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At-Large Process Corrections
in Figures - Doug Speck
It is with kind of a heavy heart that we report that there are some problems
with the information used in figuring the State At-Large entries for the
California State High School Cross-Country Meet. It appears that there
were some incorrect section affiliations used in the figuring of schools
in a chart used over the last four years to determine extra entrants to
the State Meet that could affect participation in the 2002 State affair.
Coach Ernest Lee of Gunn HS in Palo Alto first noted early this week that
there appeared to be a mis-affiliation of a school from the Central Coast
Section, Los Gatos, assigning that institution to the Central Section
instead of the CCS from the 2000 Girls State Meet (they finished ninth
place there and were assigned the letter designation “CS”
instead of “CCS” that affected the number of placements among
the top ten over the last four years for the two sections, thus affecting
the “at-large” process for 2002 entrants to Fresno). Ernest,
in all sincerity, reported that he may have found another such mistake,
and, therefore, it was time to pull out all the old records and do some
further research summarized below. Before you cast stones at anyone else,
include the author of this piece in your efforts, as I (Doug Speck) was
a member of the committee that helped to affect the changes in the at-large
system as a member of the State Track and Cross-Country Advisory Committee,
but deferred to others at a final important meeting with the job of playing
Athletic Director at a high school of 3500 and a ton of teams operating
at any one time. If affected, please address a big rock to me. Below is
the information that was gathered the evening of November 19, 2002.
The information:
Peter Brewer was good enough to pass on charts that were used to place
the teams in the State competition over the last four years (1998-1999-2000-2001),
with the placement of section teams among the top ten in their division
charted and the totals counted to determine if an area of the state deserved
extra participation in Fresno at the State Meet. Each section had a “baseline”
level of participation, with the total of “top ten” finishes
by that section’s teams added to that baseline level to determine
what percent of the total top tens over the years that area had achieved.
From that figure for each area, openings in the State Meet (23 were allowed
in each race at the Championships), were allocated based upon a section’s
strength in the previous four years. Obviously, a misplacement of a school
section-wise in the top ten team scorings for any of the four year period
1998-1999-2000-2001 would affect the number of squads from an area who
were used in the above calculations, thus possibly affecting extra spots
awarded at the starting line for the state meet.
Below are the misplacements that we believe took place in the divisions
of the state meet top ten team results from 1998-2001.
Girls Division I
- none
Boys Division I
-West Hills (Santee) sixth in 1998 was placed in the Southern Section
instead of San Diego (San Diego total over the 4 years should be 6 instead
of 5)
-Bellarmine Prep (San Jose) seventh in 1998 was placed in the Sac Joaquin
instead of Central Coast (Central Coast Total should be 3 over the four
years period instead of 2)
-Clovis ninth in 1998 was placed in the San Diego instead of Central (Central
should have 6 instead of 5 for a total over the 4 year period)
Southern Section total should be 15 over the years - Sac Joaquin should
be 5 - North Coast Section stays at 2 as originally figured, as does Los
Angeles at 4
Girls Division II
-Los Gatos ninth in 2000 was placed in the Central Section instead of
Central Coast Section (CCS count is one, should be two over the years,
with Central two and should be reduced by one)
Boys Division II
-Newport Harbor (Newport Beach) sixth in 1998 was placed in the Central
Section instead of Southern Section (SS count of 15 appears correct, the
Central Section count of 3 appears one too high)
Girls Division III
-none
Boys Division IV
- Granada (Livermore) second in 1999 is placed in Northern Section instead
of North Coast Section (but total counts for North Coast and Northern
Section appear correct for the 4 year period)
Girls Division IV
- none (Valley Center identified with affiliation “S” in 1998
sixth place, but total count of four years for San Diego section of two
appears correct)
Boys Division IV
- none
Girls Division V
- none
Boys Division V
-1998 - it appears the Division IV was transposed over to Division V for
this year’s figures with section affiliations of the top ten schools
Division V reflecting section affiliations from Division IV (However all
the figures for involved schools seem to have totaled correctly for the
number from each section over four years).
- Tranquility 1999 was listed eighth place from Northern Section instead
of the Central Section. (total for Central Section should be 4 for the
four year period, with the Northern Section reduced from 1 to zero)
Where do we go from here--
1) the above information should be checked by someone at the State CIF
office. Anytime one person does the figuring there are chances for errors.
The above was done voluntarily and it needs some checking.
2) Allocation of participation to the state meet in the affected divisions
needs to be refigured.
3) While the procedure to causally add teams to the state meet does not
seem proper, it would not seem correct to take the opportunity away from
a squad from an already held section finals competition who felt they
had earned a spot on the starting line in Fresno off the previously figured
at-large information given to Sections. Further, should there be any mistakes
in figures based upon the above information, it would seem prudent to
add those squads (which we are sure is miniscule in number) who have earned
a spot in an already held Section Finals competition, but were not informed
of same due to incorrect figures in the past that set up the formulas.
There are 23 teams scheduled for the start of the races in Fresno, and
another one or two would not appear to cause massive problems. We have
observed races with many more than that taking place on the Woodward Park
course.
The next step must come from the State office, with our sense of an attempt
from that group to do what is right for the student/athletes of the state
one we have great faith in recently. They know how to get in touch with
me for any more information on the above or any assistance - Doug Speck.
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