lambert
01-11-2007, 11:06 PM
I high jacked another thread to post this, but felt I should start a new one in order to get more feedback from union county coaches, athletes, fans, etc.
The time has come for change in Union County. The Union County Coaches need to start some kind of petition or possibly even boycott the union meets if they continue to be held at the Dunn Center. Enough is enough already with this place.
I always thought you needed a track to have a track meet. Not so in union county.
Lines around a basketball court and 100 laps for a mile isn't a track. It's a roller rink. Why not have the dashes run on lanes in a bowling alley. what's the difference?
Do you think a county baseball final would be held on a field where you have to run around the bases twice to score a run?
Come on already. There are already certain schools that don't run at dunn for safety reasons. I have seen countless athletes fall on the slippery turns, batons always fly and team titles lost because of the poor conditions.
Drew and the Jersey city armory are obvious places to move the meet. the rates are pretty reasonable.
I know there is not a union county coach that disagrees with me because about 7-8 years ago when Mike Hartnett started a petition every school signed it. I know because I got a copy of it.
I wrote a story about it (you'll see it below this) and the late Frank Cicarell, the head of Union County athletics at the time, got all over me for writing the truth.
But nothing has changed. Cicarell didn't want to spend the money to go elsewhere (I think it's free or pretty close to it to run at Dunn). Where did all that entry fee money go? It's a crime that you have pay as much as you do to run at dunn.
When you go to the store you get 50 percent off of on cannned foods that have dents in them. why not pay less for a flawed track.
And while were on the subject, let's get the county x-c championship meet and watchung conf. championship meet run on the championship course. It's just a few bucks to get a cop to make sure traffic stops while runners cross the road Morris county used warainanco this year and ran on the longer course. As did the iron hills conf. for several years when it used warainanco.
I do give the county lots of credit for making big stides the last couple years in other areas.
Thanks to jack martin of westfield there are now printed results that are posted on-line. And with the hard work of mike mcabe of union catholic and some others, there is a very impressive web site for the county. They should be commended.
Now it's time to take the next step.
Look, I know almost every union county coach and I have a good relationship with all of you, so I know you aren't taking any of this personally. I know from talking with all of you over the years that you want these changes made as well. It's for the good of the sport. so I feel it's time to take a stand, not just one or two of you. everyone needs to be heard when a new county athletic supervisor is named.
Have a coaches meeting with the new union county director. I'd be happy to attend that meeting and repeat the things I've just stated. Feel free to print out what I just wrote and give it your ad's. Their support is obviously needed on this.
Good luck to all at the state relays this weekend.
Jim Lambert
here is story about Dunn
The Star-Ledger Archive
COPYRIGHT © The Star-Ledger 2000
Date: 2000/01/28 Friday Page: 070 Section: SPORTS Edition: FINAL Size: 983 words
Union County coaches favor moving indoor meets
By Jim Lambert
Union County track coaches and athletes hope they've seen the last of Elizabeth's Dunn Center.
Responding to comments published last week in this notebook about moving the indoor meets out of Dunn, Cranford assistant coach Mike Harnett drafted a proposal for a change of venue.
The Union County boys meet director and all but one head coach signed the letter Wednesday at the county meet at Dunn. Rich Thomasey of Summit, the only head coach not to sign, said he favors a move but will write his own letter to Union County Interscholastic Athletic Conference executive director Frank Cicarell.
Harnett said he faxed the request, signed by 29 people, to Cicarell yesterday.
The letter asks Cicarell to consider moving the Union County indoor track meets for safety reasons and to give athletes a chance to improve their performances.
''First and foremost, the floor at the Dunn Center is not a safe surface to have a track meet on," the letter, obtained by The Star-Ledger, states. "Every winter there are athletes that fall and suffer minor injuries, and a few that suffer more serious ones.
''From a competitive standpoint, the Dunn Center floor is so slow that the times our athletes run are useless to us when we try to seed them at the state and/or Eastern Championships."
Coaches and athletes have complained for years about running at Dunn, which doesn't have a standard track. Runners compete on the gym floor with painted lines serving as the lanes. They must run 12 laps for a mile. Runners routinely lose their footing and fall because of the slippery surface and the tight turns.
Harnett said he got the idea for the letter after reading the track notebook last Friday, in which Cicarell said, "If enough people came to me, I'd look into going somewhere else. But we'd have to see how much it would cost and see whether the schools in the county would all be willing to pay more than what they are paying now."
The coaches' petition says that cost should not be an issue.
''While getting into another facility will obviously cost more than using the Dunn Center," the letter states, "we owe it our athletes, for their safety and the quality of the meet, to at least check into getting into a facility like Drew, Seton Hall or FDU."
Drew University hosts all the Morris County track championships and the Mountain Valley Conference meet as well as several other high school invitationals each winter. Seton Hall University hosts the Essex County Championships. Both tracks are 200 meters and Seton Hall just put down a new track.
''I know the bottom line will be having to sell the idea to our athletic directors and trying to find an open date at another facility," Harnett said. "But I think moving the meet should be strongly considered for the safety of all the athletes and the good of the sport."
