December 1, 2008 - Thoughts from Anonymous - Cross-Country

From Anonymous:

After coming back from the state meet I had many mixed feelings about the meet and high school cross country in hawaii in general. And it had to do with some of the players. The one incident that really got my attention was Seabury Hall coming in second after losing their number 2 and 5 runners.

Over the last three years or since hawaii moved from the two miles to the three miles some factors have become evident. Schools with large enrollment do have a distinct advantage over schools with small enrollments. That is a no brainer.

I just watched the California state meet from Fresno Woodward park.

California has 5 divisions based on school enrollment. For example if

Seabury Hall was in California they would be in division 5 with under

500 students, they have only around 300. Punahou would be in Division 2 or 3 with a much higher enrollment. If Hawaii had divisions 1 and 2 high school cross country, Seabury Hall would have just celebrated it's second girls cross country state championship.

I believe it is time to split into two divisions so as the smaller

schools can compete against schools in their enrollment division. I

believe Hawaii is the only state still without divisions in cross

country. My suggestions would be to hold four races on the same

course the same day so you can compare times. California runs ten

races starting early in the morning. Just like changing from two

miles to three miles it is time to split it up into two divisions. In

the long run it will encourage the kids and help the sport grow. See

you next season.