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Top Storylines of the 2014 XC Season - State XC Meet Date Changes to November 15th, 2014.Published by
Over the next several days, DistancePreps will drill down on some of the "Top Storylines for the 2014 XC Season". So here we go.
Related - 2012 XC State Championship Garners 3 Bids
This was welcomed news for a good many fans and athletes across the State. The "XC Playground", as it's affectionately known, was proving to be a great course and the partnership between the Tallahasse Sports Council/VisitTallahassee.com, Florida State University and the Tallahassee community had always been positive and moving in the right direction.
While there are some drawbacks to hosting the Championships in Northern Florida, mainly the distance required for a lot of teams from the southern part of the State, the major hindrance has always been Tallahassee's inability as host city, to host the championships on the same weekend Florida State plays a home football game. There just aren't enough hotel rooms close by to make it feasible.
In 2013, the State meet was held on November 9th, once again to accomodate the home football game at FSU on November 16th, 2013.
Soon after the 2013 State XC Finals had been contested, the FHSAA posted on their website that the 2014 Championships would be held on November 8th, 2014.
The Planning began for a November 8th Final in Tallahassee by a good many meet directors, coaches and presumably, the FHSAA.
Herein lied the issue. The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) wasn't going to release the 2014 ACC Football schedule until January 22nd, 2014.
The planning; securing hotel rooms well in advance, scheduling fall xc meets that culminated with a November 8th Final in Tallahassee was set in motion.
On January 22nd, the ACC Football schedule was released and Florida State would play Virginia for a home game in Tallahassee once again on the same weekend posted on the FHSAA website for the State XC Finals.
Eventually, proposal's were floated around the State as to what would work best. One of the options for a different date discussed holding the meet on Friday, November 7th, Monday November 10th, or back a week to Saturday, November 15th.
Eventually, a proposed season date change was coordinated between the FHSAA and the hosts in Tallahasee to move the State XC Finals to the following weekend, November 15th, 2014. The FHSAA in an effort to keep the season length the same and not impinge on other sports seasons, slipped the start of the 2014 season by 1 week, to September 1st, 2014.
The date couldn't be officially changed on the FHSAA website until the FHSAA Board of Governors had given their approval on the season starting or ending dates at an upcoming Board of Directors meeting. The Board of Directors meeting eventually happened on April 27th and the schedule was changed shortly thereafter.
This had a ripple effect for a good many meets and although waivers were requested from the FHSAA to stage large meets prior to the start of the season, eventually no meets were granted a waiver resulting in meets being shuffled or being cancelled outright.
The good news. The meet is a week later than originally posted. This should mean the average temperature for those classifications scheduled later in the day, should have historically cooler temperatures for their races.
This also meant that this year we are back to 2 weeks from the end of the season until Foot Locker South and NXN Southeast Regional in the Carolina's and 1 week from the end of the season until the FACA Senior All-Star Classic held on the State meet course in Tallahassee.
The major takeaway from this was known all along, the inability of Tallahasee to host the meet satisfactorily on a home game weekend.
From now, it's probably just best to wait on the ACC for their schedule release before making any plans if the meet is contracted to be held in Tallahassee.
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