Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / BONUS: Hawaii State Meet featuring Mike Harvey from Maryknoll HS

Transcript

BONUS: Hawaii State Meet featuring Mike Harvey from Maryknoll 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.
• 1:10
  We continue our March through the states here in the United
• 1:14
  States of America as we learn from coaches around the country
• 1:17
  about how they are outdoor state qualifying system for track and
• 1:20
  field. We're going to go to.
• 1:22
  You know, all states are really great and beautiful.
• 1:24
  This one just has a leg up. You have to admit it.
• 1:26
  We're going to head to the Aloha State with Coach Harvey here.
• 1:29
  So Coach, first of all, thank you for being here.
• 1:31
  Really appreciate you and grateful for you stepping up for
• 1:34
  the great state of Hawaii. When we start with an
• 1:36
  introduction, tell us who you are.
• 1:38
  Hello Mike. Thank you so much for this
• 1:41
  opportunity. So I am Coach Mike Harvey.
• 1:44
  I I've lived here in Hawaii for over 9 years.
• 1:47
  I moved here in 2014 from the great state of Texas where I
• 1:51
  grew up, born and raised. I I I, I played college football
• 1:58
  at New Mexico State. I I was a standout athlete at
• 2:04
  the Big West Conference champion in 1994 and 100 meters.
• 2:09
  But I moved to Hawaii in 2014, got involved with track and
• 2:11
  field probably about 2015 when my daughter started running,
• 2:16
  when I thought, you know, every day I thinks, you know, their
• 2:17
  daughters going to be the next Olympian, right?
• 2:19
  So I got involved there and I just worked my way through
• 2:23
  coaching. So eight years in, the coaching
• 2:25
  rings here in the state of Hawaii.
• 2:27
  I'm the head coach at Marinol High School, which is a small
• 2:30
  private school here in the heart of Honolulu.
• 2:36
  Awesome, man. Again, thank you so much for
• 2:37
  stepping up for Hawaii here. So let's Start learning about
• 2:40
  the outdoor qualifying system there in Hawaii.
• 2:43
  And let's start with, you know, some state associations.
• 2:47
  There's a private school association in a public school.
• 2:51
  Other places. They're both under the same
• 2:53
  association. What are we doing there in
• 2:55
  Hawaii? Yeah.
• 2:56
  So Hawaii we do have, we have public schools and private
• 2:59
  schools. So each each island is
• 3:03
  considered I guess a league. But in in on Oahu, where
• 3:08
  Honolulu is, so they're eight Hawaiian islands, right?
• 3:12
  The main ones are the Big Island.
• 3:14
  Sorry, got a truck going by. Hopefully you all hear that I
• 3:18
  got the big the Big Island Hawaiian where Hilo and Kona
• 3:22
  are. You have Maui, where Wailuku.
• 3:26
  And you know the horrible fire in Lahaina is.
• 3:30
  You have Oahu, that's where we are the state capital the main
• 3:34
  state, the the the most popular populous state, Kauai which is
• 3:41
  you know smaller schools are Waimea and then you have small
• 3:46
  schools like on the Molokai and. Lanai Right, So they're they're
• 3:55
  real small. But on Oahu we have the OIA,
• 3:58
  which stands for the Oahu Interscholaska Athletic League
• 4:03
  and LILH, which is the Interscholask League of Hawaii.
• 4:08
  And within the ILH you have, you know, all the private schools.
• 4:14
  The OIA, the public schools, as I said, but what they do is at
• 4:17
  the end of the qualifying, and I'll talk about qualifying here
• 4:21
  a little bit. They throw all the schools
• 4:23
  together. So there's no OIA versus ILH
• 4:26
  league. Even at the state championship
• 4:28
  level. And in football for particular,
• 4:31
  you have the public schools, private schools, they compete in
• 4:33
  the leagues. the Champions of each of those leagues play for
• 4:36
  the state championship. So there's one state champion,
• 4:38
  there's not. A.
