President William Hickman called the meeting to order at 2:35 p.m. in the Seattle Parks and Recreation Southwest Community Center, 2801 SW Thistle St., Seattle. He thanked Chef Kenny Emerick for preparing lunch for the approximately 40 persons present.
I. MINUTES AND EXECUTIVE REPORTS
A. Minutes: It was moved and seconded to accept the minutes of the August 17, 2009 Board meeting as published on the web site. The motion was approved.
B. Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Gwen Robertson distributed her report as of September 17, 2009. It was moved and seconded to approve the report. Passed unanimously. The balances in the various accounts are: Youth $13,303.68; Open $7,719.01; Open Chair Fund $2,567.69; Masters $6,768.34; General Officials $1,372.43; Fred Dean Youth Travel $5,878.60; and General $18,206.05.
C. PNTF Board Meetings: President Hickman invited all to attend the PNTF Board Meetings, usually held at the Parks and Recreation Building at 100 Dexter Ave N in Seattle.
D. Vice President’s Report: Vice President Kwajalein Griffin had no report.
E. Office Manager’s Report: Carole Langenbach said she will be preparing the PNTF Update Newsletter to be distributed to all PNTF Members. She solicited input for the Newsletter. She also noted that the USATF National Office had sent out, on time for a change, the tax exempt status information for PNTF to fill out.
F. President’s State of the Association Report: President Hickman spoke of PNTF, asking how do we measure it? North to South? East to West? PNTF had received a report from USATF listing all the Associations, and how they fulfilled the criteria for an Association. PNTF was one of the few that fulfilled ALL the listed criteria. Why was that? Because of the hard work and dedication of its officers and committees and many other dedicated PNTF members. He thanked PNTF Officers Kwajalein Griffin, Gwen Robertson, and Bob Langenbach. He thanked Office Manager Carole Langenbach and Membership Chair Tracy Silva. He mentioned the continued support of PNTF’s Bill Roe, Past USATF President, and present USATF Secretary Darlene Hickman. He noted that several PNTF Officials are up for awards: Lanny Dowell has been nominated for the Officials’ Hall of Fame, Kelly Rankin has been nominated for the Andy Bakjian Award, and Bob Springer has been nominated for the Horace Crow Award. It is officials like these and the rest of the PNTF Officials that keep our meets on schedule. PNTF is the leader in training of Officials. PNTF’s Lawrie Robertson and Bob Springer have prepared training class materials that are used by USATF for its officials training classes. Bob Springer has distributed the training DVDs world wide. He noted that Bob Springer is the new chair of the USATF Equipment and Specifications (E&FSS) Committee, and Ivars Ikstrums is the new editor of the E&FSS Newsletter. President Hickman closed his report by noting that sometime in the near future, the University of Washington will renovate/rebuild Husky Stadium. This will undoubtedly mean the stadium will no longer have a track encircling the field. Where it will be is unknown, but the PNTF Membership will overcome this challenge, too.
II ATHLETICS COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. Youth Committee: Chair Asha Dean thanked the officials for helping at the Cross Country and Track & Field Meets this past year. She said PNTF had a successful year at the local, regional and national levels. A highlight was Amy-Eloise Neale winning the 1500m and 3000m at the JO National T&F Championships in Greensboro, NC.
B. Open Committee: Chair Tom Cotner said the Road Race Championship schedule is set. The prize money for the 5 Championship races has been increased to $17,500, and he also negotiated $300 for the Masters Road Race prize money. Participation at the Association Cross Country Race was the most in 10 years. The Association T&F Championships were held in conjunction with the CNW All-Comers meets with good turnout. On the National and International stage, PNTF had 11 members on team USA and won 15 major championships. PNTF has had 8 World Champions, led by Doris Brown Heritage’s 5 Cross Country victories and Brad Walker with both a World Indoor and World Outdoor Pole Vault victory. The newest World Champion from PNTF is Devon Crosby-Helms with a World 100 km Team championship, and 4th place individual.
a. MUT: Scott McCoubry was not present, but Adam Lint reported he and Joe Gray and Devon Crosby-Helms represented the US in various National, IAAF Regional, and International Ultra and Mountain Championships.
