Competitive balance plan passes, unanimously supported here

WIAA ANNUAL MEETING

The most dramatic change in Wisconsin high schools sports since the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association absorbed the state’s private-school programs in 2000 was set in motion on April 26 when WIAA members approved a much-deliberated competitive balance proposal at the organization’s 127th annual meeting.

After a presentation by Jordan Sinz and Michelle Guyant-Holloway, cochairs of the Competitive Balance Task Force, the membership voted 265-115 to approve the Competitive Balance Plan intended to help ensure all members feel their school has an opportunity to be competitive in the WIAA tournament series.

The plan, to be implemented in 202425, promotes school programs that reach a threshold of tournament success based on a performance point system allocated over a three-year period. School programs will be placed in the division with the next largest enrollments from where the schools’ enrollment would typically place them for each respective sport. The Tournament Performance Factor will be used in all sports except track and field and swimming and diving, where full squads don’t advance to state championships.

The Competitive Balance Plan was supported by all three Taylor County school districts –– Medford, Rib Lake and Gilman.

The other major component of the Competitive Balance Plan is the formation of a classification committee that will consider requests from schools for divisional placement and also will hear appeals to classification appeals once the Tournament Performance Factor is applied.

While the plan goes into effect in the 2024-25 school year, tournament performances dating back to the 2021-22 school year will be used in the initial usage of the Tournament Performance Factor.

In this part of the state, the cries for a new tournament system have mostly come from small schools like Rib Lake and Gilman. In the last 10 years, Rib Lake teams have had 17 seasons ended by private schools in bracketed tournaments, while Gilman has had 15 such seasons. Many of those teams weren’t likely to reach the state tournament, but each has had teams in that span that had realistic shots.

“We felt it was the best opportunity to play against athletes and schools of similar opportunity that small schools can offer,” said Jon Dallmann, Rib Lake Elementary School principal who represented the district at the annual meeting. “Definitely there is an unfair advantage out there when you’re dealing with larger populations that have so many more opportunities, whether it be facilities, socio-economic status, the ability to compete in clubs. There are a lot of advantages to our private partners out there that are in the Eau Claire, Wausau, Chippewa Falls areas and all across the state. It’s difficult to compete. We do our best and we can hang with them in some areas, but in others, you can definitely see a distinct advantage.”

“When it does come to small schools obviously it’s more of a public/private issue,” Gilman athletic director Robin Rosemeyer said. “I’d like to know more of what the private schools’ thoughts are. I know the public schools’ thoughts and that’s pretty well known. With the bigger schools I’m sure there’s still an ability to draw students in that are closer to you that are able to move from school to school. I’m sure they see things from a different point of view also than how we see it.

“This is probably a good start as far as the term competitive balance goes and how they’re addressing the issues that different schools see differently,” Rosemeyer added. “It’s not a perfect solution probably, but they leave room for things to be modified and improvements and things like that. It’s definitely a good start.”

The Medford Raiders aren’t likely to see as direct of an impact as their Division 2 and 3 tournament fields feature very few private schools at the regional or sectional levels, though boys and girls tennis are two sports that do see La Crosse Aquinas and Eau Claire Regis frequently and McDonell-Regis is a current force in Medford’s Division 2 golf sectional.

Still, district administrator Pat Sullivan said Medford gave the plan a definite yes.

“We were in the position that something is better than nothing,” Sullivan said. “We also liked that there is an appeal process. There wasn’t the last time. That gives you an option because we’d hate to see one group get penalized because of another group being just so talented.”

The major criticism of the Tournament Performance Factor is the thought that it would penalize current groups for the success of past groups who had graduated. It remains to be seen how WIAA Classification Committees will treat those types of appeals, which are certain to happen.

“We liked that option to be able to appeal if that happened and we also liked that it was per sport,” Sullivan said. “It’s good that it’s by the sport. It’s about time that we did something so we can move these private schools up that are dominating. That’s where we were with it.”

“Things are in place for issues that arise,” Rosemeyer said. “You can take a small school that’s got a really good class for three consecutive years they do really good and then they graduate. Then the cupboard might be a little bit bare for awhile. Sometimes that may play a part in the appeal process. It’s out of their hands as to what the WIAA might say, but at least that’s part of the appeal process.”

“(The vote) wasn’t as close as I thought it was going to be,” Dallmann said. “But I think that just shows that there were a lot of people that definitely saw that there needed to be a change.”

Sinz, the district administrator at Wisconsin Heights and an Edgar native, in his address to the membership during the meeting, said the plan resulted from research the Competitive Balance Task Force did in looking at plans other states are using and by listening to every bit of feedback it got from people in Wisconsin.

“Committee members agreed that athletes, coaches, parents and head administrators perceived that some schools had inherent advantages and in some cases inherent disadvantages,” Sinz said. “While enrollment is currently the only factor used for divisional placement, many members agreed that times have changed and other factors should be considered to create more competitive balance.”

“Now we’ll see how it plays out and if it actually demonstrates that it’s going to level the divisional playing fields,” Dallmann said. “I guess we’ll see.”