• 4:39
  You know, particularly like in Texas, A taps and then a 5A and
• 4:43
  A taps 3A. It's one state champion from all
• 4:47
  the combined teams. Perfect.
• 4:49
  And so let's get into how we classify.
• 4:53
  You know, there's one a 2A division, one division, two,
• 4:56
  what are we doing in Hawaii as far as how we structure our
• 4:58
  sizes of our schools possibly? Yeah, there's one division.
• 5:03
  There's one division, so all of the schools qualify the
• 5:07
  athletes. And teams qualify based on time,
• 5:11
  so they throw all the athletes into one single division.
• 5:14
  So the school that I coach at Marinal, a total school
• 5:18
  population from K through 12, is maybe 1000 students, where the
• 5:22
  high school maybe has. I think my daughter's graduation
• 5:25
  class of next year, 2025 has about 120 students versus.
• 5:30
  Punahou who is across the street, who is the major
• 5:32
  powerhouse in in track and field and and certainly sometimes all
• 5:35
  sports are the largest private school here in the state.
• 5:40
  Punahou may have a graduating class of 800 right?
• 5:45
  So there are 8 times you know possibly maybe 10 times large as
• 5:49
  us and we we compete with them which makes it honestly you know
• 5:53
  sweeter when the smallest schools beat up on the big
• 5:55
  schools right in in head to head competition.
• 5:58
  So all one division there's not a small school big school
• 6:01
  division there's not it's all we're we're so we're crowning
• 6:04
  every year a boys team state champion one and A1 girls state
• 6:09
  championship okay and did we hear you right.
• 6:11
  So to qualify for the state meet, I didn't hear you say
• 6:14
  Districts, areas, sectionals, it is all on a timed list on an.
• 6:18
  Order list? Yes Sir.
• 6:20
  So it's based on the athletic.net rankings.
• 6:24
  So Hawaii's an athletic.net state.
• 6:28
  We don't use mile split but we use we use athletic.net so all
• 6:31
  of the certified and I use the term certified events are could
• 6:40
  qualify an athlete for state. So this is one of my biggest pet
• 6:44
  peeve real quick. So they'll have a scheduled of
• 6:48
  meets. They'll say you know meet one
• 6:50
  meet me 234567 and then states so after the 7th meet you
• 6:55
  believe like hey. I'm.
• 6:56
  I'm state qualified. Well then they'll throw in a
• 7:00
  meat, a meat between States and the last meat and gives other
• 7:05
  people the opportunity to qualify.
• 7:07
  So Hawaii takes top 24, top 24 from the list, right, based on
• 7:11
  athletic.net rankings. So if you're sitting at 23rd,
• 7:15
  24th in the ranking, you could lose your spot because of some
• 7:21
  you know. Meat that's been added at the
• 7:24
  last minute and in fact that's been known to happen.
• 7:27
  You know in in fact last year there was a, there was an issue
• 7:33
  where teams had already booked their trip to State and another
• 7:38
  team you know, hops them, you know and you know if you're if
• 7:42
  you're top eight, you know there's nothing to worry about.
• 7:45
  But I mean some, some, some teams and then some athletes, I
• 7:47
  mean that's their dream, right? Qualified for state right.
• 7:50
  So if I'm sitting 22nd rank. Man, just just hang on 22nd and
• 7:55
  then two meets. I mean a meet later.
• 7:57
  You know you're now 26th, 27th, right?
• 8:00
  So on those top 24 is that for every event.
• 8:03
  So from the 100, the two mile pole vaulters, we're taking 24
• 8:07
  in each. Yes, Sir.
• 8:08
  Yes Sir. So it's top 24.
• 8:10
  Is there a declaration? So if I'm a hundred 200 meter
• 8:15
  kid and I'm 8th on the 100 meter list, but I'm 23rd on the 200
• 8:20
  meter list, can I say hey, I'm not going to run the 200 and
• 8:22
  therefore it bumps up the 25th person of the 24?
• 8:25
  No, I I wish there was a declaration.
