Gill Connections podcast.
• 0:03
  In an effort to increase communication, empathy and
• 0:06
  understanding around the country, we're going to be
• 0:08
  running a new episode every day interviewing a coach, a high
• 0:12
  school coach from every state, and yes, even you, Washington,
• 0:16
  DC with explaining how the state qualifying system works in their
• 0:21
  state. We'll be talking with a local
• 0:23
  state expert on how many classes, private versus public
• 0:27
  schools, what events and what is the process?
• 0:30
  Is it areas, districts, regionals, state meet?
• 0:34
  Is it a descending order list? Are there fun things that you do
• 0:38
  a little differently? Like maybe you, I don't know,
• 0:41
  maybe you do double points for relays looking at you Texas.
• 0:45
  And then we're also going to get to the bottom of is it the state
• 0:48
  meet or do you qualify for states?
• 0:50
  So check us out every day here in April and May of 2024 as we
• 0:54
  run through each state with a local state expert.
• 0:57
  So let's get started right now. All right, here we go.
• 1:10
  We are back motoring on through the country as we visit all 51
• 1:15
  state meets. That includes you, Washington,
• 1:17
  DC We're including you in there. And today we're going to the
• 1:20
  Northeast. Super excited about this one.
• 1:22
  This is a long history and tradition of great track and
• 1:24
  field. So I'm excited to learn more
• 1:26
  about their outdoor State Meet series.
• 1:28
  Help me welcome from Ocean City High School.
• 1:30
  Mr. Tim Cook. Tim, how are you Sir?
• 1:32
  Doing very well. How you doing, Mike?
• 1:33
  I'm doing awesome, man. Excited to learn about New
• 1:36
  Jersey today. This one I know a little bit
• 1:39
  about. So I'm I'm excited to know your
• 1:41
  side and get the full everything that I don't know here and thank
• 1:45
  you. You know first of all let me say
• 1:46
  just thankful. Grateful for you stepping up and
• 1:48
  representing the state of New Jersey here as we go through you
• 1:51
  know 51 different state meets here.
• 1:54
  It's not easy to say, hey, I'll represent the whole state you're
• 1:57
  you're putting yourself out there.
• 1:58
  So I'm just grateful for you to you're stepping up in your
• 2:00
  leadership here today. Yeah, no, no problem.
• 2:02
  I probably wouldn't be the first draft pick out of New Jersey,
• 2:05
  but I didn't mind stepping up. You know, if you need me.
• 2:07
  So I don't. It's all good.
• 2:08
  I do. We need you.
• 2:09
  We all need you. That's exactly right.
• 2:10
  Well, why don't we start, Tim? Well, give us a kind of a 32nd,
• 2:13
  30,000 foot level introduction of yourself.
• 2:15
  You know, maybe how long you've coached in the state, maybe some
• 2:18
  accolades. Give us some St. cred for you
• 2:20
  here for New Jersey. Sure.
• 2:22
  So I started coaching 2009. I was helping out, actually my
• 2:25
  alma mater. I went to Glassboro High School
• 2:27
  growing up, helped there. Lucky enough, we won the state
• 2:31
  title that year. So I was kind of my intro into
• 2:32
  coaching, which is great. That was one of the loaded teams
• 2:35
  down in Group one, which we'll talk about and then.
• 2:38
  I got hired down here in Ocean City, so then I started coaching
• 2:41
  here in 2011, so I had like a one year gap and then started
• 2:45
  out as a volunteer assistant. Boys and girls on both sides
• 2:49
  kind of. I'm a jump specific guy
• 2:50
  originally, so I helped on both ends.
• 2:52
  Then the next year they got me stipend position on the boys
• 2:56
  side, so I was a boys assistant for a year and then they tossed
• 2:59
  me to the girls side. So then I was a girls assistant.
• 3:01
  I did that for 7:00-ish years or so and then ended up taking over
• 3:05
  the program on the girls side. And then also recently to go to
• 3:09
  the cross country program. So I've kind of sat in every
• 3:12
  seat in our program, so I kind of see it from all ends, which
• 3:14
  is nice. You know, we're pretty
• 3:16
  successful down here Luckily where it is, it's a running
• 3:18
  community. So there's always involvement.