C. Masters Committee: Chair George Mathews said PNTF had a successful Spring Fling and Seattle Classic. He thanked Ivars Ikstrums for being the head weights and measures official for the Masters Weight, Superweight and Ultraweight National Championships at the Concordia Throws Center in August. A new masters ultra throwing perpetual award has been introduced honoring Ken Weinbel for his pioneering work.
D. Race Walk Committee: Chair Stan Chraminski thanked the PNTF Officials for supporting racewalking. He noted that Tommy Aunan missed first place by 0.01 second in his National Championship competition.
E. Officials Committee: Bob Springer reported that PNTF had a major drop in certified officials from 276 to 96. They are trying to understand the reason, but it is still early in the Olympiad. The PNTFOA is looking into buying and replacing some equipment. They are in the process of contracting with the UW for approximately 10 days of indoor meets next year. There will be one UW outdoor meet May 8, 2010. Lawrie Robertson announced that he has an Introductory Officiating Clinic scheduled for February 6, 2010 at Seattle Parks, 100 Dexter Ave N in Seattle. Bob Springer said he is working with the WIAA and WOA on getting accreditation for HS officials. He will be doing a circuit in Eastern Washington to present the HS officiating classes.
III BUSINESS
A. USATF Association Workshop: Patti Petesch said she and Darlene Hickman and Kwajalein attended the workshop August 28-30 in Des Moines, Iowa. A highlight for her was going to Drake Stadium. Bill Roe was the event’s MC. USATF CEO Doug Logan and USATF President Stephanie Hightower gave a presentation on the status of USATF. Presentations were given about the new procedures that must be followed for concussions. She said that records from events must be retained for 10 years for adults, and 10 years past the 18th birthday for youth competitors. Evacuation (emergency) procedures were also described for competition and training situations.
B. USATF Youth Workshop: Asha Dean attended the workshop with Kwajalein Griffin in Atlanta in March 2009. The focus was on safety and background checks for coaches and volunteers.
C. Washington State Games: Bill Roe said that the Washington State Games held at that Wednesday All-Comers meet set an all-time record of 710 entries. The 2010 Washington State Games will be Saturday July 17th.
D. USATF Annual Meeting: Carole Langenbach said the meeting will be in Indianapolis December 2-6, 2009. She has the list of “International Athletes” in PNTF. PNTF needs some of those athletes to be delegates to properly fulfill delegation requirements. There will be a stipend given to those athlete delegates. Any PNTF member interested in attending the meeting should contact Carole.
E. Annual PNTF Awards Banquet: Char Engelhardt said the scheduled date is February 6, 2010. It will be at a different location as the meal service was not adequate at the hotel we have used for the past two years.
F. Election of Officers: Carole Langenbach has contacted the present officers (President William Hickman, Vice President Kwajalein Griffin, Treasurer Gwen Robertson, and Secretary Bob Langenbach) and all have agreed to run for an additional term. The floor was opened for further nominations. There being none, Kenny Emerick moved that nominations be closed and the officers be elected. The motion was seconded by Darlene Hickman. The motion passed unanimously. Congratulations to the officers.
G. PNTF Board Meeting Schedule for 2010: Kwajalein Griffin asked how the 6 Board (plus Annual) Meeting schedule had worked in 2009. The general agreement was it was OK, and should be continued for 2010. Scheduled Board meetings will be the 3rd Monday of January, April, June, August, October, and November, with the Annual Meeting on the 3rd or 4th Sunday in September.
H. Cross Country Bid Report: Bill Roe said that PNTF had been awarded the 2011 Club Cross Country Championships to be held that December at Jefferson Golf Course in Seattle. He hopes that PNTF will hold Youth, Masters, and Open Cross Country races there before the Club race to check out the course and PNTF’s operation of the races so that all will be well. He asked that PNTF pitch in and work together to ensure the success of the race. He will be holding the first meeting of the race committee soon to assign tasks and responsibilities.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Patty Ley of Gig Harbor has been named as head coach of the USATF Junior Women’s World Cross Country team for the competition to be held in March 2010 in Poland. Congratulations, Patty!
The meeting was adjourned at 3:42 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Bob Langenbach
PNTF Secretary