Region XI Junior Olympic
Track & Field Championships
June 26-28 in Butte

2003 will undoubtedly be an exceptional track & field season this spring for the Montana Association of USA Track & Field. Not only is the USATF-Montana Track & Field State Championships again held at Bozeman Senior High School, but the Montana Association is also in the rotation this year to host the Region XI Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships for Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana!

The Regional Coordinator and Youth Chairs for Region XI recently gave the nod to Dave Skelton's selection for the regional championships to be in Butte, Montana on June 26-28 at Dahlberg stadium. Hosted by the Butte Track Club, the track & field facility is ideally situated for the three-state region and offers a well maintained 10-lane, all-weather track & field facility. The facility not only provides a good venue for competition, but also offers an outstanding facility for spectators and the ease of moving between track & field events with limited effort. It has been the site of numerous high school state track & field championships over the years.

Accommodations for competitors, family, and coaches are currently underway and should be announced shortly on the Association's website. Keep checking the website for an update on accommodations as there will probably be a limited number of rooms blocked out at the meet headquarters. You may want to go ahead and make your own reservations. In the mean time, don't wait any longer to apply for your 2003 USA Track & Field membership card. For the sake of time and convenience we recommend that you apply for your membership card on the USATF national website at www.usatf.org. However, you may download a membership application from the website and mail it to the Association's website in Kalispell. It usually takes about 5-10 working days to receive you USATF membership card and ten-digit number from the state office.

The top three finalists in both individual and relay events will qualify for the Junior Olympic National Track & Field Championships to be held in Miami, Florida on July 29-August 3, 2003. Of course the road to the national championships begin in Bozeman, Montana, on June 12-14, 2003 with the 2003 USA Track & Field - Montana Track & Field State Championships at Van Winkle Stadium located on the school campus of Bozeman Sr. High School. This will be the fourth year that the state championships will be held in Bozeman and again looks to be an excellent venue for the track meet.

Don't forget, you must first qualify at the state championships to advance to the regional championships in Butte. There is no automatic advancement, by-pass, or exceptions to the rule based on standards set at the high school state championships or other state level competition! The top six finalists at the state championships in each event will qualify for the regional championships in Butte.

As a reminder, there a number of track & field events available to competitors that is not common during the normal outdoor track & field season. This includes the multi-events (i.e., triathlon, pentathlon, heptathlon, and decathlon), mini-javelin for Bantam and Midget athletes, steeplechase, race walk events, 4 x 800 relay, and the longer 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter races. As a rule, not many athletes participate in these unusual youth events. Consequently, more often than not, there is usually an excellent opportunity to qualify for the regional, if not national championships in these events.

Entry forms, meet information, and schedule of events for the regional championships will be posted soon on the Association's website at www.mtusatf.org. If you have questions, it's best to contact us using our e-mail address at bztkclub@mcn.net or contact us in the evening by telephone. As a rule we don't return phone calls until after 9 P.M., but were fast with replying to e-mail messages. So keep checking us out for further information and we look forward to seeing all of you in June!

Respectfully,

Dave Skelton
Youth Athletics Chair
USATF-Montana Association, Inc.

(By Dave Skelton, May 02, 2002)