The USA Track and Field District Meet at Carrollton High School’s Maddox Track on Saturday was a full day of events for more than 900 competitors, and Trojan high school boys track and field coach Craig Musselwhite said it was a successful meet in bringing so many teams together for great competition.

“This is what track’s all about,” Musselwhite said.

Larry Turner, athletic coordinator for the Carrollton Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department, said it was an impressive turnout in a struggling economy.

“That shows you that people ... do have a little bit of money they’re willing to spend on their kids,” Turner said.

Musselwhite agreed, saying it was all about parents supporting their children.

“They don’t mind coming and paying their money because it’s for these little young guys, the little 7, 8-year-old boys, 9, 10-year-old girls,” Musselwhite said.

But Musselwhite also said the meet served the community well by bringing in what he estimated as 2,500 people to the county. He said that certainly led to folks putting money into the local economy.

“You can’t tell me that summer track doesn’t help economically in a time when you’re trying to find every dollar you can get. This is people coming to spend money in Carroll County,” Musselwhite said. “And that’s why Larry and I think summer track is so important is because not only does it help our kids, it brings money into our economy. Especially when we can host meets in this nature.”

Results from the meet can be found in Tuesday’s edition of the Times-Georgian.

The many positive things Musselwhite heard about the venue on Saturday reinforced his belief that hosting the meet was important.

“That lets me know that we’re doing the right thing by wanting to host meets like this and bring people into our community to experience what we have and trying to give back a little bit, you know, to the sport,” Musselwhite said.

He noted that by 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, 400 hot dogs and 300 hamburgers had been sold at the stadium.

“People (were) spending money in Carroll County (Saturday),” Musselwhite said.

He added that he is committed to keeping the summer track program alive by hosting meets.

“We’re going to continue to do that. You know, if we have to do it by ourself, then we will,” Musselwhite said. “We’ll do whatever we’ve got to do to make this program survive and provide this type of atmosphere and this type of meet for the people that want to come and run in it.”

And both Turner and Musselwhite said they are determined to keep hosting bigger and better track meets in Carrollton.

“We want to get a national meet here,” Musselwhite said.

Turner said it’s certainly a reachable goal.

“It’s just a matter of time,” Turner said.