• 3:20
  There's always kids, you know, our numbers are always high.
• 3:22
  We're always 75 to 80 girls in the in the springtime the boys
• 3:26
  are 5060. So luckily we have the interest
• 3:30
  that also makes it, you know, easy enough.
• 3:32
  And then we've had a nice string of things lately.
• 3:35
  We've had four to five state champs in the past two years 2
• 3:38
  all Americans new champ winner. We have a girl who's doing a
• 3:42
  multi Cornell this year we have a girl this year that just
• 3:45
  committed to Virginia Tech so we're starting to we're we're
• 3:48
  rolling pretty well which is nice.
• 3:50
  The competition's so good that I think everyone steps up and
• 3:53
  knows they got to be on their game if they really want to
• 3:55
  succeed. So I mean, it helps.
• 3:56
  I mean it's a great coaching community in New Jersey, so
• 3:59
  everybody is friends and everybody loves to see each
• 4:01
  other so. We all conference each other to
• 4:03
  do our best. That's awesome.
• 4:04
  Love to hear that, man. I appreciate what you do as a
• 4:06
  high school track and field coach, man.
• 4:08
  What you do is immeasurable. The positive impact you make on
• 4:10
  young people. So really grateful for you and
• 4:12
  the rest of our coaches there in New Jersey.
• 4:14
  All right, let's get into it. Let's Start learning a little
• 4:16
  bit here. Some states we're learning.
• 4:17
  Not many have a separate path for private schools and a
• 4:21
  separate path for public schools.
• 4:23
  They compete on their own state meets.
• 4:25
  Most are combined. What are we doing there in
• 4:28
  Jersey? So the jersey we have four
• 4:30
  public school groups, groups 123 and four, and then we have
• 4:33
  actually 2 parochial groups for all the private schools.
• 4:37
  So they don't actually converge until me, the Champions.
• 4:39
  So they stay on their separate lanes all the way through.
• 4:42
  OK. Well, that leads us right into
• 4:43
  our next question. So this will be one of our
• 4:45
  separate ones here. So how many classes?
• 4:47
  And So what I heard you say is for public schools in New
• 4:51
  Jersey, we have four classes, 1234, is that what we call you
• 4:54
  call them group, Group One, group two group.
• 4:55
  Three group four, yeah, based off enrollment in, which is
• 4:59
  Group One, big schools or small schools.
• 5:01
  Small one, small schools, up to four, which is the largest, Got
• 5:06
  it? And then two parochials and so
• 5:08
  parochial. So our private schools, they're
• 5:10
  totally separate and they have two classes and so I'm assuming
• 5:15
  Group One is small as well still.
• 5:18
  So you'll laugh, but just to make it complicated, Jersey goes
• 5:20
  A&B for parochial for whatever instead of one and two.
• 5:23
  But same thing with enrollment. A is the small and B is the big.
• 5:29
  Got it. OK.
• 5:30
  I knew there was going to be something.
• 5:31
  I was like he's going to tell me it's flipped the the, the one is
• 5:33
  big and whatever. OK, All right.
• 5:35
  So public schools, group 123 and four and parochial A&B.
• 5:40
  All right. So let's talk about the state
• 5:43
  meet how, what's the first round?
• 5:47
  You know, all across the country, we call it regional
• 5:49
  sectionals, divisionals, areas, all these different type of
• 5:51
  meats. What's our first round in New
• 5:53
  Jersey? We'll be sectionals.
• 5:55
  So we're Jersey split into N 1, N 2 Central and South, which is
• 6:03
  a little confusing. And then so those are the
• 6:04
  sectional breakdowns. So you have N sectional Group 1,
• 6:10
  N Group 4, two and three, you know, Central 1234, S 1234.
• 6:16
  But yeah, North has broken into a top and a bottom.
• 6:18
  I mean, they're a little bigger, a little more populous, so.
• 6:21
  And then to make it confusing again, parochials don't have
• 6:24
  sectionals. They just go right to states.
