The University Interscholastic League state track and field meet is one week away, and the anticipating is building.
Forestburg’s Skyler Sandusky will be Montague County’s first athlete to compete – on Thursday at 5 p.m. in the high jump.
Sandusky will compete again on Friday in the long jump and the 400-meter dash finals.
Bowie’s entrants are Addy Cook and Kamryn Cantwell, and those Lady Rabbits will hit the stage at Mike A. Myers Stadium on Saturday in the triple jump and 400 dash respectively.
There’s more than meets the eye what happens at a track and field meet, and there are many interlocking parts in this well-oiled machine.
And perhaps the most important role belongs to the starter.
“The starter has two roles,” said Jacksboro head track and field coach Joel Hood, who served in the same capacity at Bowie for the entire course of the 1990s.
“They can dictate that pace of a meet,” Hood said. “If they are active and on the ball, they’ll make sure the runners are ready to go.”
Hood said the other role is to make sure rules are adhered to.
“Athletes can feed off the attitude of the starter,” he said.
Starters must command a presence, and they need to speak from an authoritative position.
For the past few years, Hood has employed Fairfield-based Thomas Baxter as the starter. Baxter filled the role at Jacksboro’s regular-season meet as well as the District 3A-8 and Area 3A-7/8 meets.
Baxter brings along with himself his own public address system, which helps add clout to his official capacity.
“His experience as a starter makes him an invaluable part of the meet,” Hood said. “Another reason why I use him is he doesn’t have any local ties.”
That means the starter will have an unbiased, qualified, professional interpretation of the rules. Read more from this column in the May 6 edition.

Editor’s Note: The Storm Center column is the expressed written views of sports editor Eric Viccaro and not The Bowie News.

Thomas Baxter has worked as a starter at the Jacksboro Invitational, District 3A-8 and Area 3A-7/8 meets this year in Jacksboro. Baxter is certified through U.S.A. Track and Field. (News photo by Eric Viccaro)