• 8:28
  It's. It's based on, it's based on
• 8:30
  entries, right? So whoever enters the race,
• 8:33
  right? So in in in case in point I had
• 8:38
  a. So we don't run the the mile, we
• 8:41
  don't run the the 3K, we run the 15, we don't run 3200 we run the
• 8:45
  15 in the in the 3K here in in Hawaii we.
• 8:51
  So I had a kid that wasn't on the top 24 list of the 3000, but
• 8:56
  I entered him anyway because he was close enough.
• 8:59
  He gets to the state meet and because there were so many
• 9:02
  athletes that decided not to run the 3K, he's now on the, you
• 9:06
  know, in in the in the prelims. And he actually made the final,
• 9:11
  right? It is.
• 9:13
  That's interesting because I wonder, is it culture there that
• 9:16
  okay if you're the 25th through 30, if you still enter your kid,
• 9:19
  just in case? And if not, has there been a
• 9:22
  situation where you've gone to the state meet and only 20 kids
• 9:26
  have been in an event because yeah, okay.
• 9:28
  Yes Sir. Last year and with the state
• 9:30
  championship last year was in Maui, right?
• 9:33
  It was on May 5th and 6th over and.
• 9:37
  War Memorial Stadium in the Wailuku and there were events
• 9:41
  where some kids showed up and there were you know top 2426
• 9:45
  kids showed up, two were told, hey, we we got all our our
• 9:49
  checkins right, for for example, for the girls hurdles, the 100
• 9:52
  meter hurdles. And then there were events like
• 9:55
  the 3K where there were 24 registered athletes.
• 10:00
  My kid was 26, he showed up and there's only 18 athletes that
• 10:03
  actually ran the 3K, right. So.
• 10:06
  It was you know hit or miss right.
• 10:08
  I mean so the the declaration part would be awesome that way
• 10:14
  that you could know that you know do I waste my time going do
• 10:16
  I prepare you know my in or out and and even the the the
• 10:19
  standpoint I I wish there was a districts regional you know
• 10:26
  state to area that kind of thing but I think we're we're small
• 10:30
  enough that we've always just done it this way top 24 and I
• 10:35
  worry about just. I'm not calling anything out, so
• 10:38
  forgive me for those that may hear this.
• 10:40
  You know, at this point I worry about the integrity part of it,
• 10:44
  right? Because top 24, I mean I'm a a
• 10:47
  certified timer FAT timer, right.
• 10:49
  And I know the precision that can happen there, right.
• 10:56
  And the meats aren't always done the same protocol some sometimes
• 11:00
  meats run with the wind. Sometimes meats run against the
• 11:03
  wind, right. And.
• 11:04
  It's really the the facilities decision on what to do.
• 11:09
  So what everybody does here is I got to get in that meet that has
• 11:12
  a win, right? So you mentioned the state meet
• 11:16
  is a 2 day meeting, you were at Maui last year.
• 11:18
  Is it traditionally at the same place or do you go around
• 11:22
  different every year? Yeah, it's a rotation, so every
• 11:27
  year. It'll rotate around I'd say
• 11:31
  every year. I mean the two years it was here
• 11:33
  on Oahu again, Oahu has sort of the, the the largest venues to
• 11:37
  host. The host meets War Memorial is a
• 11:40
  fantastic venue. I mean it's a 20,000 seat
• 11:43
  stadium, right. So it can hold the seating
• 11:46
  capacity for all the teams and and and parents alike.
• 11:51
  But this year the 2024 state meet is on Oahu.
• 11:54
  I forget the weekend, but it's always usually the 1st.
• 11:59
  Weekend in May and they it's a rotating basis.
• 12:05
  So when you're old, the OIA schools will get the meat, the
• 12:09
  Isle 8 schools will get the meat, the BIF which is the Big
• 12:12
  Island Athletic League, MIL which is the Maui league right?
• 12:18
  So it rotates around KIF which is Kauai.
• 12:22
  I don't recall an instance of where they had it.
