Mike Jay has served as public address announcer at the US Olympics Trials, the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships as well as the Drake Relays. The native of Columbus Junction has a special affinity for the Iowa High School Track and Field Championships. Jay will be on the microphone for the 21st straight year when the state meet begins Thursday morning in Drake Stadium.
“Between indoor, outdoor and cross country I do about 35 to 40 meets a year”, said Jay. “This is the best one of all.”
Jay first had an announcing role in 2003 when the girls and boys competed on separate weekends. Two years later they merged to accommodate renovations at Drake Stadium and the coed meet has become the most well attended state meet in the country.
“Some people when something like this would happen would say it created a monster”, added Jay. “It has been everything but that. It has been a huge success since day one.”
Competition begins Thursday morning at Drake Stadium with action in class 1A and 4A.