State Track

This past Friday and Saturday was state high school track and field weekend in Kansas. State qualifiers from every corner of the state come to Cessna Stadium in Wichita for the meet and the chance to compete against the best. It's two days of organized mayhem, though the meet is run with the precision of a Swiss watch by people who have done it for years.

We at the radio station in Clay Center covered high school sports year round, so we would pack up and head down Thursday afternoon. Covering state track was the final act of our high school sports year, and we treated it as such-- we'd load up on sodas and munchies and spend two days high up in the press box and cover the events and athletes. The time flew by during those two days, and I remember these times well-- they were a lot of fun.

It calls to mind my first state track story, in May 2003.

A booming thunderstorm woke me about 3:30 am Friday. Being unable to go back to sleep, I decided to go for a run at about 6 and still be back with time to get ready for the day. It was still cool outside, and obviously still wet, though the rain had stopped. I was still a neophyte, and thought I was doing well to crank out three miles, especially since I didn't know my way around too well.

It was later that afternoon when the full effect of that run came into play. I had managed to catch a cold and was pretty much useless the whole day. I sat near a heat vent on the lower level of our booth, since my nose didn't run when warm air blew on me. In addition, I hadn't slept well and I'd never covered this event and had no idea what was going on. Thankfully there were others who were there to help spot for us and check results as they were brought in. I spent most of the day running to the restroom to get more paper towels.

I want to say that things ended early that evening because of more weather, so we went back to the hotel. That is, I went back to the hotel, after stopping at a drug store for provisions. One bottle of Gatorade, two Pop Tarts and one Nyquil shot later, I was down for the count as my friends went for a burger.

A good night's sleep seemed to do the trick, as I was able to contribute and do my job better the next day.