• 6:26
  OK, all right. So we're just talking about
• 6:28
  public schools here in sectionals to start.
• 6:30
  All right, so tell me about sectionals.
• 6:32
  How do I enter my kids there? Do I get 2 per event?
• 6:36
  Is there a time qualifier? What do I do to actually start
• 6:39
  setting up that sectional meet? So we have you can do up to
• 6:42
  three per event. So we usually, you know our team
• 6:45
  will go top three. We look at it that way.
• 6:48
  There's no marks or qualifying standards.
• 6:50
  They might give it out there for shot put or for highs up, you
• 6:53
  know. Here's a minimum height minimum
• 6:54
  thing that obviously they should have qualified or being able to
• 6:56
  clear, but just each C matters are top three for each event.
• 7:01
  So if I've got 4 stud quarter milers, my 4th one has to figure
• 7:05
  out the 200 or the OR the 800 or just relay or or whatnot that
• 7:09
  can only do 3. It turns into a little bit of a
• 7:12
  chess match, you know, trying to see how to happen for my pieces
• 7:15
  and and then each kid can enter up to four events individually.
• 7:20
  So you can take the kid, maybe your stud, your 4th stud, 400
• 7:23
  runners and the relay and the 200, and the other guys are the
• 7:25
  400 and the four by 4. You know, however you want to
• 7:28
  miss it four events, and that includes field events.
• 7:31
  As well, Yeah. All right.
• 7:33
  So I got three per event in the sectional meet.
• 7:36
  What's What's the next round and what qualifies to the next
• 7:39
  round? So after that I would go to the
• 7:42
  state meet and you need to place top six in your event to qualify
• 7:45
  for the New Jersey State meet. Say that again, Top 5.
• 7:50
  Top, Top 6, Top six, sorry. Yep, got me.
• 7:53
  Caught me writing some notes there.
• 7:54
  All right, so top six, I have all those different sectionals,
• 7:57
  so top six, that gives me 24 per event.
• 8:00
  That goes to the state meet per group.
• 8:03
  And there is no time qualifier, so there's no if.
• 8:07
  If I'm at sectionals and I hit a certain time, I get to go to
• 8:09
  state. It is if I finish 7th.
• 8:11
  I'm staying home in that event. That's what it is, yeah.
• 8:14
  And then anybody that ties, they take ties up to.
• 8:17
  So any ties will pay, so high jump naturally.
• 8:19
  A couple other events will tie and move up.
• 8:21
  They'll give them all which it's inclusive enough, you know.
• 8:24
  Yeah, perfect. So top six are going on to
• 8:26
  state, you had mentioned our parochial schools, which has a
• 8:30
  group A&A, Group B. They don't do sectionals, they
• 8:32
  go straight to the state meet. How does that?
• 8:35
  How does that work? Yeah, same idea.
• 8:37
  So they'll have their enter enter into the meet, you know,
• 8:41
  3% and then they just run state meet that way.
• 8:44
  OK, so so they're having a separate state meet.
• 8:48
  And that's that's important because we're going to talk
• 8:50
  about what happens after state here in a second.
• 8:51
  But they have a separate so there's a so in the public
• 8:54
  schools they go through sectionals in a state meet and
• 8:57
  there are four teams that win a state title, Group 1234, boys
• 9:00
  and there are four girls teams that win a state title, Group
• 9:05
  1234. And then parochials, they have
• 9:06
  their own separate state meet, which means there's 2A Group A
• 9:10
  Group B boys teams that win a state title, and two girls Group
• 9:14
  A Group B that win a state team title.
• 9:17
  Yes. And then they're at the, they're
• 9:20
  at the same site. So the way we split it up, it
• 9:22
  might be the state meet might be groups two and three and
• 9:26
  parochial A and then it would be groups one and four parochial B.
• 9:30
  So the parochials will be at the same site, obviously competing
• 9:33
  amongst themselves. OK, the same weekend and same
• 9:38
  venue. Yeah, same venue, same weekend.
