The Hamline Elite-Meet -- one of the highlights of the Minnesota track and field season -- takes place this Friday night. As we did last year, Down the Backstretch will cover the meet live, putting the top-results on your computer screen immediately and posting video of selected running events during the course of the meet.To put everyone in the Elite-Meet mood, DtB talked to Elite Meet director Lynden Reder (pictured), the head men's track and field coach at Hamline, to learn about the origins of the event and what to look forward to Friday night.
DtB: How did the idea for the Elite-Meet come about?
Reder: That would be a great question for Adam Steele! Adam and I were captains together at Minnesota a million years ago, and when I was brought on full-time at Hamline, I was working towards bringing Adam on as our sprints coach. I can't remember the details of the conversation, but while talking track, like we constantly do, the idea came up to host a meet like this. The funny thing is, we were talking about the U of M hosting it, since at the point Adam was still helping out over there.
As Adam and I were talking about him working with me at Hamline, the idea shifted hosting it at Hamline. We had just been awarded the MSHSL State Championship Meet and thought it would be a perfect time to launch the meet. I ran it by some trusted high school coaches and they thought it was a great idea. We started getting confirmations from major programs like Mounds View, and we knew we were onto something. We came up with the idea to give all the qualifying athletes a dri-fit "Elite-Meet" shirt, and having the winning athletes throw a shirt into the stands on a victory lap (something they do at the University of Oregon, where Adam is ironically training now), later in the process. The event has changed and adapted countless times, and has turned into something even better than we imagined from the onset. It also has certainly caught on a lot faster than we ever imagined.
So, long story short, Adam and I have an on-going debate about who should get credit for the idea. I think as soon as he moved to Oregon, he forfeited all copy-rights! But in all seriousness, a lot of people, including Adam, all our HU track athletes who work the meet, and of course the entire coaching staff here at Hamline deserve credit for creating this meet and grinding out the large undertaking of hosting it every year.
DtB: Are you planning anything different for the 2008 Elite-Meet?
Reder: The qualifying process and time-line will get tweaked a little to account for the weather, but other than that, the major concepts of the meet are intact. Last year we added a prelim in the 100m, the only track event with a prelim and that is one of the most major changes so far. We are always open to new ideas for making the meet better for the athletes AND for spectators, so anyone reading this should feel free to suggest something!
At the end of the day, the major theme for the Elite-Meet is gathering the finest track and field athletes, regardless of their school size and let them duke it out!
DtB: Why do you think the event has proven to be so popular?
Reder: I think that seeing some match-ups you normally wouldn't see at this stage in the year is a major factor. The fields end up being of the highest quality, and because of the format of the meet, we're always confident there will be some BIG performances. Mike Torchia's sub-9 minute performance the first year we hosted the meet really set the tone for that going forward. Each year a new premier event seems to rise to the top, so its fun for people to see how it all plays out.
The culture of the meet seems to have become that of 'lets all get after it and see if we can't get some big personal bests!'. Winning the meet is great and all, but if someone drops 30 seconds from their 3200 pr and gets 6th, when in a normal meet that might not be possible, I'm sure they're still pretty pumped!I'm sure there are athletes that have finished towards the back of the pack from small towns outside of the metro, but mixed it up with some big-city kids for the first time and had major improvements. As a small town guy, that is my favorite part of the meet... seeing the best Class A athletes get a chance to mix it up against the top Class AA athletes, where those head-to-head match-ups aren't possible at the state meet.
DtB: Bad weather has been a factor this outdoor season, have you had to take that into account at all?
Reder: The poor weather is the biggest reason for the entry deadline being changed. We'll allow entries up until Tuesday night at 11:59pm... which will give kids the opportunity to get a mark in a Monday or Tuesday meet and still get in. It will make things tight on our end, but we think its the right thing to do. Similar to last year, we'll also allow a conversion from 1600 to 3200 since athletes haven't had many chances to race yet.
DtB: Is there anything else you'd like to add about the meet?
I just want to invite everyone to join us at the meet! It is a very spectator friendly meet, and again, a very fun culture for the athletes. Its a blast to watch the outstanding performances, and unlike most meets, its a meet filled with a final, after a final, after a final. No one has to suffer through 20 heats of an event.
We look forward to hosting the event every year! If you love track and field, you will love this meet!
Photo courtesy of Hamline University.
Down the Backstretch will post Elite-Meet updates and news items throughout the week. Remember, tune to "WDTB" on Friday night beginning at 5:15 p.m. for our live coverage of the Hamline Elite-Meet.
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