TSSAA -> Rockvale
As in the fall, the state championship for a sport that
involves the running community will have a new venue. Rockvale High School,
also in Murfreesboro, will host the TSSAA Outdoor Track and Field State Meet.
Now before we all collectively find things to be critical of, myself included, let's
all travel back in time 12 months...
...
...
On April 15th of 2020 the TSSAA announced the cancelation of the remainder of the 2020 outdoor season. Now with some perspective we can start by being thankful we are having a track and field state championship in the spring while other states are JUST NOW having a cross country season. That said, there are pros and cons to the venue change. Seating on both sides of the stadium is an advantage over MTSU however the majority of the seating (home side) will have to endure some early summer sun in their face at the outset of the meet. If you look at the map, the home stands face west.
Overhead view of the Rockvale cluster of schools as seen on Google Maps.
As pointed out as well, there is only one runway for long and triple. The schedule released last week factors this in. My recommendation would be to import a portable runway (Vanderbilt has one at their indoor facility), have a dump truck of sand delivered, and create an infield pit. As it stands now, if you're a coach with athletes in every discipline, don't expect to be able to have a sit down lunch and if you're an athlete that jumps and sprints, be wise about managing your energy and hydration. 3:00 PM triple jumps rolling into a 4:00 PM start time is not for the faint of heart.
I was curious about parking (since MTSU has limited availability) but after looking at the overhead map and the cluster of schools within walking distances of each other, I don't think finding a space will be an issue.
For all we know we may like it after it's all said and done. In the fall, I think most people liked the format the Cross Country state meet offered. Your classification came to Hendersonville, had their championship, and left. There was no overlap in traffic in an area that couldn't support general weekend traffic plus event traffic. There weren't other races going on while your award ceremony was occurring. Each championship occurred in a silo and the timers and support staff had time to breathe between events.