• 12:26
  Just because they don't have a venue, a large enough to host, I
• 12:29
  mean, but it rotates between Maui, Oahu and the Big Island.
• 12:34
  The last, I guess five years that I've been involved, which I
• 12:37
  can do typically I'll ask at this point, is there a meat of
• 12:40
  champions that happen after the state meet to take all these
• 12:43
  different divisions into what we don't need that that's what the
• 12:46
  state meat of Hawaii is. It is the meat what?
• 12:48
  Is the Yes, Sir. How about any, you know,
• 12:49
  something that's becoming more and more popular and highly
• 12:52
  encouraged are adaptive slash wheelchair races and anything
• 12:56
  like that in Hawaii. There actually is, I guess I
• 13:04
  forget what they call it, but it's it's a an advance of four,
• 13:09
  but they do a four by one and a four by four of athletes that
• 13:14
  are, I guess, you know, considered in the Special
• 13:16
  Olympics. They actually bring them over
• 13:18
  and they compete. And I know Maui has done that.
• 13:20
  The number of years that we've gone to Maui since I've been
• 13:23
  involved, Two years. And they do that.
• 13:24
  And it's always a fun event man, cuz some of those kids, some of
• 13:27
  those kids could qualify for states, right?
• 13:31
  Bring that kid in 100. I wouldn't see him give smoke to
• 13:35
  the kids that are actually in the other divisions.
• 13:38
  So I love it. I love it.
• 13:40
  All right, next question. And you've you've already given
• 13:43
  us one example and this is always a tough question because
• 13:45
  I'm going to ask you what unique events do you do, but they're
• 13:47
  not unique to you because that's what you do there.
• 13:49
  But you mentioned we don't do a 16132 hundred or mile, two mile,
• 13:53
  we do the 15 to 3000. So we do the called the
• 13:56
  collegiate distances if you will.
• 13:58
  Anything else unique? Are we doing pole vault, What
• 14:01
  kind of relays are we doing? Any other javelin?
• 14:04
  What kind of maybe unique outside the standard events are
• 14:06
  we doing? Yeah, that's a good question.
• 14:08
  So well you know we do all the the regular foot field events,
• 14:12
  right shot, discus, long jump, triple jump, pole vault, high
• 14:16
  jump. I wish we did javelin.
• 14:19
  Goodness Grace, I just started learning Javelin and I mean it's
• 14:22
  it's technique wise. I really wish we did that
• 14:24
  Javelin we we don't do I guess any particularly unique events
• 14:30
  we do have this year they they voted in the 4 by 800 meter
• 14:34
  relay. Which would be run as the first
• 14:38
  event of the meet. I I was really advocating it to
• 14:42
  be run between the four by one and the 400 meters to give
• 14:47
  athletes the opportunity to run the one, the two, the four by
• 14:50
  one and the four, right. But certainly my fellow
• 14:56
  deafators for some, but but yeah, just the four by 8:00 will
• 15:00
  be introduced this year at the state meet.
• 15:02
  What about four by two Erase Sprint Medleys Do we do?
• 15:05
  The yeah, 300 hurdles instead of the 400.
• 15:08
  No, we do three. We do 300 meter hurdles.
• 15:10
  So we go a hundred, 204 hundred 100 meter hurdles, 102 meter
• 15:14
  hurdles, 300 meter hurdles. Both.
• 15:15
  You know, boys and girls, we do. Let's hit the 4x4. 200 meters,
• 15:22
  800 meters, 1500 meters, 3K. So no, no Sprint medleys, no No
• 15:29
  4 by twos. At the state meet or in state
• 15:32
  qualifying, sometimes after the state meet, coaches association
• 15:36
  or just some coaches that want to get together and have made
• 15:39
  this tradition, we'll do some unofficial state meet stuff.
• 15:42
  They'll do a Heppard decathlon or they'll do a hammer throw or
• 15:45
  javelin, since you don't have it anything like that after the
• 15:47
  state meet there. No.
