When a big-time track meet comes to town, you'd better have a big-time workforce ready to run it.
That's the plan for Lincoln University, which will be hosting the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association's Outdoor Track and Field Championships during the next three days.
And while a good portion of those working the event are hired professionals, there is going to be a large amount of volunteers donating their time.
"It's affecting not just athletics, but all of campus," Lincoln athletic director Betty Kemna said. "We have volunteers coming from a wide range of departments across campus.
"The officials are in place, the paid people we have coming in. But we still need the bodies to rake the sand pits, park the cars, take the tickets, all of that. It's a large undertaking and it took us awhile to figure out how many people we were going to need, but we're hoping we have everything covered."
Tim Abney, the event coordinator from inside the athletic department, said it didn't take long to find people willing to help.
"They have been extremely willing," he said. "We sent out an email to all the people on campus and then we've had others ask to assist. I have had probably 50 calls from people, even students, stepping up.
"I've had people call and say, "I don't know what I'm doing, but I would love to be a part of this.' And I've said, "Just show up and we'll show you what to do.'"
The number of volunteers has swelled to more than 125.
"If events weren't going on in multiple spots, we could do it with less, but we have throws going on with jumps and races," Kemna said. "There's so much at one time."
Abney said those who have volunteered have a sense of ownership in the event.
"I cannot forget the (Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau's) Athletic Events Committee - they have stepped up to the plate," he said. "We're getting everybody involved in this, which is the most important thing, because this is not just for Lincoln, this is for all of us around here."
Dennis Licklider, the meet director, said some of the volunteers have pretty impressive track and field pedigrees.
"We've got Russ Bell and Jon Lindquist, who were both state-champion throwers for us, they're going to come help with the hammer throw on Sunday," he said. "Brian Presberry, who was a former long- and triple-jump state champion, he's going to be here on Sunday helping with the triple jump. Just around the track we've got that kind of help. We're pretty fortunate to have that, not every community has those kind of folks."
And when it comes to the hired professionals, Licklider thinks he has compiled an impressive group.
"You not only have to have officials, you have to have the right ones, people that will know what they're doing and can work together," he said. "We've got a real mix. We've got eight USA Track and Field-certified officials coming in from Heartland Officials Group. And we're pretty fortunate that with Jeff City having the (high school) state meet, we've got a lot of people who work high-level track meets in the area."
Those people are familiar names to those who follow the sport.
"Fred Binggeli, who was the head coach at Virginia, has hosted college meets before and he will be our head referee," Licklider said. "Ron Whittaker, who is the running referee for the state meet, will be our running referee for this meet; Larry York, the former Jay track coach, he's our multi-event referee; Charlie Welker, the field-event referee at the (high school) state meet, is our field-event referee; and we've got Marty Margalski to be our umpire chief.
"It's a nice mix of people coming in with a lot of years of experience. I said it's kind of like the Over-the-Hill Gang rides again. We wanted to have people that knew what they were doing so hopefully we won't make any mistakes that can't be rectified. And hopefully we won't make any, period."