President’s Report
Mark Cullen
In our last newsletter I reported the good news that the 40/20 state tournaments amendment passed
the WIAA Representative Assembly last spring. When it finally passed after several years of consideration, it did so, convincingly, by a vote of 32-2-1.
The new state tournaments amendment lowers the minimum number of schools required to create state tournaments. In order to get a 16-entry state tournament, 40 schools must participate in that sport within a classification. In order to get an 8-entry state meet, 20 teams must participate. This amendment will go into effect in the fall of 2001.
For cross country, if our numbers hold, the 2A girls meet will expand from 8 to 16 entries, as the 2A boys meet did in 1999. In addition, the class B numbers are borderline as to whether they would qualify for separate 8-entry girls and boys meets. If they do, the class 1A entries would go from 16 to 8, and all 5 classifications would have separate meets, which has been a goal of this association for 14 years. According to WIAA Executive Board policy, cross country teams must have a minimum of 5 participants to be counted towards the 40 or 20.
It’s important to note that our projections of which state tournaments would be affected were based on 1998 numbers. These numbers for the B schools, for example, were marginal at best; that is to say that in 1998 there were 20 girls and 24 boys teams that counted for allocation purposes. Will these numbers hold? To some extent, that’s up to us.
This “team definition” policy states that in order to be counted as a team for allocation purposes, a team must have a certain minimum number of participants. For cross country, the number is 5.
I have had deep concerns about this policy, and I expressed them to the WIAA Executive Board at their January 2000 meeting. I am not sure at what point they are in their deliberations, but as of this writing I have not yet heard their response. I want to make sure I add here that at this meeting I also presented our case for the 40/20 amendment, and to their everlasting credit, the Executive Board endorsed 40/20, a crucial step on its way to passing last April.
I recognize that 40/20 is not perfect. Personally, I have never understood why we have combined classification state tournaments when we are organized in separate classifications for the rest of the season. But as a Representative Assembly member for 15 years, I am well aware that the Rep Assembly thinks that minimum numbers are important – indeed required - and proposals to eliminate minimums completely have gone nowhere.
What has succeeded, however, is a change in perception about what those minimum numbers should be. For those new to our association, we started with needing 50 participating teams for 16-entry tournaments and 40 teams for 8. Then, in 1996, we made the change to 48 and 24, respectively. Now, in 2000, the Rep Assembly approved 40/20 to adapt 48/24 to our new 5-classification system. However you look at it, a change from 50 to 40 and from 40 to 20 is a substantive change.
Next fall (2001) will be a crucial time for cross country in Washington State, especially for the B, 1A, and 2A schools. At the end of the first three weeks of the season, the WIAA office will count the numbers on each team. Only those teams with 5 or more individuals will count for allocation purposes.
I think that between now and then our time will be well-spent promoting our programs in such a way that we find five or more runners for each of our teams next fall. Who’d-a-thunk that having a girl or boy turn out for cross country next fall would be a political statement?
Finally, I’d like to mention that one of the strengths of this rule change, and one of the reasons I think it passed, is that it applies to all sports in all classifications equally. Not only might we see substantive changes in cross country, but we project changes in track, soccer, baseball, golf, and girls bowling as well. Clearly, there is a statewide context to the issue of state tournaments. We’ll have a chance to talk about this further at the coaches’ meeting at State. I look forward to the opportunity.
Meanwhile, I hope your season is coming to an exciting conclusion. Good luck at District.
Vice-President/Treasurer’s Report
Craig Bowen
Currently, we have $500.00 in our account earned from membership fees from our coaches who
joined the Washington State Coaches Association.
In addition, we have $308.00 remaining in the scholarship fund after distributing $2400.00 in scholarships to graduating seniors who participated in the East-West All-Star race.
It helps us greatly to have our coaches join our association. Attached is a link that makes it easy for you to join. Be sure to indicate that you are a cross country coach.
Website News
Doug Fulton
Currently, the website at watfxc.com is receiving over 1,000 hits a day. (Editor’s note: !!!!!!!!!)
We have now posted the agenda and minutes from our October Board meeting and will continue to post these in the future.
We would like to ask all coaches who post messages to include their name and school with each posting so that we’ll know whom we’re actually communicating with, or who’s communicating with each other.
Our next goal is to create historical links which list our Coaches of the Year and members of the Hall of Fame.
East-West All-Star News
Eric Hruschka is investigating possible alternatives to our current affiliation with the Lake Stevens Aqua Run and we’ll report his progress to you at the coaches’ meeting at State.
XC Poll
Mark Culle
One of the most frequently asked questions from coaches is: how is the coaches’ poll compiled?
And: do coaches have an opportunity for input? The pollmaster is Phil English, veteran coach at Yakima’s Eisenhower High School (and for those of us with dimming A/B memories, coach at the late, lamented Carroll High School in Yakima; remember when Carroll placed its first five girls in the top ten at State? Still one of the most impressive team performances I have ever seen.)
Life Christian’s Matt Thomson posed these questions for Phil on the website early in the season. I’d like to reproduce Phil’s response here:
‘A number of coaches across the state send me weekly updates (results) and suggested changes to the poll. These are the people I rely on for their input. Any coach can contact me at any time with their input. However, the thing I need most are actual meet results. The most difficult classification to get a handle on is the A/B. There are many reasons for this: (a) one runner can have a dramatic impact on a team; (b) the A/B’s do not meet each other in large state-wide invitationals on a regular basis through the season, etc.
After I get input from across the state, I am the one that makes the final determination on the rankings.
Hopefully, this may help you clarify the source of these mystical
rankings.’
I appreciate not only Phil’s straightforward response, but his openness to
assistance from coaches around the state. Most of all, I appreciate his hard
work week in and week out during the season. The poll is one of the two most
public faces our sport has; the website is the other.
One way I will try to facilitate communication with Phil is to include his
contact information along with that of the Board members in the August
newsletter.
Meanwhile, we would all do well to heed his advice about telling lies to an Irishman.
(Believe it or not, Phil was born in the town in Ireland from which my surname is derived.)
Results on Website
Traditionally, the emphasis of this second newsletter of the season has been
on results. However, with literally dozens of pages of results posted on the
cross country website, it makes little sense to reproduce them here either
electronically or on paper. If your’re reading this newsletter on the website,
you are but a click away from the results, which Doug Fulton has organized by
the week in which each meet was held.
Annual Meeting
Your Association Board invites you to our annual meeting of our Cross Country Coaches’ Association at the Double Tree Inn next to the State Meet course on Friday, 11/3, from 6:30 to 8:00pm. In the past we’ve had upwards of 200 coaches at this meeting. Following is a draft agenda; please let us know if there’s anything else you’d like to include.
1. Email or paper
2. Invitationals
3. Results
4. Website Surveys
i. Avenues of Communication
1. Board
2. Regional Reps
3. WIAA
4. WIAA Executive Board Members
j. WIAA Report – 2000 Amendments
1. 40/20 – State Tournaments
2.
Amendment Process Reforms
5. Length of Season – Eric Hruschka (5)
6.
Coaches’ Poll – Phil English, Eisenhower (5)
Special Presentation