Georgia High School Association Votes Down Adding 4x800 Relay to State Meet

By Adam Kopet

Georgia will not join the 42 states that include the 4x800 relay in their outdoor state meet schedules.

David Friedlander of the Gwinnett Daily Post reports that the executive committee for the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) voted down a proposal to add the 4x800 relay to the Georgia state meet program for all classification.

After the 4x800 relay proposal was voted out of the sub-committee on a seven-three vote, the executive committee voted down the proposal by a tally of 43-21.

Schools were surveyed as part of developing the proposal, with apparently a majority of the responding schools being in favor of adding the relay to the state meet.

However, one of the major concerns expressed by some on the executive committee, according to Friedlander, was the added time to both the state meet and the sectional and regional meets that lead to state meet qualifying.

With the vote complete, it will likely be several more years before another 4x800 relay proposal comes before the GHSA executive committee. In the meantime, Georgia will remain one of the eight states that do not hold the event as part of state-level competition.