Good afternoon Mr. Price and Mr. Ryan,

In response to the proposed Classifications and Alignments for Track & Field for the 2026-2027 seasons, I offer the following comments. The comment is in 3 parts: General Comments, 4 Class Comments, 3 Class Recommendation.

I ll first say that I do not believe that any sport in West Virginia warrants having 4 classes. We simply do not have the volume. Twenty schools in a single class are too few. Having a Region with just four teams seems absurd. That being said, West Virginia going to four Divisions could foster increased participation in the smaller schools. That could be at the expense of the quality of competition in each division, though. Right now, we have quality competition in each Division. There is a risk of that competition level being watered down by going to four Divisions. While I prefer my 3 Division alignment offered below, if the choice is between 4 Divisions, and a a 3 Division alignment that simply combines all of Class A and Class AA, then the 4 Division alignment is preferable.

I think there are issues with the cutoffs. There are natural breaks in the headcount numbers, and they ve been largely ignored. In Class AAAA, there is just an 8-student variance between the lowest AAAA school and the largest AAA schools. The break between AAA and AA is just 7, and the break between AA and A is just 5. With attendance numbers that similar, more study needs to be done to look at the natural breaks. For example, there is a break between schools of 1048 and 995. It would make way more sense to make the split there. There is also a break between 995 and 946. Breaking there would also make more sense. In the AAA Division, there are also more natural breakpoints. For example, 622 to 597 or 581 to 564 make more sense logically than the current 7 student break. The split between AA and A is at 5 students. There isn t a truly easy solution there, but there are natural breaks from 397 to 382 and to a lesser extent 344 to 333, and a larger break between 446 and 410. That might move too many schools into the Class A Division, though.

Four Divisions creates some difficulty in generating equitable alignments and in balance of power. The WVSSAC has long said that they will not consider balance of power, but if the Classifications and Alignments are going to be revisited every two years, that balance should be a factor. The balance of power does not change rapidly. That is mitigated in Track & Field by this year s shift to just two automatic qualifiers in each Region. That was an excellent change.

In Class AAAA, there is a division with just four teams, and there is one with six. That is compounded by the fact that the Region with just four teams was also easily the weakest of the four Regions. Looking at State Meet Points scored this year. Teams assigned to Region 1 scored 324 points. Teams assigned to Region 2 scored 322.50 points. Teams assigned to Region 3 scored 135.50 points, and teams assigned to Region 4 scored 386 points. Each other Region scored at least triple the number of points of the Region that was assigned only four teams. If the decision is maintained to convert Track & Field to four Divisions, I think Hurricane should move from Region 4 to Region 3. With Region 3 teams being Charleston based, it s an easy trip, and they d be closer to Charleston than Woodrow Wilson, who is included in Region 3.

In Class AAA, the current proposal has two Regions with 6 teams and two with 8 teams. However, one of the 6 team Regions scored the most State Meet Points this year. Region 1 scored 231. Region 2 scored 344.50. Region 3 scored 316.33, and Region 4 scored 230.66. The power balance mismatch isn t as steep in this Division.

In Class AA, there are more serious balance issues. There is a Region with just 6 teams, and there is a Region with 10 teams. However, two of the schools in the 10 team Region did not field a team this season, so it s not as bad as it looks. The bigger issue is the balance of power. In this Classification, Region 1 is far and away the powerhouse Region. Region 1 scored 592.50 State Meet Points. Region 2 scored 210.50. Region 3 scored 115, and Region 4 scored 87. Nearly 60% of the State Meet Points were scored by Region 1. I think you must break that up. Moving teams is tricky, though. Ideally, you move a team or two out of Region 1 so that all the power teams aren t in one Region, but then that Region is down to just 4 or 5 teams (but still a larger share of the points). I think you must consider moving Doddridge back to Region 2, moving Braxton to Region 3, and Ravenswood to Region 4. However, that leaves Region 1 with just 4 teams. It does more appropriately spread the balance of power out, but it certainly makes a mismatch in the number of teams in a Region.

