Electronic Timer May Make Debut At Titan Invite

There could be a double first at University High School this weekend.

U-Hi is playing host to the first Titan Invite track meet, taking the place of Ferris’ Big Red meet.

University hopes to unveil its new electronic timing system. If the equipment is up and running, it would be a first for this area. The only time prep athletes are timed electronically around here is when they run in a postseason meet on a college track.

Schools coming to the Titan Invite are Mt. Spokane, Shadle Park, Mead, Ferris, Cheney, East Valley, North Central, Pullman, Medical Lake, Lewis and Clark, West Valley, Rogers and Davis.

Each school is allowed two entries per event, which will be run in heats with no finals. The top eight in each event will receive medals. No team scores will be kept.

The meet includes all the traditional events with a distance medley relay added.

Action begins at 10 a.m. and should be completed around 5 p.m.

Mark your calendar

After this weekend’s Titan Invite and Republic Invitational in Colville, other key dates for area meets are Pasco and Freeman (at CV) April 17, Mooberry, Riverside and Coeur d’Alene on April 24 and Strandberg on May 8.

Washington State will introduce a new meet to the schedule May 23-24.

The 38th Pasco Invitational, the largest track meet in the state, will be run on a new 10-lane track. Edgar Brown Stadium was remodeled last summer. The long- and triple-jump pits have been moved outside the track.

If you have a hammer

Pasco, WSU and Shelton (May 1) are offering competition in the hammer throw.

“We’re trying to promote it as an event,” Pasco meet director John Crawford said.

Anyone, girls included, can enter. The coaches’ packet has a waiver for parents to sign. It won’t be scored at Pasco, but the top three will receive medals.

“If they’ve picked up a hammer, we’ll let them compete,” Crawford said.

For the Pasco meet, the competition is at 3:30 p.m. Friday at Fran Risch Stadium in Richland. Following the competition is a clinic for those who would like to learn the event.

Pasco will also score girls pole vault.

From the rule book

When electronic timing is used, results should be recorded in hundredths of a second. When manual timing is used, times must be rounded to the slower tenths. Watches recording in hundredths of a second must be rounded up to the next tenth. Ideally, there should be three timers for each place with the middle time official. If two watches are used, the slower time is official.

Distances shall be recorded to the lesser quarter-inch for distances of less than 100 feet and to the lesser inch for all distances of more than 100 feet.

Individual teamwork

Track and field is an individual sport in a team framework. What better way to describe reporting results.

Some Thursdays there are five Greater Spokane League meets, two Frontier League meets, three Great Northern League meets, two Northeast A meets and who knows how many B meets.

We don’t always receive results that include correct names and times. Coaches or meet officials, please take an extra minute to double check names and results.

There have been cases where the second-place time is faster than the winner and the same name spelled two different ways in consecutive events. We can’t catch them all.