![Runners watch official Bertha Smiley as they prepare to begin a race during last season's Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals at Rockford.](/sites/default/files/2023-05/230523_track_2H5.png)
Track Gaining Speed Toward Future with Electronic Starting Devices
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
May 23, 2023
Aubrey Greenfield thinks it might be the perfect time to reevaluate 130 years of tradition.
For a number of reasons, from technical to personal, the Oxford senior sprinter believes it makes sense for the crack of a starting pistol to be eliminated from high school track meets.
Because track meets would benefit in various ways from lowering costs to easier setup at meets to the human factor of competitors not having to flinch at the crack of a pistol shot, Greenfield believes the sport has a chance to embrace new technology – electronic starting devices (ESD).
In essence, an ESD replaces the starting pistol with a light flash, tone sound or both to begin a race.
"High school sports should put the athlete first," Greenfield said. "We should promote sports, and eliminating starting pistols promotes health in terms of PTSD or trauma for athletes and spectators and that would be good. I would like to think people would say that's a good idea."
In fact, Greenfield would go as far as to say if there was not an implementation of electronic starting devices, many of her teammates would have considered giving up the sport.
"If it's something that helps us compete safely, we're all for it," she said.
Greenfield's opinion apparently is spreading. Michigan High School Athletic Association senior assistant director Cody Inglis said the use of ESD makes it both affordable for meet starters and sensible for athletes and fans to rethink the use of starting pistols. While the MHSAA is not mandating electronic starting devices, it does promote the use of what Inglis calls "emerging technology." He notes that ESD are becoming the norm for organizations such as USA Track & Field, the NCAA and an increasing number of high schools.
"I think we have to embrace new technology, and we think this will be something that takes hold," Inglis said.
A key part of embracing ESD is the human element. The tragic Oxford High School shooting Nov. 30, 2021, that took the lives of four students while injuring seven others should not be relived even for a fleeting instance at a high school sporting event. Oxford athletic director Tony DeMare said the school began using ESD at every meet, including the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals last June. He said that decision was embraced by virtually all schools Oxford encountered.
"We were very convinced that the alternative (of ESD) would promote a healthy attitude," DeMare said. "We were overwhelmed with the positive response. If a school was on the fence about it or might not be for it, I think we've started to see the tide turn in favor of people willing to listen and learn about electronic starting devices."
Inglis said the MHSAA is acutely aware of what the crack of a starting pistol can mean to athletes and fans.
"It's unimaginable what Oxford went through, and this is a small way we can help," he said. "We look at a (starting pistol) and think, ‘Could we do something else?’ It's a way of helping to solve a problem."
Over the last several years, the MHSAA has embraced finding an alternative to starting pistols. Inglis noted the discussion started with the cost and diminishing availability of 32-caliber ammunition that meet starters use. A box of ammunition, if it can be found, is around $75 a box.
In addition to cost, there is potential damage from excessive exposure to 150-plus decibels of sound generated by the traditional 32-caliber blanks. Medical studies show damage to ears caused by decibel levels above 120 dB.
The tragedy at Oxford accelerated the conversation.
Inglis said the cost of ESD can be likened to a school sinking money into artificial surfaces at football fields. Yes, there is a great cost at first, but over time money is ultimately saved. An ESD system itself ranges between $200 and $500. Speakers also may need to be purchased, but with ESD starting events like the 800 and 1,600-meter relays positioned near the outside lanes 8, 7, 6 and 5 would result in improved hearing by athletes at the start of a race.
There is one challenge with ESD that track administrators are working to overcome – lighting conditions that lessen the ability to see the ESD’s LED light or strobe when the button is pressed by a starter to begin a race. But that vision difficulty resulting from clear blue skies and backgrounds of setting suns can be substantially improved by incorporating a black background with an ESD – something as simple as a starter holding up black cardboard behind the lighting mechanism at the start of an event.
Inglis said when all factors are considered, the use of ESD makes sense.
"With the climate we live in nowadays, no lookalike guns is good," he said. "We're not mandating this. But people are saying this is affordable."
While switching to ESD would break 130 years of tradition, the timing could be a step forward, said Jeff Hollobaugh, co-author of the book "The Fleet Feet of Spring: Michigan's High School State Championships in Track & Field." He said while no definitive answer is possible, it's likely starting pistols were used at the inaugural state meet at the Jackson Fairgounds in 1895. The meet, which included events like tossing a 16-pound shot put, bike races and a 100-meter sprint, was sponsored by the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Association (a predecessor to the MHSAA) and comprised mostly of the state's larger schools.
Hollobaugh's sentiments echo what many involved in today's high school track & field believe in terms of making a transition from starting pistols to electronic starting devices.
"It's a change, not necessarily good or bad, just different," he said. "It's not a drastic change, but it will take some getting used to. But it is the future. In the end, we'll all be fine."
DeMare believes the future of high school track will definitely include ESD.
"Our desire is that the practicality and sensibility of this will overcome the alternative," he said. "I think we'll see the automation and electronics taking hold of certain elements in track, and people will embrace it."
