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Monday Morning Finish Line - September 20, 2021

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ILXCTF - Mike Newman   Sep 20th 2021, 4:00pm
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MONDAY MORNING FINISH LINE

September 20, 2021

 

By Michael Newman

[email protected]

 

It sometimes takes until Sunday until I figure out what I am going to write every week in this space. Everything became so clear when the IHSA released the Sectional and Regional Assignments late Thursday afternoon.

I glanced at where some of the schools were going and pushed it a side for the moment. I had a few issues in Athleic.Net that I was dealing with. Later in the evening, one of things that I had to do was arrange these assignments on the Illinois page of Athletic.Net. Over the next three hours a level of frustration gripped me tighter and tighter. This was the first real year that the actions of the 2019 XC Advisory Committee meeting would take effect. I was moving schools into regions that did not make sense.

I thought about the five hours on January 6, 2020, when the 2019 end of season IHSA XC Advisory Board met to discuss the next season. I had not heard anything about the meeting the entire day. One of my coach friends texted me if I had heard anything. I decided to contact one of the people who was part of this meeting. (NOTE: I am not using any names in the discussions that I had.)

 I contacted a person that was part of it, and we chatted a couple of minutes before the conversation turned to what happened in the meeting.

“I think we have the regional problem solved,” they told me. “We still have three regionals in each sectional in 2A and 3A. We cut down the sectionals to four per class. We did increase the number of teams that qualify to state from five schools to seven schools. Instead of seven individual qualifiers, we will have 10 individual qualifiers. Therefore, we will have 3 extra schools, 12 extra runners by class able to be in the state meet. Isn’t that great?”

I kept asking the same questions about what they had told me. My scribble on my notepad was filling up quickly as I was trying to get the information correctly down. I knew it was off the record at that time since the IHSA had not released this yet. It would be on the record as soon as the meeting minutes were released.

I was processing the information in my head. My one thought that was recurring in my head was about regionals. They had to have more teams and individuals advancing to the sectional meets, right?

I asked the person that I was talking to “So what about regionals? There must be more teams advancing then with the decrease of the sectional meets. There are six schools to advance right now in 2A to 3A. Did that change?

There was silence on the phone for about 10 seconds. I thought I had been disconnected. The voice at the other end told me “I would have to look at my notes. I don’t remember the discussion about that.”

They had to go, and we said goodbye. Meanwhile, I was getting a sick feeling in my stomach. My guts were telling me we have a problem, Houston.

My coaching friend called me back. I told about my conversation. All I could tell him is I bet that the advisory committee did not change it. My friend was getting another call. They called me back 20 minutes later. They had just got off the phone with another person who was in that meeting. “They did not change it, Newms.” There was about 20 minutes where a lot of swearing was going on. The coach told me that 20% of the runners from the regionals would not be advancing. The ITCCCA Coaches Clinic and Meeting happened that last weekend. My coach friend approached a member of the IHSA that was in attendance. It was acknowledged that they never discussed the consequences of making those changes.

In the meeting notes of January 6, 2020, the IHSA stated this:

“For the last few years, some concerns from the membership have been brought to the attention of the Cross-Country Advisory Committee as it pertains to the regional level of competition (especially in classes 2A and 3A).  First, the concerns raised were that the regional level was not competitive in various parts of the state.  Many coaches and administrators considered the regional level a “pass through” as most (and in some cases, all) of the teams and individuals advanced from the regional to the sectional.  The second concern was that in parts of the state, more and more schools were becoming unwilling to host due to a variety of challenges.  As a result, for the last couple of years

the Cross-Country Advisory committee has sought information from the membership to determine the extent of the concerns in order to establish what, if any, recommendations needed to move forward in an attempt to address these issues. 

