Ka’Deem Wynn | Writer

For those who have been in the running world for a little while, live results have been readily available, as if it came with the sport. Live result serve their obvious purpose─update results during a meet, letting athletes and coaches know what was officially performed, and where the team currently stands during the meet. However, there was a time when live results simply did not exist.

As weird as it seems, it’s true. If athletes thought that their coaches were going crazy totaling points at a big meet with the technological advances that we have now, imagine them without it. Ask your coach about it or someone who’s been around the sport for a while. They’ll probably tell you some interesting and funny stories.

David Halliday, head cross country and track & field coach at Flagler Palm Coast High School, has been around the sport most of his life. Halliday witnessed his own coaches add points here and there, and found himself doing the same thing years later. Halliday, who has had three state titles in cross country, and two in track while at FPC, recalls what it was like.

"It was more difficult to say the least." he said. "Coaches had to count points on paper and check official times on posted results behind the stadium."

In 2007, Halliday won the track & field state title by one point, which was a huge weight lifted off of his shoulders at the end of the night. Of course, it was difficult calculating everything, but Halliday says that he had a few strategies to help along the way. He would keep track of his own team, along with three or four others, and the announcer kept everyone well informed as the meet progressed.

"I knew which team had which events covered in the latter part of the meet." he said. "It is a little crazy, but I always know the point the scenarios heading into the final few events. You have to if you’re a good coach."

Halliday also explained that in situations like that, you have to inform your 4x400 team that they must place since they don’t know completely where the team currently stands.

The Other Side

Bob Cooke of DyeStatFL has been all over the place, covering different meets and talking to different athletes and coaches as well. Cooke remembers some of the experiences from a journalist’s standpoint.

"It was always fun to see a horde of bodies scouring over the posted results on a wall or billboard," he said.

Cooke, like anyone, likes to give accurate times when announcing race winners as he commentates during the race videos he records, as well as when he interviews athletes and coaches. Before live results were made available, Cooke had to deal with many hit-or-miss situations.

"As a journalist, being that extra accurate is something we all strive for, but there needs to be balance," he explained. "Time is a virtue and I wouldn’t pass up an opportunity for an interview waiting on official result."

Seen as a very optimistic guy, Cooke, like many others, looked to the future, knowing that a better and much easier way of getting results would be made available. He knew that the possibility of that wasn’t too far off in the future, and he thinks that this is only the beginning.

"I think we are still in a period of advent that will see instantaneous results via wifi at meets very soon."

For everyone, life before live results brought its ups and downs. It was more difficult to pinpoint the direction that meets were going, and it made a coach’s job a lot harder. However, life before live results served, and still serves as the constant reminder that at big meets, every point counts.