Ready or not, the new academic and athletic year has arrived. Teachers are busy preparing to meet the needs of their students and coaches in fall sports are already deep into their respective seasons with competitions coming soon. As we kick off the 2018-2019 there are some fantastic things going on within the IATC. President Tim O’Neill has done a tremendous job of improving member benefits. Secretary/Treasurer Ben Duea has greatly improved the membership process. Website coordinator Rob Hamman has done an amazing job of creating and updating our IATC website. Those are just a few of the items of business in which the IATC is working to always improve and update.
Looking back on the track and field season; our spring weather across the state of Iowa was less than ideal. In fact it was downright brutal. If you did not lose multiple meets due to weather you were an anomaly. With that said; the performances of the student athletes across all classes at the Drake Relays and the state meet was still phenomenal. That is a testament to the coaches and competitors we have across our great state.
The IATC would like to thank Ames HS for hosting the Mike Henderson Junior High Boys State Track and Field meet as well as Ankeny Centennial for hosting the Mike Henderson Junior High Girls State meet as well. Central College again hosted the 7th-12th grade coed state pentathlon the week after the state meet at their beautiful facility. The staff at the University of Dubuque did a tremendous job hosting the Senior Spotlight Meet in early June as well. Team Iowa defeated Team Illinois and Team Wisconsin for the first time in many years for the team title. There are so many people behind the scenes who help to make these IATC events successful. Thank you to all who volunteered their time and we look forward to continuing to grow and improve these events in 2019!
Moving forward, I would like to wish all of the cross country athletes and coaches the very best of luck this season. The state qualifying meets will be held on October 18th while the coed state cross meet will be held on October 27th. Individual and team rankings will continue to be released throughout the season. We are still compiling information the JH state cross country meet and the Cross Country Senior Spotlight Meet. We will get that information posted to the IATC website as soon as possible.
One of the major goals that we are trying to improve within the IATC is increased attendance at our meetings. We had a fantastic turnout for our June meeting and we hope that this trend continues. Our fall meeting is already scheduled for Sunday, November 3rd at 9:30am at Iowa City West High School. The Championship Productions Track and Field Clinic is set for December 7th-8th, 2019 at the Gateway Hotel & Conference Center in Ames. We are planning to have an hour get-together on that Friday evening to update IATC members on the progress of our organization as well as hearing from state officials, etc. The Hall of Fame Banquet will take place on Saturday the 8th. Look for more information coming out soon.
In closing please know how much we appreciate your membership and your contributions to our association. We wish all of you the best of luck in 2018-2019!
Jared Fletcher
1st Vice President
