IHSA Announces State Track and Field Championships Dates

No masks needed to be worn during competition also announced

By Michael Newman

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The IHSA Board of Directors in their monthly meeting on Monday approved planned dates of when the IHSA State Track and Field Championships will be held.

IHSA PRESS RELEASE

The Girls State Meets will start on June 10 with Class 1A, June 11 with Class 2A, and June 12 with Class 3A. The Boys State Meet will be the following weekend in the same format with Class 1A on Thursday, Class 2A on Friday, and Class 3A on Saturday.

The IHSA press release from Monday afternoon did not state where the meet will be held.

“The state final site information is still pending, but we anticipate that it will be announced soon,” said IHSA Assistant Executive Director Kraig Garber, head of Boys and Girls Track & Field for the IHSA.

Garber also stated that Sectional Sites and Assignments will be released after the April 19 deadline to enter the state series. The approved State qualifying standards for last year’s state meet will be in use for the 2021 State Meet. 2020 STANDARDS (see Attached 2019 Track Advisory Minutes)

There will be no prelims for state races since one class will be held each day. “In regard to format, as you likely saw announced yesterday, we will conduct each class from start to finish on a given day,” Garber added. “The format will be the same as the sectional meet format for all events.  Since schools will not be staying overnight, we will tentatively begin the state final meets around mid-day to give schools time to travel.”

This schedule is just for the 2021 State Meet. The scheduling for the Boys and Girls State Meet that has been used in past state meets again will be applied in 2022 according to Garber.

The other big news to drop from the Board of Directors meeting was that the use of masks in competition will not be necessary. According to an IDPH update to the IHSA:

“Students competing in low-risk outdoor sports and activities are no longer required to wear masks while competing. In-season IHSA sports and activities impacted by this update include bass fishing, baseball, softball, tennis, and track & field. Students must continue to wear masks in these sports and activities when they are not actively competing (i.e., athletes on the bench).”

There had been a concern that athletes would have to wear masks in competition according to the IHSA and IDPH press release of March 8, 2021 (RELEASE). Masks will need to be worn if an athlete is not competing like Cross Country was held last fall.