A Case Study on the Current Two Class System

The Question of Quality:

On the Course

With teams simply showing up and qualifying, the question of quality also comes into consideration.

In regards to the State Meet for Cross Country I compiled the list below from the last 5 State Competitions.

Highest Average Team Time of Runners 1-5:  2013-2016 - A/AA vs. 2017 Small School

Year

Boys

Girls

2013

20:42

28:57 (25:26 Next worst)

2014

21:06

26:47

2015

20:21

29:24 (26:06 Next worst)

2016

19:52

26:39

2017

23:12 (6 others over 21:25)

31:34 (5 others over over 29:25)

In short, 2017 yielded bottom 6 and bottom 7 overall team performances in Division I over the last 5 seasons combined for girls and boys respectively.

In cross country it's hard to compare these results to others because of differences in course layout however the Region 6 State Qualifier is run at the Steeplechase course that the state meet is held on. Hume-Fogg, a school with an enrollment of 889 students, found themselves thrust into the Large School Classification this season. At the Region meet their girls team averaged 23:37 and their boys team averaged 18:44... Both of these averages were better than every school except one that ran at the state meet less than 2 weeks later in the Small School Division. Their girls placed 7th however and their boys placed 8th at their region meet. The schools that did qualify from Region 6 had enrollments of 1677, 1745, 1754, and 1772.