The time has come for change in Union County. The Union County Coaches need to start some kind of petition or possibly even boycott the union meets if they continue to be held at the Dunn Center. Enough is enough already with this place.
I always thought you needed a track to have a track meet. Not so in union county.
Lines around a basketball court and 100 laps for a mile isn't a track. It's a roller rink. Why not have the dashes run on lanes in a bowling alley. what's the difference?
Do you think a county baseball final would be held on a field where you have to run around the bases twice to score a run?
Come on already. There are already certain schools that don't run at dunn for safety reasons. I have seen countless athletes fall on the slippery turns, batons always fly and team titles lost because of the poor conditions.
Drew and the Jersey city armory are obvious places to move the meet. the rates are pretty reasonable.
I know there is not a union county coach that disagrees with me because about 7-8 years ago when Mike Hartnett started a petition every school signed it. I know because I got a copy of it.
I wrote a story about it (you'll see it below this) and the late Frank Cicarell, the head of Union County athletics at the time, got all over me for writing the truth.
But nothing has changed. Cicarell didn't want to spend the money to go elsewhere (I think it's free or pretty close to it to run at Dunn). Where did all that entry fee money go? It's a crime that you have pay as much as you do to run at dunn.
When you go to the store you get 50 percent off of on cannned foods that have dents in them. why not pay less for a flawed track.
And while were on the subject, let's get the county x-c championship meet and watchung conf. championship meet run on the championship course. It's just a few bucks to get a cop to make sure traffic stops while runners cross the road Morris county used warainanco this year and ran on the longer course. As did the iron hills conf. for several years when it used warainanco.
I do give the county lots of credit for making big stides the last couple years in other areas.
Thanks to jack martin of westfield there are now printed results that are posted on-line. And with the hard work of mike mcabe of union catholic and some others, there is a very impressive web site for the county. They should be commended.
Now it's time to take the next step.
Look, I know almost every union county coach and I have a good relationship with all of you, so I know you aren't taking any of this personally. I know from talking with all of you over the years that you want these changes made as well. It's for the good of the sport. so I feel it's time to take a stand, not just one or two of you. everyone needs to be heard when a new county athletic supervisor is named.
Have a coaches meeting with the new union county director. I'd be happy to attend that meeting and repeat the things I've just stated. Feel free to print out what I just wrote and give it your ad's. Their support is obviously needed on this.
Good luck to all at the state relays this weekend.
Jim Lambert
here is story about Dunn
The Star-Ledger Archive
COPYRIGHT © The Star-Ledger 2000
Date: 2000/01/28 Friday Page: 070 Section: SPORTS Edition: FINAL Size: 983 words
Union County coaches favor moving indoor meets
By Jim Lambert
Union County track coaches and athletes hope they've seen the last of Elizabeth's Dunn Center.
Responding to comments published last week in this notebook about moving the indoor meets out of Dunn, Cranford assistant coach Mike Harnett drafted a proposal for a change of venue.
The Union County boys meet director and all but one head coach signed the letter Wednesday at the county meet at Dunn. Rich Thomasey of Summit, the only head coach not to sign, said he favors a move but will write his own letter to Union County Interscholastic Athletic Conference executive director Frank Cicarell.
Harnett said he faxed the request, signed by 29 people, to Cicarell yesterday.
The letter asks Cicarell to consider moving the Union County indoor track meets for safety reasons and to give athletes a chance to improve their performances.
''First and foremost, the floor at the Dunn Center is not a safe surface to have a track meet on," the letter, obtained by The Star-Ledger, states. "Every winter there are athletes that fall and suffer minor injuries, and a few that suffer more serious ones.
''From a competitive standpoint, the Dunn Center floor is so slow that the times our athletes run are useless to us when we try to seed them at the state and/or Eastern Championships."
Coaches and athletes have complained for years about running at Dunn, which doesn't have a standard track. Runners compete on the gym floor with painted lines serving as the lanes. They must run 12 laps for a mile. Runners routinely lose their footing and fall because of the slippery surface and the tight turns.
Harnett said he got the idea for the letter after reading the track notebook last Friday, in which Cicarell said, "If enough people came to me, I'd look into going somewhere else. But we'd have to see how much it would cost and see whether the schools in the county would all be willing to pay more than what they are paying now."
The coaches' petition says that cost should not be an issue.
''While getting into another facility will obviously cost more than using the Dunn Center," the letter states, "we owe it our athletes, for their safety and the quality of the meet, to at least check into getting into a facility like Drew, Seton Hall or FDU."
Drew University hosts all the Morris County track championships and the Mountain Valley Conference meet as well as several other high school invitationals each winter. Seton Hall University hosts the Essex County Championships. Both tracks are 200 meters and Seton Hall just put down a new track.
''I know the bottom line will be having to sell the idea to our athletic directors and trying to find an open date at another facility," Harnett said. "But I think moving the meet should be strongly considered for the safety of all the athletes and the good of the sport."