In Class A, there are serious issues as well. Two Regions have 12 teams, and one Region has just 7. To compound that, three of those schools did not field teams this season, so you actually only have 4 teams in Region 3. Two schools in Region 2 and two schools in Region 4 also did not field teams. That cannot stand. Region 1 scored 514 State Meet Points. Region 2 scored 159.50. Region 3 scored 54. Region 4 scored 235. The balance could be helped by moving Clay-Battelle, Notre Dame, and Trinity Christian to Region 2. Pendleton and Pocahontas would move to Region 3, and possibly Tygarts Valley and/or Tucker as well. Charleston Catholic would move to Region 3. Calhoun could move to Region 2. Gilmer could go to Region 2 or Region 3. There are things that can be done to make this Division much more equitable.

Truthfully, I think the best answer is to leave Track at 3 Divisions. As it was this year,

Class A did not fill all its available slots in all events. 4x800, Shuttles, Pole Vault

were all without 16 competitors in either Boys, Girls, or Both. Moving to 4 divisions

will just compound that. Track may eventually warrant 4 divisions, but I don't think we're

there yet. If you want to lessen the number of schools in the largest division, I think you can make that argument. You had guys running 2:01 not making it to the State Meet in Class

AAA. I don't think you can lower it to 20, though. Here's what I propose.

Class AAA - Cutoff at 850. There is a natural break with 874 above and 848 below. That leaves

27 schools in Class AAA.

Suggested Alignment

Class AAA

R1 - Buckhannon-Upshur, John Marshall, Morgantown, Preston, University, Wheeling Park (6 Teams - 363 Points)

R2 - Hedgesville, Jefferson, Martinsburg, Musselman, Spring Mills, Washington (6 Teams - 272.5 Points)

R3 - Capital, George Washington, Greenbrier East, Oak Hill, Princeton, Riverside, South Charleston, Woodrow Wilson (8 Teams - 235.5 Points)

R4 - Cabell Midland, Huntington, Hurricane, Parkersburg, Parkersburg South, St. Albans, Spring Valley (7 Teams - 412 Points)

Class AA Cutoff at 425. There is a natural break with 446 above and 410 below. That puts

42 schools in Class AA.

Suggested Alignment

Class AA

R1 - Brooke, Bridgeport, East Fairmont, Elkins, Fairmont Senior, Grafton, North Marion, Oak Glen, Robert C. Byrd (10 Teams - 415 Points)

R2 - Berkeley Springs, Braxton, Frankfort, Hampshire, Keyser, Lewis, Lincoln, Moorefield, Philip Barbour (9 Teams - 338.5 Points)

R3 - Bluefield, Clay, Herbert Hoover, Independence, James Monroe, Liberty Raleigh, Mingo Central, Nicholas, PikeView, Shady Spring, Westside, Wyoming East (12 Teams - 261.33 Points)

R4 - Chapmanville, Lincoln County, Logan, Nitro, Point Pleasant, Ripley, Roane, Scott, Sissonville, Wayne, Winfield (11 Teams - 291.66 Points)

Class A would be under 425. That puts 50 schools in Class A

Suggested Alignment

Class A

R1 - Cameron, Clay-Battelle, Madonna, Magnolia, Parkersburg Catholic, Ritchie, St. Marys, Tyler Consolidated, Valley Wetzel, Wheeling Central, Wood County Christian (11 Teams - 543 Points)

R2 - Doddridge, East Hardy, Gilmer, Harman, Notre Dame, Paw Paw, Petersburg, Pickens, South Harrison, Trinity Christian, Tucker, Tygarts Valley, Union, WV School for Blind & Deaf (13 Teams - 479 Points)

R3 - Charleston Catholic, Greenbrier West, Meadow Bridge, Midland Trail, Montcalm, Mount View, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Richwood, River View, Summers, Webster (12 Teams - 218 Points)

R4 - Buffalo, Calhoun, Hannan, Man, Poca, Ravenswood, Sherman, Tolsia, Tug Valley, St. Joseph, Van, Wahama, Wirt, Williamstown (14 Teams - 325.5 Points)