It has been two years since Warren Central last hosted a track and field meet. It’s been five years for Vicksburg High.

The coaches at both schools decided that was long enough.

On Tuesday afternoon, Warren Central will host the first “Warren Central Best in the Field Meet,” which will consist solely of field events. Vicksburg will host its version of the meet on April 7. The two meets are a response to the deteriorating tracks at both schools, which have fallen into disrepair and are no longer suitable for competition.

“We just wanted to do something,” Warren Central coach Larry Tyrone said. “Our parents want to come and watch their kids compete at home instead of riding all the time to watch them compete. So it’s a good way for us to stay in practice and for parents to see their kids.”

Vicksburg Warren School District athletic director Lum Wright Jr. said rebuilding both high schools’ tracks — they’re in such poor condition now where repair is no longer an option — is a top priority.

It’s also a major expense that has often pushed the project to the back burner. The cost of replacing the tracks is estimated at between $750,000 and $1 million apiece.

So, with a new track surface a couple of years away at least, Tyrone and Vicksburg boys coach Shaun Archer opted to stage a meet focusing on field events. It’s a less sexy approach, Archer said, but one he hopes fans can get behind.

“They really don’t showcase the field events,” Archer said. “I get phone calls all the time, ‘What time does the running start?’ Everybody wants to see the running. So this time we’ll get a chance to showcase the field people and let everybody see what they do.”

Six teams will compete at Tuesday’s meet. In addition to host Warren Central, Clinton, Yazoo County, South Delta, St. Aloysius and Vicksburg will send athletes.

Tyrone said he was pleased by the turnout on what is not a normal day for varsity meets.

“We had a lot of response. It gave us a chance to run on a Tuesday, which is really hard to do,” he said. “Normally the varsity runs on a Friday or Saturday. We had a lot of people inquire, but they didn’t want to come on a Tuesday and not be able to run as well.”

Finding any day on the calendar was another driving force behind hosting the meet. Track and field is similar to football in that teams usually run only one meet a week, and schedules stay the same each year.

In the time since Warren Central and Vicksburg last hosted a meet, other schools have claimed the vacated dates. Getting the Warren County schools back on the calendar is key so that when their home tracks are eventually rebuilt they can put the “track” back in “track and field.”

“When we get our track back together, those dates are hard to get back because people schedule way ahead of time and they get used to those dates and it’s hard to get them back,” Archer said. “That’s the thing we’re probably going to run into a problem with. But I’m ready to get back hosting those track meets.”

If you go

Best in the Field meet

Time: Tuesday, 4 p.m.

Location: Warren Central

Participating teams: Warren Central, Vicksburg, St. Aloysius, Clinton, Yazoo County and South Delta