The New Jersey track and field state championship schedule for next year will likely follow the same format as this season, NJSIAA track and field tournament director Al Stumpf said on Wednesday afternoon.
The NJSIAA schedule this season had the state sectional meets take place on the Friday and Saturday of the weekend before Memorial Day weekend (May 16-17), the earliest it has ever been. The Groups Championship were two weeks later on the Friday and a Saturday after Memorial Day weekend (May 30-31) and the Meet of Champions today (the first Wednesday in June).
Stumpf is confident that the 2026 state tournament schedule will look the same next spring.
"I'm 90 percent sure that it will remain the same," Stumpf said. "That is what I will recommend to the track and field committee when we meet on June 23."
One of the biggest pluses to the sectionals being held so early in May is that it allows the Meet of Champions to take place on the first Wednesday of June where it won't conflict with any national meets, which had been a huge problem in recent years when the sectionals were held the weekend after Memorial Day weekend.
Stumpf also said that the sites for all the sectionals, the Groups and the Meet of Champions have not yet been finalized.