Big changes coming to XC
Will do away with indoor track All-State team title
The more harriers running at the end of the season, the merrier.
The MIAA Cross Country/Track and Field committee unanimously voted Tuesday in favor of a new divisional alignment for cross country that would create nine statewide divisions that feed into three separate “All-State” meets, beginning in the fall of 2021. This proposal now goes to the Tournament Management Committee for final approval.
Previously, there had been two cross country All-State meets held with those participants qualifying from the 10 total races conducted at the divisional level – six divisions resided in the east and two divisions in both the central and the west.
Brookline athletic director and committee member Peter Rittenburg said by adding a third All-State meet, participation at that top-tier level will increase by 55 to 60 percent and that was viewed as a “big positive.”
The nine divisions will be laid out in three separate groupings (Div. 1A, 1B, 1C, 2A, 2B, etc.) and the top seven teams for every divisional race plus two wild card teams for each pod to go along with the top 10 individuals not on a qualifying club will advance to an All-State meet.
The committee and coaches in attendance for the meeting recognized that since they aren’t having one true All-State meet as is the case with indoor and outdoor track, there should be a name change to the event.
“We really can’t in good conscious call that an All-State meet,” said Lowell coach Scott Ouellet.
Another notable proposal that was passed, 13-0, was to stop handing out a team title at the indoor track All-State meet beginning in the 2021-22 season and only grant individual awards. The committee sees the All-State meet more as a showcase for high-end individual talent rather than a team orchestrated competition, which led to the decision that is also in need of a final approval.
The committee agreed to a new five divisional alignment in indoor track and six divisions for the outdoor season as well for the 2021-23 campaigns with divisions based on whole school enrollment. While the lowest division in both cases would have over 20 more schools in it than the next closest division, there is more balance across all divisions in regard to participating student-athletes.
Qualifying for the endof-season divisional indoor track races and field events will meet new standards, too. For example, it was voted for running events that the average of the 20th place performance from the last three years will be calculated to set the mark going forward.
The committee was also in favor of eliminating the honest effort rule, which states that a student-athlete must participate in the trials or finals of all events they are scheduled to perform in. The rule had already been done away with in outdoor track so it was natural to get rid of it for the indoor season, many committee members believed, and that it was a rule better fitted for college than high school.