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Timing system, lights turn course into testing ground

TAMPA -- The key word at tonight's Pre-State Cross-country meet is practice.

Practice for the 196 teams that will pile into Ed Radice Park, hoping to get a feel for the course where the state championships will be run five weeks from now. Practice for the meet operators who plan to test a new system of recording finishing times.

And practice for the Florida State High School Activities Association, which is being lobbied by the state meet directors to split the state finals into a two-day session to combat the sometimes stifling heat that can still be found in late November.

For a race most people will admit doesn't mean much championship-wise -- you still have to get through districts and regions -- tonight's six-race extravaganza will be one of the most important meets of the season.

"I guess the main attraction is to be able to practice running a meet on the state course," Jesuit coach Mike Boza said. "It's kind of a dress rehearsal."

That goes for more than just the teams participating.

Meet director Bobby Ennis said the meet will include several new features he hopes will lead to an easier time at the finish line, compiling statistics and save on trips to the hospital.

Every runner will have a computer chip attached to a shoelace. As they cross a mat at the finish line a computer will record their time and position, allowing the final results to be tabulated by pressing a button less than a minute after the race is over.

Ennis hopes this method will alleviate what has been a cluster of 15 to 20 runners finishing within five seconds of each other and trying to cram into the same chute so workers could pull their numbers to record the position.

The meet will also be run at night, using the lights from the Ed Radice soccer fields and six portable light stands set up throughout the course to show the way.

Ennis also hopes to turn this into an appealing alternative for the FHSAA, which schedules the eight championship races on a Saturday morning. Dehydration and the early signs of heat stroke are a big problem for runners in the later races. "I'm not the smartest guy in the world but common sense says, when you're in Florida, if you have the chance to run in cooler weather you ought to run in cooler weather," Ennis said. "I'd like to run two classes Friday night under lights then come back Saturday morning at 8 and run the next two classes."

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