Track Athletes Left High, Dry After Rain Stops

It would have been easier to accept had it been three feet of snow or a small earthquake. Some gale force winds, perhaps, or an invasion of killer bees.

But it was rain--plain, stupid rain--that stopped the State track and field championships before it started Saturday. Rain that washed away the hopes of several hundred athletes from across California.

Unlike the Southern Section softball and baseball finals, which were postponed for a few days, the 1993 State track and field meet will not be rescheduled. Tom Byrnes, commissioner of the State CIF, made that decision early Saturday afternoon, saying that the wet facilities at Cerritos College made for unsafe conditions and rescheduling was not plausible given the logistics involved.

As if hearing that wasn’t bad enough, the athletes, coaches and fans awaiting the news were forced to do so outside the stadium. Gates were kept closed. Communication from officials as to what was going on was almost nil. The only message seemed to be this: The meet has been canceled. Now go on home. That didn’t do much for the mother and father of one athlete. They pulled into the Cerritos College parking lot around 1 p.m.--after driving 800 miles to watch their son compete.

Some athletes, when given the news, burst into tears. Others looked shocked. This was the State championships. The biggest meet of the year. The moment which every high school track star dreams. Rain? Were they kidding? How could anyone just go and cancel a meet like that?

Meet officials pointed out that weather reports indicated a great chance of rain in the late afternoon and evening. One slip on a rain-slick track could spell disaster, they said. They couldn’t take the chance.

Many coaches didn’t want to hear it. They thought the 1:30 p.m. decision was made in haste, that if officials had waited an hour or so they might have noticed the skies clearing and the track drying. Postponing the meet a few hours would have been the answer, coaches said. Declaring it a total loss--an hour before the first event, no less--was inexcusable.

Worse, some believed officials were thinking of presenting State meet awards to athletes based on their performance from Friday night’s preliminaries. The majority of the top athletes use preliminaries for qualifying purposes only--they try to expend as little energy as possible in order to be fresh for the finals. If you’re going to cancel the meet, some wondered, why pass out awards in the first place?

“This was going to be the best high school track meet in the nation this year,” Newport Harbor Coach Tony Ciarelli said. “To take this way from the kids . . . it’s a travesty.”

It didn’t help Byrnes’ cause that, by 4 p.m., the sun was shining around the Southland. With every ray of sunshine, the second-guessing became more heated.

Foothill quarter-miler Ethan Taub telephoned a reporter around 4:15. “Have you looked out your window lately?” he asked. Taub could not help but laugh. The sun was shining bright, the streets were dry. Perfect weather for a track meet.

Back in January, Taub and his teammates waited out the worst snowstorms in East Coast history in order to compete at a national indoor championship at Syracuse, N.Y. The meet was postponed for four days. Still the competitors (and officials) stuck it out.

“I think they’re wimps,” Taub said of meet officials Saturday.

(People in Oregon would no doubt agree. Eugene has long been referred to as “Track City, USA.” Doesn’t rain much up there, does it?)

Certainly, Byrnes had a difficult decision to make Saturday. He will no doubt receive a few nasty cards and letters this week from those who disagreed. Not that it’s going to change anything.

According to Byrnes, the 1993 State meet was washed up from the start.