PHOTOS (Top) Runners watch official Bertha Smiley as they prepare to begin a race during last season's Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals at Rockford. (Middle) An electronic starting device provided by VS Athletics was used to start those races. (Below) Smiley sets to begin an event. (Photos provided by David Kuderka/VS Athletics.)
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Concord Conquers LP D4 Convincingly
May 31, 2014
By Chip Mundy
Special to Second Half
HUDSONVILLE – Concord distance runner Jesse Hersha imagined the Yellow Jackets would win the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 track and field championship as far back as last summer.
Or just about the time he heard that Nolen Bright-Mitchell was coming to Concord from Albion High School, which had closed its doors because of budget issues.
“Last spring, we were already thinking we were going to be really good and we had a shot to win the state title,” Hersha said. “Later that summer, I heard a rumor that Nolen was coming, but they were trying to keep it on the down low.
“I asked my dad - he’s the coach - and he just said, ‘He is.’ I was like, ‘Yea, we’re going to win the state title.’ ”
Concord did it convincingly, too. The Yellow Jackets finished with 78 points, far ahead of the 46 registered by defending champion and runner-up Saugatuck.
Bright-Mitchell was as good Saturday as Hersha was with his premonition last summer. After winning the 200 last year for Albion, Bright-Mitchell swept the 100 and 200 and ran on Concord’s winning relay teams in the 800 and 1,600. He set LP Division 4 records in the 100 (10.7 seconds) and 200 (21.62), and the 1,600 relay also set an LP Division 4 record in 3 minutes, 24.19 seconds.
Bright-Mitchell, wearing a blue shoe on his left foot and an orange one on his right, will attend Grand Valley State University in the fall. But he hasn’t forgotten his Albion roots.
“I wore my Albion warm-ups in every meet we had,” he said. “But I love Concord. It’s a great community with great teachers and a great school.”
It was the second MHSAA championship in five years for Concord, which won the 2010 title.
“It’s been a really good year, and we accomplished a lot,” Concord coach Mark Hersha said. “We had a vision for it at the beginning of the year, and it’s really good to see the guys put it all together.”
Coach Hersha also received a bonus as he watched his son Jesse win his first individual track title as he took the 3,200 in 9:38.54.
“That was kind of nice, too,” Mark Hersha said. “It was a fast 1,600, so it was disappointing he was third. He cooled down a little bit, and it was courageous to go back out there and run again in the 3,200.”
Jesse Hersha, just a sophomore, already is a two-time individual champion in cross country.
“My whole high school career has kind of been like an only-distance track team, but now we’ve had a lot more people to come out from the baseball team and everything,” he said, “and a couple of Albion guys, especially Nolen.
“You have to give a lot of credit to Nolen for winning four events.”
Bright-Mitchell had some help on the relays as was joined on the winning 1,600 relay team by Lonelle Langston, Chase Hinkle and Zach Hudson, another Albion transfer.
The winning 800 relay team also included Brett Lehman, Langston and Chevy Burk. Langston also was seventh in the high jump, Lehman was eighth in the 100 and Burk was 11th in the long jump.
Concord also placed fourth in the 400 as Lehman, Hinkle, Treyvon Miller and Langston finished in 44.77 seconds.
Another Albion connection is on the coaching staff as former Albion coach Mike Jurasek and his assistant Dan Davis serve as volunteer coaches. Jurasek is a Concord graduate, and Coach Hersha welcomed him to the staff.
“From a distance, we’ve all seen the success he’s had at Albion and stuff like that,” Hersha said. “It’s kind of almost a miracle to see the things he does with kids – his personality, the way he prepares himself to prepare them – again, there’s a reason why he’s successful.
“Everything about him is a model of excellence, and it’s been a blessing all year long to have him. He doesn’t only help with the guys but with the girls, too.”
Saugatuck had only one individual champion, but it came with some flash. Freshman Blake Dunn won the 300 hurdles in 40.22 seconds, while David Dykstra of White Cloud took the 110 hurdles.
There were two LP Division 4 state records broken in the field events. Curtis Bell cleared 15 feet, 1 inch to set a record and win the pole vault, while Tyrell Hall of Marion soared 12-11.75 to win the long jump.
Other winners in the field events were Tucker Scharf of Unionville-Sebewaing in the discus (148-6), Tyler Crenshaw of Brown City in the shot put (51-8), and Hunter Weeks of Homer in the high jump (6-7).
In the running events, Austin Sandusky of Morenci won the 400 in 50.48, Bryce DeGrammont of Mio took the 800 in 1:58.09, and Luke Anderson of Harbor Beach captured the 1,600 in 4:17.49. The 400 relay went to Southfield Christian, and Muskegon Western Michigan Christian took the 3,200 relay.
PHOTO: Concord’s Nolen Bright-Mitchell (4) set LP Division 4 Finals records in both the 100 and 200 Saturday in Hudsonville. (Click to see more from RunMichigan.com.)