Track and field | FHSAA overhauls format as state championships come to IMG Academy

BRADENTON -- IMG Academy won't just be a new venue for the state championships this weekend. It also will be the host to a new two-day format Friday and Saturday.

In past years, the four classifications were split across two days but all events for a given classification were held during a single day. At last year's state championships in Jacksonville, Classes 1A and 2A were held during the first day, and Classes 3A and 4A were held the following day.

All field events for a classification were held during one day, and both preliminary and final runs took place on the same day. Many athletes this year will spend two days at IMG Academy Stadium.

For Lakewood Ranch head coach Mark Napier it's a more familiar format with some things he prefers.

"It's like a college meet," Napier said, "which I'm used to."

The two-day meet begins Friday at noon with a slew of field events, including the boys long jump for the big schools, the girls high jump for the small schools and the girls high jump for the big schools.

At 2 p.m., those who were in the high jump go to the long jump, and vice versa, and at 4 p.m. the opposite-size schools start on the two jumps before alternating at 6 p.m. At 5 p.m., boys pole vaulting begins for big schools.

The rest of the jumping events start at 9 a.m. on Saturday, so for Sophia Falco, a Class 4A contender in the long and triple jumps for the Mustangs, she gets a full night off between her two jumping events, and since the state championship is in Bradenton she gets an extra benefit.

"I think it will be nice because I get to go home and sleep in my own bed every night," Falco said.

Throwing events are also split up across two days, with Classes 2A and 4A starting at 2 p.m. on Friday and Classes 1A and 3A beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

The running events are where the change is most notable. Friday is almost exclusively for preliminaries -- only the 800- and 3,200-meter runs have finals -- which start at 3 p.m. The top eight in each event won't go again later in the afternoon. This year, the qualifiers will wait until 2 p.m. the next day to compete in their finals. And for distance runners, who don't have preliminaries, the FHSAA has split the relays and individual competitions.

For athletes like Falco, who are competing in both jumping and running events, the same conflicts can emerge that were there in the past, but Manatee head coach Mike Smith expects it to be a benefit for most.

"I'm excited for it," Smith said. "Now we've got sprinters that don't have to run six races in one day."

David Wilson, Herald sports writer, can be contacted at 941-745-7057 or on Twitter@DBWilson2.

This story was originally published May 5, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Track and field | FHSAA overhauls format as state championships come to IMG Academy ."