WIAA State Allocations were posted recently, with an interesting development: in 3A, the Eastern Regional is no more as there were so few schools that it allowed those districts to "glue" onto the next nearest district, which happens to be the Seattle-area District II. This is good news for XC fans, as it might nearly double the amount of Eastside teams that will be eligible to qualify for state (the GSL and MCC should both send 2 teams to the new regional, although who knows if that is how it will actually work out), although at the same time it will likely mean that a solid KingCo school won't make it to the regional meet. Still, a net win for the state overall.
Whenever I get around to posting a new class leaderboard, I will denote which athletes/teams would advance to state as-ranked. For now, here is a breakdown of the allocations and expected regional alignment:
4A District I = 2
4A District II = 2
4A District III/IV = 8 in 2016, 7 in 2017
4A District V = 1 (Eastern Regional)
4A District VI = 2
4A District VIII = 1 in 2016, 2 in 2017 (Eastern Regional)
3A District I = 4 in 2016, 3 in 2017
3A District II, V and VIII = 7
3A District III/IV = 5 in 2016, 6 in 2017
2A District I/II = 3 in 2016, 4 in 2017
2A District III = 6 in 2016, 5 in 2017
2A District IV = 3
2A District V-VII = 4
1A District I/II = 4 (5 for girls in 2016 only)
1A District III = 1 in 2016, 2 in 2017
1A District IV = 3
1A District V = 3 (4 for boys in 2016)
1A District VI = 1 in 2016, 2 in 2017
1A District VII = 3 in 2016, 2 in 2017
B District I/II Boys = 2 in 2016, 3 in 2017 (for girls, see District IV)
B District IV = 5 for boys; 4 girls in 2016, 3 in 2017 (District I/II combines for girls only)
B District V/VI = 4 boys, 1 girls
B District VII/IX = 5 boys in 2016, 4 boys in 2017; 3 girls in 2016, 4 girls in 2017
EDIT: Unfortunately, the 4A Northwest Regional has gone the way of the dodo... another step backwards.
There is no Northwest Regional. Wesco voted to break the agreement. It is unreal that District III/IV get 8 allocations for 4A. An effort needs to be made to break that region up and create a more equitable regional format for qualifying to the state meet.
ReplyDeleteI could rant on and on about my issues with the WIAA's classification system and state qualifying system. Sufficed to say: I agree, a shame that the Northwest Regional won't remain in effect, and that one region gets a full 8 spots to state. Also a shame that there are districts out there that get to qualify straight to state with less than 3 full allocations (looking at you, CBBN - and now 4A WESCO and 4A KingCo).
DeleteIMO:
1. Stop trying to force the same # of schools in every classification. When schools opt up, it disrupts that balance, which not only makes the difference in school sizes greater for not only that class but other classifications as well, but also has an effect on how teams qualify for state.
2. Force leagues/districts to combine for state qualification purposes in a more equitable manner: mandate that no district/region can qualify on it’s own if they have less than 3 full allocations, and don’t allow a district/region to qualify more than 7.
3. Find a way to account for a massive amount of schools opting up to stay in the same league (re: 4A NPSL and 3A Metro). In practice, that means including enrollment numbers in the allocation process (which was, apparently, at one point part of the consideration).
No process is going to be perfect, but there are plenty of ways in which I think the WIAA could improve. Also, sidenote… I really don’t understand the WIAA’s decision regarding the basketball tournament, either: As I understand it, they went to a regional round before the final state tournament so that they could save money by not having to rent out the Tacoma Dome (and other sites) for as many days, thus saving money. Now, they only add 4 more teams back to the field, but that returns to the same number of days as a 16 team field would… so why didn’t they just get rid of the regional format? Also, the wording in the article I read made it sound like the RPI system would go into effect during the regional round rather than the 12-team round at the Dome… doesn’t that continue the issue of boys and girls teams from the same school ending up in different regional pods, meaning parents with athletes on both teams can’t go to both games? Way to create problems without fixing any of the already existing ones!
Kingco 4A tried in vain all summer to combine with another district for allocations. The league does not want to stand on it's own. Very good teams and individuals will be left at home again this year . I agree that the state needs to put together a more equitable regional system and stop allowing individual leagues and district to decide who they combine with for allocations.
ReplyDeleteTo me the strangest one is combining D5&8 with D2 in 3A. I understand D5&8 are down to 7 schools, so only have one allotment this year. However, I don't understand how they are going to make it work. For XC, Sea-King has their championship on Thursday October 27. Normally the East Region would be on Saturday October 29. However, the East Region won't be able send all 7 schools, they would have to whittle that down, I am guessing to 2. Which means having an East Regional meet on October 22 maybe. Then sending the top two to Seattle for a Thursday meet.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm not sure about the specifics, but my understanding is that the GSL and MCC will have a sub-regional race at some point before the District II meet to determine their teams (whether that is 2 or 3 or 4 or what, I don't know). I think that they are combining with District II because it is a closer meet for them than the Southwest Regional, and it had to happen (because of the "glue" rule that essentially says when a district has less than one full allocation it can latch onto the nearest district)
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