Big news of the week has been the cancelation of the D1 and D2 Middle School State Championships. This is due to a direct conflict with the Tri-County League Championships being scheduled for the same day which has been traditionally reserved for the middle school state championships. For 49 years, the middle school state championships have taken place on the second to last Saturday of October to not interfere with the high school state championships which always are scheduled for the final Saturday of October. Simply stated, league championships should be scheduled the week before the middle school state championships regardless of the size of the league.
The state championships is a HUGE event. So huge it had to be split into 2 venues. Division 3 and 4 now take place at Coe-Brown Northwood Academy with Division 1 and 2 being held at Londonderry and then Derryfield Park last year. This is due to the huge participation numbers (3000 combined entries) as well as spectators totally taking over the host campus! Which is a great thing for our sport; however, the inherent challenge is these events cannot be planned for in a mere few weeks as they require months of organization and communication. When this level of organization and communication is insufficient, we have what we are experiencing now, a huge VOID in the schedule for middle school athletes.
By scheduling their Tri-County League Championships in direct conflict with the state championships, the league is denying opportunity to a great number of student-athletes both outside their league and within. No Division 1 or Division 2 school will have a state championship this year because of this conflict and several D3/D4 schools are unable to participate, denying their athletes the possibility of becoming state champions and celebrating the sport with the rest of the New Hampshire.
Let’s remind ourselves, for a vast majority of runners, Middle School is when they discover our great sport of running. What is being lost is an even larger picture. We as coaches and organizers of our sport have to advocate for credibility of our sport and the unique opportunities it provides, especially at the middle school level. Our sport is often the last to be truly considered and therefore scheduled. Some of this is the ease of scheduling v. other sports, as multiple teams can compete on a given date. Some of this is honestly from neglect as others overlook our sport. This has been a long standing battle.
All that needs to happen in future years is a timely conversation months in advance to ensure this conflict does not reoccur. Once again, the only solution to the changing calendar is by working backwards from the end of October. High School State meets are always the last Saturday of October, middle school state championships should be the week before that with MS league meets the week before that.
This method of scheduling works on the high school level when coordinating the New Englands annually for both XC and track. New Englands for XC is always the 2nd Saturday in November, and in Track the 2nd Saturday of June. NH Meet of Champions and other state meets occur the week before on the first weekend of November and June with the final weekend of October and May reserved for Division State Championships. This way when the calendar shifts, as it did this year (fall sports season lost a week), there are no conflicts between major meets. Without this understanding, the process will never work and opportunities will continued to be denied. The kids win when they are afforded every opportunity. Kids lose when they are denied opportunity.
Almost 50 years ago, thanks to Larry Martin, NH was the FIRST state to hold a middle school state XC championship. Now the vast majority of states across the nation host a state championship for middle schools. Many states called Larry for advice on how to do this. Now, are we the first state to cancel due to a conflict with a league championship?
Finally, we want to tip our caps and give a great thank you to those who attempted to swoop in these past couple weeks to try to come up with an alternative plan and still hold a D1/D2 Middle School State Championship. Obviously the realization of the required months of planning and scheduling prevented them from doing so. It is our hope that the kids are never denied this opportunity again. Let’s hope the necessary communication and planning take place by adults to allow the kids the opportunity to compete for a state championship as they have had for the past half century!
