Vertklasse 2009

Vertklasse 2009 will be High Point University's first home track & field meet in quite some time. There has been much probing as to the naming of this event, so I thought we should provide a little history.

When we decided to organize a home meet, we sat down to think about what kind of meet we wanted to have. If you know anything about High Point University, you know that it's a "WOW" school. HPU strives to be extraordinary in every way. . . SO we want this meet to be extraordinary. Espo, one of the biggest fans of track & field there is, thought of the Weltklasse in Zurich (Weltklasse, pronounced with a "V"). Here's what the Weltklasse Website says about their meet:

They always give it everything; they run the fastest, they throw the farthest, jump the farthest and the highest. Athletes performing at Weltklasse Zurich are all world class representatives of their sport. Every year, they meet in Zurich before the legendary Letzigrund audience for a night of highest-level, emotional track and field.

Weltklasse Zürich is considered the most renowned, the most prestigious one-day athletics event worldwide. Adepts of the sport call it ‘the Olympic Games in one night'. And with a reason: traditionally, the fields staged in the Letzigrund feature all notables of the various disciplines. The next chance to see them will be Friday, August 28th, 2009.

Well we wanted this same format, a one-evening, high intensity track & field Classic, or Klasse, I should say. We want it to move pretty quickly from event to event. We want fast races, with athletes competing for spots at the NCAA Regional, we want high schoolers trying to qualify for spots at their National Championship in events that they don't often get a chance to contest (jav, steeple, 400H). We want it all.

So we are naming it after two of those responsible for our stadium, Dick & Peg Vert who met at High Point University. Dick ran for the Panthers and is one of our number 1 supporters. But the naming of this meet also alludes to prestigious Weltklasse, and we hope this combo produces some of the greatest performances this track has seen.

If you haven't see the video on the Weltklasse website, you should definitely check it out! Click here for the video. It will get you excited for the Vertklasse!