2013 Prep Top 50 Best Performances and Awards Announced

This year National Deaf Interscholastic Athletic Association (NDIAA) and USA Deaf Track & Field (USADTF) has created a positive collaboration. The partnership will bring greater recognition for Deaf schools. With this, they are three key changes in the criteria:

1. Top 8 finishers receive team points. In the past, points were awarded to the top 6 teams and this method has not changed since 1950. This helps provide more opportunity for recognition and expand competitiveness.
2. Team points are awarded only to NDIAA member schools with the exception of 6th/7th/8th graders. However, all individual deaf athletes from any school will still get recognition according to their performance ranking.
3. The highest honorable awards (team, individual, and coach) will be only awarded to NDIAA member schools.

For the first time since 2000, the Coach of the Year award is now returning to the spotlight! Thanks to NDIAA for redefining the criteria for this award. For the list of past Coach of the Year awards can be found here .

This year, 37 schools have turned in their best performances for both boys and girls.

After reviewing and compiling the finishes of all Track & Field events, the committee has declared the Team of the Year, Player of the Year, and Coach of the Year honors for both boys and girls.

2013 Prep Top 50 Best Performances

For all past prep top best performances, they can be found here .

More about NDIAA, please visit their website – www.ndiaa.us

The winners are:

Boys:
Top: Team of the Year – Illinois School for the Deaf
Left: Track Athlete of the Year – Dwayne Esper, Illinois School for the Deaf
Middle: Field Athlete of the Year – Shaun Novella, Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf
Right: Coach of the Year – Joseph Lee, Illinois School for the Deaf

Girls:
Top: Team of the Year – Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf
Left: Track Athlete of the Year – Kori Koss, Wisconsin School for the Deaf
Middle: Field Athlete of the Year – Malakia Gowan, Louisiana School for the Deaf
Right: Coach of the Year – Therese Pohl-Markowitz, Wisconsin School for the Deaf

Sixth Berg/Seeger Classic Completes the Mission

The original 6th Berg/Seeger Classic was to be scheduled on April 12-13. It was called off due to wintery weather conditions. Then it was rescheduled for May 11 and the Deaf Schools track & field teams were happy it got another chance.

The Sixth Annual Berg/Seeger Track & Field Classic for Deaf Prep Schools across America was held at Bruce Smith Stadium in Faribault, Minnesota on May 11, 2013. It was hosted by Minnesota State Academy School for the Deaf (MSAD).

Bruce Smith Stadium has 2 alternately colored 9-lanes with Mondo surface. Mondo track is the world’s leader in running track performance. This was the same competition surface used for the 2009 Summer Deaflympics in Taipei. Athletes had the fantastic opportunity to run on this world class surface.

The weather was sunny and had northwestern gusty winds which topped between 20 to 35mph.

MSAD came away as both the Boys’ and Girls’ Team Overall Champions.

MSAD boys’ team scored 191 points, a comfortable victory over second place Wisconsin School for the Deaf (WSD) with 100 points and Indiana School for the Deaf (ISD) who came in third with 78 points.

The girls’ championship was in similar fashion as MSAD scored 238 points; second place goes to WSD who finished with 120 points; ISD with a score of 88 for third place.

At the Berg/Seeger Classic, a total of 94 athletes from 9 schools competed. Over the weekend, 1 meet record was broken in the boys’ 4x200m relay. The old record was set by Model Secondary School for the Deaf with a time of 1:38.69 on April 18, 2009 in Austin, Texas. The new record was eclipsed by MSAD with a time of 1:37.66.

The Ruth T. Seeger award recipients for girls were:
Shellane McKitty, SR from New York-Fanwood in White Plains was named best Track Athlete
Tabitha Anderson, JR from MSAD was named Best Field Athlete
Simone James, JR from Indiana received Best All Around Athlete honors

The Thomas O. Berg award recipients for boys were:
Taylor Pierce, SO from MSAD for best Track Athlete
Shaun Novella, SR from MSAD was named Best Field Athlete
Malcolm Harris, SR from Oregon received Best All Around Athlete honors

For more information from the 6th Berg/Seeger Classic, you can click on this link below, which will download a PDF document for Summary/Photos, School List, Roster, Results, Records and more.
2013 Berg/Seeger Classic Results

For the Top 10 Performances list of each event from Berg/Seeger in the 6-year history of the meet, click below.
Top 10 Performances

For next year’s 7th Berg/Seeger Classic, Kentucky School for the Deaf won the rights to host the event. This will take place on April 11-12, 2014, at Danville High School which is closeby the host’s campus. At the time of the writing, 9 schools have already expressed interest in participating.

6th Berg/Seeger Track & Field Classic Confirmed

The 6th Berg/Seeger Track & Field Classic will be hosted by Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf in Faribault on 12-13 April 2013.

It has been confirmed that Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf (MSAD) will host the 6th Berg/Seeger Classic in Faribault on April 12 – 13, 2013. The track & field competition will take place at Bruce Smith Track and Field stadium in Alexander Park. Their facilities are one of the best in southeast Minnesota. It has 9 lanes, 2-colored alternate lanes, two jumping pits, two shot put areas and one discus area, and an electronic scoreboard. There will be prelims and a few field events going on Friday evening starting at 6PM.

This classic is open to all Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing high school athletes, including schools for the Deaf and mainstream schools in the United States. The purpose for this classic is to promote interest in track and field among Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing high school athletes.

MSAD’s Welcome Letter can be viewed here .

About the Berg/Seeger Classic – Thomas O. Berg and Ruth T. Seeger were part of the first USA Team going to Deaflympics in 1957. They had coached for over 85 years combined and coached numerous National Champions, All-Americans, Deaflympians and many of their athletes broke many national and world records.

The Berg/Seeger Classic honors these coaches for their outstanding coaching and contribution to track and field among Deaf athletes for so many years.

For more biography of Thomas O. Berg and Ruth T. Seeger, visit here .