TRACK HANDBOOK- 2023-24

Our team Mission Statement is: The members of the WHS Cross Country & Track teams learn important values such as dedication, sacrifice, teamwork, and leadership through the pursuit of athletic excellence. Participation in athletics improves academics and decision making, along with the life lessons taught. 

ATTENDANCE & DISCIPLINE

Our policy is "Three Strikes & You're Out." An unexcused absence is considered strike but so is disrespect to a teammate, meet official or coach & school discipline issues. There are discipline issues serious enough to result in dismissal from the team without reaching the 3rd strike. It is up to the coaching staff to remove an athlete from a meet for certain violations as well. Practice is from 3:20-5:20 PM each weekday & while you may get out early on occasion, don't plan on it. There will be occasional optional Saturday practices but these do not "make up for" missed weekday practices. Excused absences are limited to: doctor's appointments, tutoring with a teacher, driver's ed & a death in the family.  If you have to stay after school for a club meeting, if you're at practice dressed and ready by 3:45, it won't count as an absence. The team rule is that if you are healthy enough to attend school then you are healthy enough for practice.   Leaving after school on Friday to go out of town is not an excused absence.

PRACTICES

Our practices are closed which means that only athletes who are on the team roster can participate.   Parents, other students, former athletes, middle school siblings, etc. are not allowed at team practices.  Coaches have plans for practices which are based on a training plan for the entire season.

MAKING THE TEAM

We've had as many as 225 people come out for the team but there simply isn't enough room on the track & at field event areas for that many. We typically keep about 150-160. There will be cuts to get to that range that will be set before tryouts begin.  

UNIFORMS

Athletes buy their own uniforms through an online store or from the coaches if you miss the online store window for ordering. Orders have to be placed well before tryouts in order to get them before our first meet. If someone who is cut has already bought a uniform, we'll try to pair them up with someone who needs to buy one but we can't offer refunds for people who purchased them online from BSN since they weren't purchased from us. 

MEET EXPECTATIONS

Athletes are required to wear something green, black or navy that says "Weddington" on it over their uniforms at meets. The items don't have to say "Weddington Track" or "Weddington Cross Country," though those are preferable. Shirts from other WHS sports or clubs are acceptable as long as they are green, black, or navy. Those who don't meet the requirement won't be allowed on the bus for away meets and anyone with something on at the meet that doesn't meet the requirement will be scratched from the meet.

You are expected to stay until the end of each weekday meet. Invitationals can last 8 hours or more & at many of these meets, we would actually want you stay at home & out of the sun/heat/rain/cold as much as possible & get there for your events, but at these meets, it would be best if you stayed until the end once you arrive. 

You represent our team, school, your coaches & our community when we go to meets and in general. Please remember that when we travel, at school and on social media. Character matters. 

TRANSPORTATION TO & FROM MEETS

Besides the bus there are 3 ways to get to and from a meet: A) Your parent can drive you, B) Someone else's parent can drive you, C) You can drive yourself. Under no circumstances can an athlete drive another athlete (other than a sibling). 

INVITATIONALS

Everyone participates in our weekday meets unless we hold out our top athletes for bigger meets coming up. At most invitationals, we can only enter a maximum of 3 people per event. 

QUALIFYING FOR THE STATE MEET

For Indoor Track, you qualify directly to the State Meet at any meet of the season. There are standards you must hit. They don't accept people who are close. Actual State Meet entries are up to your coaches and those are based on where we think you'll do best and what is best for the team. Individuals don't qualify for relay teams- the team does and it's up to our coaches to determine the relay members. Teams are only allowed to enter a maximum of 3 people per event even if they have more than 3 qualifiers. 

Outdoor qualifying is completely different. In the Spring, there are Regional qualifying standards. They accept those who have hit the mark and if there are fewer than 16 actual qualifiers, the top 16 entries are accepted to round out the field. If Regionals is on a 6 lane track, only 12 are accepted if there are fewer than 12 actual qualifiers but we've only had Regionals on a 6 lane track once in the past 10 years. If there are more than 16 actual qualifiers, all are accepted. If non-qualifiers are added to round out the field and there are ties that push the number above 16, none of the tied athletes are added. This is common in High Jump and Pole Vault. As an example, if there are only 10 actual qualifiers in High Jump, 4 more 2" below the standard and then 6 entries 4" below the standard, none of the 6 who are 4" would be accepted. If only 2 people who are 4" under enter, the total would be 16 & they would be accepted. The top 4 finishers at the Regional Meet advance to the Outdoor State Meet.

ORDER OF EVENTS  

The order of events for most Indoor/Winter meets is: 4x800, 55H, 55m, 4x200, 1600m, 500m, 1000m, 300m, 3200m, 4x400. Girls should start before boys. There is no standard for field events but at our home meets, girls go first in: HJ, PV & TJ (& Discus for Outdoor). Boys go first in LJ & SP. The order for most Outdoor/Spring meets is: 4x800, 100H, 100m, 4x200, 1600m, 4x100, 400m, 300H, 800m, 200m, 3200m, 4x400.  

FUNDRAISER

You're expected to participate our Booster Club fundraiser & we encourage people to join the WHS Athletic Booster Club. These fundraisers are the primary source of funds for our Athletic Department. We don't get any state or local funding & Track is a fairly expensive sport with equipment needs, meet entry fees, transportation costs, etc.     

UNATTACHED MEETS, ROAD RACES & PRIVATE COACHING

Do not enter meets unattached or run road races or post-season meets without talking to your event coach first. There may be cases where we actually want you to compete in these events, but often, they get in the way of your coach's training & racing plan. There are plenty of opportunities for you to compete with our meet schedule. Additionally, do not go to private coaches without first talking to your event coach. There may be cases where this would be encouraged but others where it would not be. Under no circumstances should a private coach be coaching our athletes at a meet or practice.