• 9:40
  So at for example, we'll be group, you know we're Group 3 in
• 9:43
  Ocean City, we get to the state meet, you have the group 2 state
• 9:47
  meet, Group 3 state meet, and then one of the parochials all
• 9:50
  at the same time competing at the same site, same day, same
• 9:53
  matter. So we're watching parochials
• 9:54
  compete, we're watching Group 2 compete, but then they're
• 9:56
  obviously we're not scoring against them.
• 9:59
  So what what about? You mentioned that was Group 3,
• 10:00
  two and parochial A. What about Group One and four
• 10:03
  and parochial B? So.
• 10:05
  They'll be at a separate site. OK, so we do we have two sites
• 10:09
  for all these state meets. Got it.
• 10:11
  OK, talk to us about those sites.
• 10:12
  Are they typically the same sites every year?
• 10:15
  Is it a college facility, high school facility?
• 10:17
  And how many days is the meet? So we'll be at a high school
• 10:20
  facility. You know, it tends to rotate
• 10:22
  every so many years. Usually a school will say, oh,
• 10:24
  we'll do it for four or five years.
• 10:26
  And then what happens too, when schools are switching groups
• 10:29
  depend on enrollment. Somebody, for example, we were
• 10:32
  at Pennsauken and then they dropped.
• 10:34
  If they were in three, then move it to four now.
• 10:36
  Now they're the host site for one and four.
• 10:38
  So now we need a new site for two and three, but typically
• 10:41
  it's two days. So they'll split up the events
• 10:44
  amongst them which is and and that'll change year to year of
• 10:46
  of what events go when and where.
• 10:48
  A lot of times they'll switch up.
• 10:50
  You know the two mile, one year was the first event on the
• 10:53
  second day and then the year before is the last event on the
• 10:56
  first day. So they're trying to look at for
• 10:58
  the athletes what's ideal for them, because typically if
• 11:00
  you're gonna have a kid running the mile, the two mile and maybe
• 11:02
  the four by 8. But then if you put you know
• 11:05
  which ones you're going to pair together because you only have
• 11:06
  two days and different events, so.
• 11:08
  So you don't have a set order of events for your state meet.
• 11:12
  It can change from year to year based on the entries and who's
• 11:15
  doubling and who's tripling and all that kind of stuff.
• 11:18
  Yeah, so it'll be, for the most part, the structure is the same,
• 11:20
  but then they'll have an end of season meeting, coaches are
• 11:23
  invited and kind of give their opinions and then they decide,
• 11:25
  OK, what's best moving forward for the next year or so.
• 11:29
  Just like anything, you're going to have people with different
• 11:31
  opinions and some people win, some people lose with it.
• 11:34
  I know weather was concerned to be in a few years, it was so hot
• 11:37
  that they thought two mile Saturday morning is better than
• 11:41
  two mile Friday at 5:00 kind of thing.
• 11:43
  So they try to take everything into consideration but.
• 11:47
  It's a little bit of a, you know, shoot and see if it goes
• 11:48
  in. You know what I mean?
• 11:49
  See if it works. Yeah.
• 11:50
  On one hand, I kind of like that because it's like, oh, we're
• 11:52
  going to do what's best to help the kids do the double s and
• 11:54
  triples and things like that. On the other hand, it's like,
• 11:56
  oh, well, you will never satisfy everybody.
• 11:57
  So you're just going to tick off someone, someone their double is
• 12:00
  not doable now because of this or so, you know, that's that's a
• 12:05
  that's a gamble. That's good.
• 12:07
  I like. That you know this pad.
• 12:08
  The problem is this past year, so we're always like a Friday,
• 12:11
  Saturday this past year with the weather, it went to one day
• 12:15
  because we had a rain out. So then that became, that was a
• 12:17
  little bit controversial just because now you're talking all
• 12:20
  the events in one day. I mean somebody you have a stud
• 12:22
  distance state, they're not going to triple or maybe they
• 12:25
  are but where are you going to, you know where now it's even
• 12:27
  more of a Test match. You know where am I going to
• 12:28
  score points, how am I going to divvy up who's deep enough to be
• 12:32
  able to spread out. So it definitely changed the, it
• 12:36
  was an interesting last last state meet but I mean you know
• 12:40
  people got to compete so they'll step up, they'll do what they
• 12:42
  have to do. That's right.
