Now that the Coaches' Advisory Committee has met and agreed upon a proposal to alter the advancement criteria in the Class A-AA Division, let's take a look at what that would have done this year to gauge the possible impact for future years.
Region I - Boys
In Region I, 5 Class A teams and 10 Class AA teams competed. The 4 Class AA
that advanced would still have advanced. It would also have advanced the top 2
Class A finishers in the meet, which were Ritchie and Tyler Consolidated. If a 6th
team started the race, then St. Marys would have advanced as well.
Region II - Boys
in Region II, 5 Class A teams and 6 Class AA teams competed. This would result in
3 Class AA teams advancing. Those three had already advanced under the prior setup.
It would have resulted in 2 Class A teams advancing. One of those had already advanced.
This would also have advanced Tucker.
Region III - Boys
In Region III, 3 Class A teams and 11 Class AA teams competed. This would result
in 4 Class AA teams advancing. Those four had already advanced under the prior setup.
2 Class A teams would have advanced with those being Charleston Catholic and Webster.
Region IV - Boys
In Region IV, 7 Class A teams and 3 Class AA teams competed. This would result
in 3 Class A teams and 2 Class AA teams. The 3 Class A teams were already qualifiers,
as was Winfield in Class AA. This would have added Nitro in Class AA.
Region I - Girls
In Region I, 4 Class A teams and 7 Class AA teams competed. This would result
in 2 Class A teams and 3 Class AA teams advancing. This would have resulted in
Fairmont Senior dropping from the list of advancing teams, while Ritchie and St.
Marys would have gained the Class A spots.
Region II - Girls
In Region II, 2 Class A teams and 5 Class AA teams competed. This would result
in 2 Class A teams and 2 Class AA teams advancing. The 2 Class AA teams that advanced
would still advance. In addition to Doddridge, Tucker would have advanced for Class A.
Region III - Girls
In Region III, 1 Class A team and 6 Class AA teams competed. This would result
in 1 Class A team and 3 Class AA teams advancing. The Class A team that advanced
would still advance. PikeView would have been an additional qualifier for Class AA.
Region IV - Girls
In Region IV, 2 Class A teams and 3 Class AA teams competed. This would result
in 2 Class A teams and 2 Class AA teams advancing. One of each had advanced. This
would have added Wayne in Class AA and St. Joseph in Class A.
Final Results - 5 more Class A Boys teams would have advanced and 1 more Class AA Boys team would have advanced. 4 more Class A Girls teams would have advanced. 2 more Class AA Girls teams would have advanced, but we'd have also lost one, leaving a net gain of 1 team. Combined, 9 more teams would be competing at the State Meet in Class A and 2 more in Class AA.
I would see this as a very positive step towards an eventual split of the A-AA Divisions. The increase opportunity for advancement for the Class A teams should provide incentive to work to get more athletes to participate and for those that participate to put in more work.