The meet at University of Rochester had minimum marks, which I love. I like having meets where top competition comes out, rather than seeing 2 flights of freshmen in their first meet. Rochester high schools need more minimum mark meets to bring in good competition.  Keep the new throwers to dual meets, as there is no reason to put them in an invitational they have little chance of doing well in.

For those who do not know, at a normal minimum mark meets the first legal throw is marked and every throw thereafter which does not pass the minimum distance is considered a foul. The meet goes quickly and new throwers face a little added pressure of having to throw a certain distance. The problem at U of R was the official decided that every throw under the line was a foul, including the first throw. The entire first flight of shot put didn't have a single mark. This was a waste of everyone's time and hurt the egos of all those guys throwing.

All these formats should already be figured before the meet starts. If a minimum mark meet means no throws under a certain distance is marked then so be it if you can't have meets where they mark the first legal throw as well. The latter coaches will take athlete's throwing close to the line in hopes they will rise to the pressure. In the first option why would a team waste the resources on someone who could easily come back having no chance of a legal throw? The officials seem to have decided on what was going to happen at the meet instead of a head of time, which is unfair to everyone involved.

Don't leave major meet format issues to be figured out minutes before the competition starts. I don't think this was U of R's fault. I think this was a mistake on the part of the officials for not knowing how these meets are usually run. Just because you're an official, don't be afraid to ask a senior coach, they've been around a while and know how things are usually run.