• 12:45
  But it was a little tough, you know.
• 12:46
  So I love this. So we have sectionals and then
• 12:48
  we go to the state meet and we have two venues for, so call it
• 12:52
  two state meets, but there's actually 12 going on. 6 per boy
• 12:56
  is 6 per girls, but we're doing 2 venues on the same weekend,
• 13:00
  correct. All right.
• 13:01
  So, so we have the state meet and it's a it's a great state
• 13:04
  meet and we get earn all these state team titles and state
• 13:08
  individual titles. And then in Jersey, we're just
• 13:11
  done, right? We go into summer track, right?
• 13:14
  No MOC, the good open MOC. So now this is where the
• 13:19
  question came up for everybody of is there an official or
• 13:22
  unofficial meet of champions? Cuz I'm doing some don't, but
• 13:25
  Jersey has a long tradition of the meet of champions.
• 13:28
  So tell us about this. We have the state meet, and then
• 13:30
  what happens? Yep, so going from the state
• 13:33
  meet, we have to be the Champions.
• 13:35
  Usually the week of or the next week.
• 13:37
  You need to be top two in your event.
• 13:40
  And then they will take wild card, so it'll take the next
• 13:43
  best 18 amongst everybody, doesn't matter what site you're
• 13:47
  at, so the next best 18 in that event after your top two.
• 13:51
  So then you're kind of competing because again you'll have, I'm
• 13:53
  sure with many states you'll have somebody in a different
• 13:56
  group might perform better but place 6th, but then somebody get
• 14:00
  in 3rd place in another one or second and then the difference
• 14:02
  is so again, they're trying to get everybody that deserves to
• 14:05
  be with me, the Champs there, which is great.
• 14:08
  So it's been, I mean, it's great.
• 14:09
  It's it's it's so much fun to watch all that competition and
• 14:12
  and see who steps up and what surprises happened and all the
• 14:16
  coaches love it. It is a good time.
• 14:17
  It's a lot of fun. So top two in each event.
• 14:20
  So that means we have 4-6, we have 6, so 12 athletes per event
• 14:25
  are auto qualifying and then we're going down.
• 14:29
  Now we're putting everybody, all, everybody's results
• 14:31
  together in that event and we're taking the top 18.
• 14:34
  Do you, do you have a, you know, some people have expressed in
• 14:37
  their meet of champs that not everybody competes because maybe
• 14:40
  they're going on to start football or college or summer
• 14:43
  track etcetera. Is the tradition there in
• 14:45
  Jersey? Do you pretty much have 100%
• 14:47
  participation going from the state meet to the meet of
• 14:50
  champs? We generally do.
• 14:52
  Where actually last year, the last two years the issue has
• 14:54
  been it would back up right to nationals and kids had to decide
• 14:58
  the one year nationals at the same day the start, you know
• 15:01
  national started. So kids are do I go to nationals
• 15:04
  or do I? Or do I do MOC or they have
• 15:06
  Nationals the next day. So like, you know, the thought
• 15:09
  is, OK, I would love to win two MOC titles, but or do I do one
• 15:12
  here and one the Nationals the next day?
• 15:14
  So that was the big push from from the coach to try to get
• 15:17
  some separation because those top level athletes want to go
• 15:20
  and compete nationally, but they also want to come and it's an
• 15:23
  honor to win an MOC title. You know, we're like, you know,
• 15:26
  they're looked at as the elite of the elite to do that.
• 15:29
  But the tradition's awfully there.
• 15:30
  Everybody wants to go and everybody wants to win and and
• 15:32
  participate. So again, it makes it fun.
• 15:34
  You see these battles that you would never see because they're
• 15:37
  different groups, so they're different stuff.
• 15:38
  So that's always fun. And this is the first time
• 15:41
  parochial and public schools are coming together to compete as
• 15:44
  well. Yeah, what's the venue for the
• 15:47
  MOC? Is that traditionally the same
• 15:49
  venues that move around? That'll move around.
