Qualifying Meets
Penn Relays
Sub Novice Championship Meet
Gold Region Championship Meet
Area II Championship Meet
Archdiocesan Championship Meet
Meet Results
Summary
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Introduction
This page is intended inform anyone that is new to the “CYO Track Experience”. It will also benefit those with a lot of experience who never quite understood what all these different meets are and how the whole thing fits together. It will cover some very important specifics about how it all works and set expectations for the level of commitment and competition. Philadelphia Archdiocese CYO Track and Field has grown significantly in the last few years and has been improving each season. All of the Region 20 meets are timed with fully automatic timing technology. Children kindergarten through 2nd/3rd grade (depending on birth year) are able to compete in the Sub Novice division. We are striving to create the best experience possible for our young athletes and look forward each year to see the kids compete in this wonderful sport of track and field.
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Gold Region Qualifying Meets
Gold Region holds a series of meets, which are called Gold Region Qualifying Meets. In years past there have been as few as four
and as many as seven Qualifying Meets.
The Qualifying Meets are non-competitive. There are no points scored, trophies awarded,
or winners declared. Qualifying Meets are designed to encourage track and field athletes to practice their skills,
experiment with new techniques developed during team practice sessions, and demonstrate
their abilities.
All Qualifying Meets, have no entry restrictions. Anyone can
perform in as many events as they choose, subject to the dictates of their coach.
Track meets tend to be rather time-consuming. For this reason, at most of the Qualifying
Meets, something less than a full compliment of events is held.
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The Penn Relays
Just about everyone has heard of the Penn Relays. We are excited to share that our young track and field athletes get a chance to represent their team and compete against parishes/schools in this prestigous relay carnival held at the University of Pennsylvania that has been around since 1895. The competion hails from various parts of the world.
In order to participate on a relay team in the Penn Relays, the top runners in each age bracket (the age brackets are determined by the relay carnival committee) are chosen by their coaches to be in the different relays. The coaches from each school select these top runners strategically based on performance and potential.
Once the relay teams are chosen and submitted by the coaches, participation in this meet occurs in two stages. First, the relay team must qualify at the Penn Relays Time Trials event where they will compete against other teams in the Philadelphia Archdiocese. From there, the top relay teams in each age bracket advance to the actual Penn Relay event at Franklin Field where they will compete against other top runners in front of thousands of roaring spectators.
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Sub Novice Championship Meet
Gold Region also has a special event for our little runners and jumpers, the Sub Novice Championship Meet! This championship competition serves as the last meet of the season for the Sub Novices and is solely compromised of the young and aspiring runners of the Gold Region. Our coaches and parents have kindly dedicated their time to organize this meet, so the Sub Novices can really feel the competition and get a chance to win medals!
The coaches work with their Sub Novice runners to determine which events they will represent their team during this championship. The Gold Region Sub Novice Championship is great way to introduce our K through 2nd/3rd graders to tough competiton, show them how to build a fantastic team dynamic where they cheer for each other, and reward them in the process.
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Gold Region Championship Meet
Each of the three Areas are divided into Regions. In total, there are nine regions in the three areas. While a number designates an Area, a color is used to designate a Region. In Area II, there are three Regions: Blue, Gold, and Purple. We are Gold. Currently, there are eight parishes fielding teams in the Gold Region, consisting of about 700 children.
Each year, a week or two before the Area II Championship Meet, Region 20 holds its own track meet. There is only one Gold Region Championship Meet held each year. As with the other 'Championship' meets, it too is a competitive meet involving points and trophies. The top finishers in the Gold Region Championship Meet advance to the Area II Championship Meet.
As are both the Archdiocesan and Area II Championship Meets, the Gold Region Championship Meet is also not an open meet. However, unlike the other two meets, you cannot earn the right to compete in the Gold Region meet. Instead, you must be ‘invited’ or ‘chosen’ by your coach to represent your team at this meet.
In the week prior to the Gold Region Championship Meet, each parish coach must select the competitors who will represent the parish's team at the Gold Region Championship meet and possibly beyond. For smaller teams this selection process is not especially difficult, but for larger teams it may be somewhat traumatic. This is because of the entry restrictions, imposed by the Archdiocese, governing all three of the Championship meets.