The committee determined that changes in the structure of the state series (specifically regionals and sectionals) are warranted, but they felt that the complete elimination of the regionals was too drastic with too many unknowns.  They felt that since the issues existed mainly at the 2A and 3A levels, it seemed appropriate to leave the number of 1A regionals and sectionals as it is and reduce the 2A and 3A sectionals from five (5) to four (4).  With three (3) regionals

feeding into each sectional, this would mean that there would be twelve (12) regionals for each gender in both 2A and 3A.  This would increase the average number of teams in each 2A and 3A regional by approximately 3 to 5 teams which would improve the competitive concerns that have been heard by the committee for the past few years.  In addition, it would equate to six (6) fewer regional sites and two (2) fewer sectional sites which could help ease some of the concerns with securing able and willing hosts.  Additionally, with this proposal, the committee thought that an increase in the number of teams and individuals that qualify out of sectionals to the state final meet is justified, and it is also more

proportionate to the percentage of schools that make up each class.”             

The XC Advisory Committee approved this by consent. A month later, the IHSA Executive Board agreed with the advisory committee and approved their recommendation.

On September 20, here we are with a big pot of mess swirling around upsetting coaches and fans alike.

I was happy to see that more schools jumped in to host regional and sectional meets. Part of the problem three years ago was getting schools to host an IHSA qualifying meet. It looks like we are in a better situation that way when it comes to that concern.

The four sectionals in Class 2A and Class 3A is a HUGE mistake that will take use years to dig out of. It was a similar situation in 2007 when we moved from two classes to three classes with only four sectionals. The situation of 4 sectionals puts the IHSA in a huge bind when it comes to creating sectional and regional assignments. Having 2 regionals with more qualifiers within five sectionals would have been a more logical conclusion to the problem. Now the IHSA has area restrictions of moving schools into other sectionals at the same time staying in true with their guidelines of regional / sectional representations. Half of the schools in the 3A southern most sectional come form the Chicago area. You then have three Chicago area sectionals (instead of four) with a log jam of talent heading into one regional and three sectionals.

The Oswego East Regional is the toughest regional in the state regardless of classification. 11 schools were placed at that site. There could be up to 8 ranked teams by the time we get to the meet. Two of those schools will have their seasons end on that date. But that is okay since we will have more runners at the state meet. The Sectional that this regional feeds into at Hinsdale has 11 Girls ranked teams and 13 ranked Boys teams that will look for one of the seven qualifying spots. This would have not been a problem if there were 5 sectionals in Class 2A and 3A. The advisory board members that made the decision would tell you “We have more competitive regionals.” For some of the power teams, those regionals will be a steppingstone to the sectionals. Maybe not in the Hinsdale Complex of regional meets, but else where in the state. Don’t blame the IHSA  now. Tell that to the advisory committee from two years ago.

There are some regional assignments in Class 3A that did not make any sense. Batavia High School is 4.8 miles away from the Northwestern Medicine XC Course where the St. Charles East Regional will be hosted at. Instead, Batavia must travel almost 17 miles to run at the Oswego East Regional.

Mother McAuley would usually be in the regional hosted by Sandburg at Midlothian Meadows which is only seven miles from their school. Instead, Mother Mac was placed in the Schaumburg Regional at Busse Woods that is 37 miles away. It just does not make that much sense.

The 2A Regionals that feed into 2A sectionals in the Chicago area had me scratching my head. Northside Prep is within a half mile of where a regional will take place in. Their assignment takes them out of their sectional and into the Burlington Central Regional at Plato Park in Elgin that is 43 miles away. If they advance out of that regional, Northside Prep would run at Emricson Park in Woodstock that is 57 miles away and more than an hour drive away from their school.

Again, it does not make sense. Those are questions that should be asked to IHSA Assistant Director Kraig Garber. You do have to remember that Garber is handcuffed in this having to deal with four sectionals instead of five sectionals. Those restrictions that happened in the January 6 advisory committee meeting that they gave the advice to the IHSA to do is something I would question to that group. The IHSA trusted the “knowledge” of that group. The fact is, there was no real thought that came from that “advisory” committee.

If I could go back in time and be in that meeting, I would have to ask them afterwards why did they not think this out completely? That did not happen. We know that.

I would ask where their heads where at when they decided the four sectionals. I think I would have a clear answer of the location.

Go check the meeting notes in the IHSA Advisory Committee page. None of the seven school members were part of that in that meeting .They are the people that were in that “decision process” that we should be pointing our fingers at.

 

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