• 15:49
  We when the state meet is over, track and field is done for most
• 15:53
  of these coaches, right. So I'm an advocate for youth
• 15:57
  track around summer track back in Texas and just.
• 16:00
  I think it made me a lot of who I am today, certainly.
• 16:04
  So I, you know, started the club here and you know, pushing for
• 16:08
  for some attract, right. So I say it's hard to say.
• 16:11
  Some attract. In in Hawaii because it's summer
• 16:14
  year round, right? So it's like, you know, it's
• 16:17
  just tracked after after school, right?
• 16:19
  Way to make us jealous. Appreciate that very much.
• 16:22
  Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
• 16:24
  Okay, you've already kind of slipped up and answered this
• 16:27
  next question. So I'm.
• 16:29
  I might have to what they call the show the receipts.
• 16:31
  If you change your answer now, help us settle a debate, at
• 16:34
  least depending on your culture. How do you say, are you
• 16:37
  qualifying for a state? Are you qualifying for the state
• 16:39
  meet? Are you trying to get to states?
• 16:41
  How do you actually say it? No, it's definitely states,
• 16:45
  Okay, we're going to states, right.
• 16:47
  So you know that in fact I think if you go back and look at our
• 16:51
  some of our team Instagram posts and states, so we've got the
• 16:55
  states right, so. So districts, I mean then but we
• 16:59
  we just had, we're going to states, you said it earlier and
• 17:01
  I was like, oh, if he tries to change it up now when I asked
• 17:03
  the formal question, I'm going to pull, I got the rewind going
• 17:06
  on here. So we're going to states in
• 17:07
  Hawaii, okay. And Mike you've given us a few.
• 17:10
  But if I gave you a magic wand, if there was one thing that you
• 17:14
  could change and you've given us some some of your opinions there
• 17:16
  throughout. But if there was one thing you
• 17:17
  could change in the Hawaiian system for outdoor track and
• 17:20
  field, what what might it be? Well, a few things, but I think
• 17:26
  one thing I would change is the protocols of every meet.
• 17:30
  I'd like for them to be the same, right?
• 17:32
  I think because it's as much as people say, it's affording me to
• 17:39
  track. But when matters when you have
• 17:43
  the advantage of the wind, you have a you have a tailwind
• 17:46
  behind you then you you will have a faster time and and and
• 17:51
  certainly it it it shows when you get to the state meet right?
• 17:54
  Like if a kid runs with the wind and he runs here let's say a
• 17:58
  10/6 woo wee right. But let's say he's a 11 flat
• 18:02
  guy. It'll show right?
• 18:04
  But he just bumped a guy. That's a true. 11 guy right out
• 18:09
  of the top 24 and also it matters for lane assignments
• 18:13
  right. So I I wish the protocols were
• 18:14
  were the same you know making the decision that when there's
• 18:17
  wind you run with the wind or at some level bring anemometer
• 18:23
  right. You know, I like to say
• 18:24
  anemometer rather than the wind gauge, right?
• 18:27
  Bring an anemometer here where? I mean, because they're they're
• 18:30
  they're they're affordable and every me could have one and
• 18:34
  certify the need of saying an allowable.
• 18:37
  Time is, you know, give them more than +24, right?
• 18:42
  Give them at least under sub three, right?
• 18:46
  And that would be one thing I'll change, yeah, some more
• 18:50
  standardization which would help with your top 24 going into
• 18:54
  state as well that'd. Be good.
• 18:56
  Yeah. Mike, that's awesome, man.
• 18:57
  Thank you so much for representing Hawaii.
• 18:59
  It was awesome to see, you know, one division that's unique for
• 19:02
  sure and throughout our different states.
• 19:05
  I'm an advocate. That's why I'm a big advocate
• 19:07
  for meet of champion. So I love that your state meet
• 19:09
  is the the meet of champion. So I love that very much and I
• 19:11
  just grateful for you being here today and educating us on the
• 19:14
  great state of Hawaii. So Aloha.
• 19:16
  Aloha. Thanks man.
• 19:17
  Appreciate it.