HHSAA may team up
with WAC track

With championships scheduled for
the same day in ’06, the events could
be held in the same place

The Western Athletic Conference and Hawaii High School Athletic Association will hold their track and field championship finals on the same day next year.

And maybe at the same place.

The date is May 13, and the venue is Cooke Field at the University of Hawaii, as UH is scheduled to host next year's WAC meet.

So far, no one has found a rule against a high school and college championship being contested at the same location on the same day, as long as the events don't overlap.

"It certainly seems like an opportunity worth pursuing. But both sides need to research more about what will be required," HHSAA executive director Keith Amemiya said.

Part of it will be figuring out how to handle admission revenue. The HHSAA brought in $13,000, as more than 2,000 paying customers attended last month's Island Movers state championships at Mililani High School. The 2006 meet is tentatively scheduled for Kamehameha.

UH track and field coach Carmyn James said she's not interested in revenue, but there are at least two other positives: exposure and logistics.

"We'd love to see it happen. It's a unique opportunity that we have only once every eight to 10 years (the rotation of hosting the WAC meet). We can show the girls and boys that there is more track and field beyond high school. Let's showcase track and field," James said. "Also, we don't have a whole lot of track and field officials in Hawaii."

A college conference championship meet requires around 50 officials, James said, and the Hawaii association of USA Track and Field can provide "around 50," Hawaii USATF veteran Gordon Scruton said. Holding the state and WAC meets at the same place makes it easier for the officials to work both events.

"It can help the WAC considerably," Scruton said. "When they have meets on the mainland they can draw from a couple hundred miles and they just drive to the meet. Hawaii's 2,500 miles away, but they'll still have some officials come down, but the number available is considerably less. The need for qualified officials will fall upon Hawaii to come through. We can cover the pukas."

The WAC meet schedule includes the heptathlon and decathlon on Wednesday and Thursday, and other events on Friday and Saturday. The HHSAA meet schedule is trials on Thursday and finals on Saturday. The state high school finals would have to end before the WAC's 5 p.m. start.

Scruton said the Hawaii officials -- all volunteers -- would be up to the task.

"I think we did double-duty this year during the league championships, Thursday through Saturday," he said. "You're tired at the end of Saturday, but it's a good deal for our officials to get involved with the WAC. It's a nice level of competition, head-and-shoulders over anything we've seen here. It'd be worth coming four days in a row."

There will be some compensation.

"We'll pay them with food and love," James said.