• 15:52
  It ends up being generally A venue that already hosted a
• 15:55
  state meet, but usually it's at. The biggest school with the
• 15:57
  biggest stands and with the most parking and, you know, it kind
• 16:00
  of adds up. Usually it's a Group 4 school
• 16:02
  that hosts sometimes not. And then the debates always, you
• 16:06
  know, in the state of Jersey, I mean, it's not that big of a
• 16:08
  state, but, you know, are we going centrally located for MOC
• 16:11
  or is everyone going to have to travel up to North Jersey or or
• 16:15
  Those are the debates. Last year we were for us, we're,
• 16:18
  I mean, we're at the tip of New Jersey.
• 16:20
  You know we're 500 feet from the beach down here, but then we'll
• 16:23
  have to drive 2 1/2 hours up to meet a chance.
• 16:26
  But then this year, it's moving to Pennsauken, which is an hour
• 16:28
  and a half. It's a little more centrally
• 16:29
  located, so you know, those are little things that you wonder if
• 16:32
  it even matters or it's fun to debate about.
• 16:34
  You know, as coaches we don't have enough to debate about.
• 16:36
  So yes, we're absolutely going to talk about that 100% in media
• 16:40
  champs one day or two day. I have to think 2 day with the
• 16:43
  amount of athletes per event. You're going to laugh, but it's
• 16:45
  one day. Wow.
• 16:47
  Is that right? Yeah, one day.
• 16:49
  So again. The athletes have decided you
• 16:52
  know am I going to first of all they're able to make MOC in
• 16:54
  multiple events, which is impressive enough.
• 16:56
  But am I going to double? Am I going to just do one?
• 16:59
  So it comes down to, you know we our girl that we have a all
• 17:03
  American triple jumper who also was was all American 400
• 17:07
  hurdler. But then we had Nash was coming
• 17:09
  up last night so she only did one at MOC.
• 17:11
  She went and won the MOC for triple jump because she's like,
• 17:14
  OK, well then I'll just, which is nice option to have.
• 17:16
  I'm just going to go be an All American for the hurdles instead
• 17:18
  because they were back-to-back. Which ideally she would have
• 17:21
  walked out with two MOC titles, hopefully in the hurdle.
• 17:24
  So yeah, one day makes again same thing.
• 17:27
  Makes it a little bit dicey, you know or if your distance, you
• 17:30
  know, am I going to double 1632 or are we all going to load up
• 17:34
  in one, you know or do all the best athletes talk and say let's
• 17:37
  load the 32 so it'll be the best competitioner.
• 17:40
  So it makes a lot of variables. Are relays in MOC as well?
• 17:44
  They are, Yep. They are.
• 17:46
  The four by four are the only two.
• 17:48
  And do WE Is there a team title that comes out of MOC as well or
• 17:52
  no? No team titles, no team scoring,
• 17:54
  and actually there's four by one at MOC also.
• 17:57
  I missed that. OK, yeah, but team scoring all
• 17:59
  individual or relay. Gotcha.
• 18:01
  Perfect. OK.
• 18:02
  A lot of states we're finding out are adding including some
• 18:06
  type of adaptive unified wheelchair type event for their
• 18:09
  state meet anything like that going on in in New Jersey right
• 18:12
  now? For years, they were.
• 18:15
  We actually moved away from it. So now they don't have it
• 18:17
  included, right. So that's more recent.
• 18:19
  But before they would always have the wheelchair events,
• 18:21
  which which is nice obviously to watch those athletes compete,
• 18:24
  you know, which is a lot of fun and also put a little rest time
• 18:26
  in between other events too. So which is nice.
• 18:28
  But now, this past year, we did not have that.
• 18:30
  All right, let's talk about the events that you're running
• 18:32
  there. We can assume you're running the
• 18:33
  102 hundred, 408 hundred. You mentioned the 1632, so we're
• 18:37
  doing the 1632, not the mile. Two mile fifteen, 3000.
