State Cross Country Committee:
I would like to make a proposal for high school cross country in West Virginia to become effective for the 2000 season. I have coached track & field in our state for 19 years and have seen the sport evolve over the years into what it is today. More recently, I have also become interested in cross country, watching it grow and seeing the success of the sport, in general, over the last several years. I have also watched our Doddridge County girls' team not qualify for the state meet twice, when they were clearly at least one of the state's top 4 teams. I have also watched Grafton's and Williamstown's girls' teams suffer the same fate, when we qualified and they didn't. I'm certain that this problem is not unique to our region, class, or gender! I feel that because of the nature of the sport of cross country, problems like these can and should be minimized. The rationale for my proposal is to see more quality teams and individuals advance to state competition, with a modified regional alignment, and to come up with a more stable system for the regional meet.
My proposal is to reduce the number of regions from five to four and to follow, for the most part, the alignment as it is for track & field. Minor adjustments might need to be made as some schools that have track & field do not have cross country. (Track & field went from 5 to 4 regions back in 1986, and although we weren't sure about it at the time, it was the right thing to do.) I further propose that two teams from each of these 4 regions qualify for the state meet in each class (AA and AAA) in both the boys' and girls' divisions. One of my main objections to the current system is that I find it unbelievable as a coach that we don't really know until the day of the regional meet how many teams will qualify for the state meet from our region! We honestly aren't sure as we prepare for the regional meet just how many "full" teams will show up for the regional, so we don't really know if one or two, or even three, teams will qualify from our region. I will leave to the committee the decision on how many individual qualifiers from each region should advance to the state meet and whether those individuals should be "inclusive" or "exclusive". Rick Coffman, who is our head coach, and I are certainly for any proposal that leads to getting the best teams and individuals to the state meet. We are also for getting as many teams and individuals as possible to the state meet to decide for sure just who are the best teams and individuals.
I feel that this proposal is a step in the right direction to make West Virginia Cross Country a little better. It, like any other plan, is not perfect, but with a little discussion and a little work, it might help to make things better for the cross country teams and individuals of our state. Thank you for your time and consideration with this proposal.
Sincerely,
Craig Kellar
Assistant Cross Country Coach
Doddridge County High School