The first of these restrictions is that no one is allowed to compete in more than three events. (There are exceptions when it comes to some of the field events.) Even if you’re the best on your team in four events; you can only compete in three of them.
The second restriction is that no team may enter more than three competitors in any event. In the Novice Boys group there are 9 events, which means that each parish coach has a total of 27 spots to fill with novice boys. For smaller teams, some of those 27 spots may go unfilled. (If a team has only 5 novice boys, it can only fill 15 of the 27 spots because of the first restriction.) Large teams, with more than 27 novice boys, will not be able to field their entire roster, even if each boy competes in but a single event.
These restrictions are consistent with the overall intent and philosophy of CYO sports and are specifically designed to prevent “runaway” or “blowout” situations. Extremely talented individuals will not be able to demonstrate their prowess by winning 9 gold medals because the first restriction will only allow them to compete in three events. Large teams, with an abundance of talent, will find it difficult to get their entire team on the field due to the second restriction.
Because of these restrictions, it's not possible to state any objective criteria that will guarantee you'll be selected by your coach to be in the Gold Region Championship Meet. In making their selections, coaches are faced with the task of balancing your personal wishes with the best interests of the team as a whole, all the while staying within the rules and conforming to the entry restrictions. The best suggestion is simply to do your best and demonstrate your abilities to your coach at the qualifying meets.
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Area II Championship Meet
As mentioned above, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia CYO Track and Field is divided into three areas. Our area is Area II, and consists of the Blue, Gold, and Purple Regions.
Each year, a week or two before the Archdiocesan Championship Meet, Area II holds its own championship meet. It is also a competitive meet that involves cumulative team point scoring, medals, and trophies. The top individual finishers in the Area II Championship Meet advance to the Archdiocesan Championship Meet at Franklin Field.
As with the Archdiocesan Championship Meet, the Area II Championship Meet is also not an open meet. You earn the right to compete in the Area II Championship Meet by distinguishing yourself at the Gold Region Championship Meet.
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Archdiocesan Championship Meet
Each year the Archdiocese of Philadelphia holds a competitive meet for all of the top runners from all three areas called The Archdiocesan Championship Meet. It’s the last event of the CYO Track and Field season. Points are awarded to the top individual finishers in each event and their parish teams are awarded trophies based on their accumulation of points.
The Archdiocesan Championship Meet is not an open meet. An athlete does not decide to compete in this meet. Instead, they must earn the right to compete by qualifying in the event at the Area II Championship Meet.
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Meet Results
The results for each meet are posted as soon as possible following the meet (usually later that evening or the next day). The coaches and parent volunteers work very hard to get these results up quickly so the children can see their times and distances. We all know how eagerly athletes, coaches, and parents are waiting to see the results. All meets races in most regions, Region Gold included, are timed with Fully Automatic Timing (FAT) systems. The results are accurate to the hundredth of second and are posted online in the respective region's results pages. It is a wonderful way to showcase how hard these kids work each day to improve themselves and compete.
The Area II and Archdiocesan Championship Meets are timed with FAT systems as well and those results are posted to well-known track and field performance websites like athletic.net. These times are considered as highly accurate, official marks for the athletes and they are able to compare themselves to how other kids their age are performing all over the country.
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Summary
Here is a quick summary of the information covered above:
Gold Region Qualifying Meets (4 to 6 non-competitive meets)
Penn Relays (1 highly competitive relay carnival)
Sub Novice Championship Meet (1 competitive meet for younger athletes)
Gold Region Championship Meet (1 competitive meet)
Area II Championship Meet (1 competitive meet)
Archdiocesan Championship Meet (1 competitive meet)
Another way to look at this is to consider the Qualifying Meets as "the season", the Penn Relays as "post-season prep", and the three Championship meets along with the Sub Novice Championship as the "post-season". Being chosen to compete in the post-season is an honor earned by the dedication and perseverance during the regular season.
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