• 18:40
  Yep. OK.
• 18:41
  For the hurdles, we're doing the 110 high hurdles and the 100
• 18:44
  high hurdles for boys and girls. Yes, Jersey has a tremendous
• 18:48
  tradition. So I already know the answer to
• 18:49
  this. We're not doing the 300 hurdles.
• 18:51
  We're doing the 400 hurdles for boys Love it, which is catching
• 18:54
  on. We've we've learned there's a
• 18:55
  couple states that have added and are contemplating adding it
• 18:58
  as well. So love that we're doing the
• 19:00
  four by one and four by four. If you've listened to the other
• 19:02
  state meets, insert the joke that I say every time.
• 19:05
  What other relays are we doing besides 4 by 1 and 4 by 4?
• 19:09
  And the four by 8 and the four by so No 4 by 2.
• 19:13
  No 4 by 2, OK, perfect. And no medley relays.
• 19:16
  Anything crazy like that? No, no.
• 19:19
  Gold pretty. I I say crazy.
• 19:21
  I do love those events. They're just not normally in our
• 19:23
  state. All right, let's go to our field
• 19:25
  events. We're doing long jump and triple
• 19:26
  jump for boys and girls. Yes, shopping discus, of course
• 19:30
  we're doing pole vault and high jump for boys and girls.
• 19:33
  Anything else? Javelin, Hammer, multi events?
• 19:36
  Anything like that? Yeah, we have Javelin, but no
• 19:38
  hammer. I'd love for them to have the
• 19:40
  multi, but they don't have it in the state score.
• 19:43
  And so usually with those like we had a we had a multi last
• 19:47
  year, we had to kind of search for a meet to get her some
• 19:49
  points to get you know into nationals and all that.
• 19:51
  But but now, nothing statewide. Some some states do.
• 19:54
  After the state meet or after the meet, a champs.
• 19:57
  In your situation here in Jersey, they'll do an unofficial
• 20:00
  state meet for the hammer or javelin.
• 20:02
  You're already doing that anyway, or multi, anything like
• 20:04
  that. Is anybody getting together and
• 20:06
  trying to do a hammer unofficial state championship or anything?
• 20:10
  No, I haven't seen it. You know, I'd love to do
• 20:12
  something with a multi. We always think about trying to
• 20:14
  host something down here. We're just our tracks, a little
• 20:16
  small, but I mean Betty wise, like I said, we're 500 feet from
• 20:19
  the beach, maybe the boardwalk, maybe the, you know, everybody
• 20:22
  wanted to come down here in the summer.
• 20:23
  But we're a little small to host.
• 20:24
  So I think it would be cool to have some some sort of multi
• 20:28
  championship, you know, there's enough athletes out there that
• 20:30
  would be studly. It'd be fun to watch.
• 20:32
  It, it starts with one person starting it and it may start
• 20:35
  with six athletes, may start with three athletes, but it's
• 20:37
  got to start somewhere, Tim, So I'm going to bless you to start
• 20:42
  that, start it. It's got to start somewhere.
• 20:43
  It's got to start somewhere. It builds 10 years, 10 years
• 20:46
  later, we'll be talking about like, holy cow, look at this
• 20:48
  tradition New Jersey has. But that never happens.
• 20:50
  If you don't start today, you you know, you're a teacher and a
• 20:53
  coach. You're smart.
• 20:54
  You've heard this before. The best time to start was
• 20:56
  yesterday. The second best time is.
• 20:58
  Today. All right.
• 21:00
  That's my challenge to you. All right, Tim, before we get on
• 21:02
  to some fun stuff, is there anything that we missed,
• 21:04
  anything that I don't typically ask about scoring?
• 21:08
  Do you score 8 places or maybe you only score 2 or some crazy
• 21:12
  thing like that? Anything I missed there in New
• 21:13
  Jersey that we should have, should know about?
• 21:16
  No, I think we covered everything pretty much.
