Priceville gets its track back

By Staff
Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
Indoor track returned to Priceville’s Celebration Arena last week, but the Alabama High School Athletic Association couldn’t have been pleased.
The AHSAA had cancelled the 2008 indoor season after complaints about the facility, commonly referred to as the Barn.
But indoor track received a reprieve recently when it was announced that USA Track and Field would hold four weekend meets in Priceville during the month of January.
Last week’s first installment of the four-meet series drew a full field of competitors.
But the meets are not sanctioned by the AHSAA, nor is indoor track an AHSAA-sanctioned sport.
The AHSAA said as much when it announced in a press release that no indoor meets would be sanctioned by the organization.
The AHSAA Central Board of Control extended the season by two weeks and is allowing 12 competitions - two more than in the past - to make up for the loss of indoor track.
According to the AHSAA, the indoor championship program was discontinued “because of safety concerns during recent years at the Priceville event held in February”.
The state organization is hoping to resume the indoor track championships when safety issues are resolved and the event can be moved to a better facility.
There is no time frame on finding an alternate site and the sport has been forced into limbo.
The Priceville arena has plenty of tradition when it comes to hosting indoor track, though, and losing it as a high school track host is detrimental to the sport.
The first meets at the Priceville arena were run on the clay floor with lanes marked out in chalk.
The dust was a problem early, but the fact that a facility could hold the event made it a success.
Later, a track was purchased by the Magic City Track Club, though the track was certainly not new.
Used in a national meet in 1965, the track was also used in several SEC championship meets in Montgomery.
Now the track is well over 40 years old and is probably living out its usefulness.
But that doesn’t mean that the sport should be discontinued. That’s a disservice to a lot of athletes that the AHSAA serves.
Until a compromise is reached, the athletes will pay the price.
Sports editor Todd Thompson can be reached at 773-6566 or by email at todd.thompson@hartselleenquirer.com