At its most recent July meeting, two significant actions were taken by the PIAA Board relative to Track and Field.

First, the Board received a recommendation from the Track and Field Steering Committee to increase the number of classifications in Track and Field to three from its current two classes (eg. AA and AAA). That recommendation was referred to the Strategic Planning Committee for further study.

The Board also rejected a recommendation that a second official be hired for all track meets at both the high school and JH/MS level.

The summary of that meeting can be read here. 

Jim Thorpe, who attended school and gained sports fame in Carlisle is back in the record books after the IOC has officially reinstated him as the sole winner of both multi-events in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. Read the entire story here.

The National Federation of HS Sports has published a press release concerning changes to the 2023 Rule Book that will go into effect with the coming year. 

As in the last few years, there were only minor changes and interpretations of current rules. One of the biggest changes in the rule book itself is to create a separate section related just to indoor track and field events.

Another that coaches will find useful increases to eight the number of entrants that can be listed as possible relay candidates. Relay meets will also have rules allowing for mixed gender events.

The NFHS listing of all changes in rules and their annual points of emphasis can be viewed here.

In an email release, the President of the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) announced that their research across the country indicated that nearly 50,000 registered officials across all sports have retired or left officiating since the 2018-19 school year. NFHS is now setting up a consortium of groups to study how to bring more people into sports officiating.

The entire column can be read here.

Each year, in addition to PIAA’s own guidance for track, they also pass along a set of “Pre-Meet Notes” with some suggestions for running an efficient meet.

This year, the current edition of the “Notes” has the normal explanation on rule changes for the current season and special articles that focus on duties of Umpires and the Starters in meets. You can download the issue from the PIAA website or just go to this link.

The Pre-season Bulletin for Officials and Coaches for 2022 is now available on the PIAA website. To access it, go to www.piaa.org and go to the spring sport of “Track and Field.” The Bulletin can be accessed near the bottom of the page or just click on this link.

For the 2021-22 school year, PIAA will have virtual “Conventions,” and there will be three of them – one for each sports season. Spring sports will be covered at an online set of meetings some time in February for those interested in additional information – or in preserving your eligibility to work the state championship meet. More information is available at the PIAA website here.

Now that sports are back on schedule, so is the annual release of rule changes coming out of the National Federation of High Schools for the 2021-22 school year and track season. They can be viewed here.

Guidelines for conducting spring sports, including track, can be viewed or downloaded at the PIAA website here. Specifics for track can be found on pp. 21-2.

The National Federation has a 2021 newsletter with a lot of information on a variety of topics – including reflections of how to officiate during COVID. You can download that from our website here.