• 21:19
  Awesome. Let's get to some fun stuff
• 21:20
  here. Help us settle an argument, at
• 21:22
  least in your area, your culture, your team, when you're
• 21:26
  talking about the state meet. And maybe it's unique here
• 21:28
  because you have a crazy culture here of the MOC, the meet of
• 21:31
  champs. Are you trying to qualify for
• 21:33
  states? Are you trying to qualify for
• 21:35
  the state meet? Is it just state?
• 21:37
  How do you, how do you say it there?
• 21:39
  We usually say qualify for states.
• 21:41
  You know, some of the probably older coaches would go qualify
• 21:44
  for the state meet. I think it's fun to say let's
• 21:46
  make it the state. You know, watching like Friday
• 21:48
  Night Lights are like, oh, we're going to state.
• 21:50
  I mean that'd be cool to say for us.
• 21:51
  So I try to pump. I just heard you say 3 different
• 21:54
  the all three versions there. Yeah, you said you said the
• 21:57
  older guys were saying state meet.
• 21:58
  You said it's fun to qualify for state, but you started out by
• 22:01
  saying states. Yeah.
• 22:02
  So it's it depends, I think you know who's talking to be honest
• 22:06
  with you. That's what we're talking about.
• 22:08
  But. This is the first blanket I do.
• 22:11
  All three is what he's voting for here.
• 22:12
  I like it. That's good.
• 22:13
  That's good. Got to go.
• 22:15
  We got to keep, you know, keep going.
• 22:17
  Very inclusive. I like that.
• 22:18
  I like that. All right, Tim, you've been a
• 22:20
  great sport for us here, representing the great state of
• 22:23
  New Jersey. You win the magic wand.
• 22:25
  So if you had a magic wand and you could change one and only
• 22:28
  one thing in the state of New Jersey for outdoor track and
• 22:31
  field or just track and field in general for New Jersey, that
• 22:33
  would improve it. In your opinion, what would that
• 22:35
  be? I think for the MOC specifically
• 22:38
  having auto qualifiers based off of some marks.
• 22:42
  I know they do it in swimming in New Jersey.
• 22:44
  I just think there's opportunities where there's
• 22:46
  times when an athlete is sick or they have something going on
• 22:49
  where they can't. You know, the way our structure,
• 22:51
  our system is structured, if you're sick or you have a bad or
• 22:53
  poor sexual meet or statement, you're done.
• 22:56
  And you know and if you want to get these high level athletes or
• 22:58
  these best athletes to the MOCI think they hit a pretty high
• 23:02
  standard but they're able to qualify for the MOC at least off
• 23:06
  of that, then they can kind of take that off their back and
• 23:08
  just compete. You know, it wouldn't change any
• 23:10
  kind of scoring for the team stuff because we don't have that
• 23:12
  MFC. It wouldn't change state titles,
• 23:14
  but at least you know somebody if they're a high level and they
• 23:16
  deserve to be at MFC and they proved that early in the year.
• 23:19
  I feel like they should have a way to get in besides straight
• 23:21
  through our system. Yeah, I like that and I tell you
• 23:24
  New Jersey, what an amazing tradition with this meet of
• 23:26
  champions. If you're listening from another
• 23:28
  state and you'd like for your state to do a meet of champions
• 23:31
  and some type of event after look towards New Jersey.
• 23:34
  They've been doing this for a long time.
• 23:36
  As he mentioned, it's hosted at the biggest school you can
• 23:38
  because there's so many people that are coming there that are
• 23:40
  interested in this. It's a fantastic way to help
• 23:43
  bring all these different classes and divisions that we
• 23:45
  have into one meet and really air quotes here.
• 23:49
  Find out who the true 100 meter state champion is.
• 23:51
  Football champion, etcetera. So Tim, thank you so much.
• 23:54
  Man, that was awesome. Love learning about New Jersey.
• 23:56
  Really grateful for you being here with us today and helping
• 23:59
  us learn about your state meet. Yeah, absolutely.
• 24:02
  Thanks for having me. I really do appreciate it.
• 24:03
  Looking forward to listening to some other States and and
• 24:06
  learning, you know, keep the support going.
• 24:08
  Great. Thank you, Tim.
• 24:10
  Awesome. Thank you.