PROPOSAL FOR ADJUSTING THE DIVISIONAL CUT-OFF POINTS FOR THE CCS IN CROSS COUNTRY (to be effective during the 2005-2006 season)

Submitted by Ernie Lee, Gunn High School, SCVAL

Purpose:

• According to the CIF bylaws, each section is allowed to set the cut-off points between the 5 divisions within ranges specified by CIF bylaw 1700 part A.
• In the past, the CCS has chosen these cut-off points to roughly equalize the number of schools in the largest 3 divisions (since some schools in the smaller 2 divisions do not field cross country teams, the cut-off points for those divisions were chosen at the upper end of the allowable ranges in order to ensure that enough schools field teams so that the CCS could send all of it’s State Meet qualifiers to the State Meet).
• A secondary consideration is to more closely match the divisional cut-offs from other sections so that at the state level our schools are competing against schools of similar size. Since the number of State Meet berths is tied to a section’s past performance at the State Meet, our section would be at a competitive disadvantage by having our schools compete against much larger schools at the state level.
• A minor consideration is to choose "natural" breaks in the enrollment figures so that the schools in the different divisions are distinct in size

Current Situation:

• The last time the CCS adjusted the divisional cut-off points was in the fall of 2002. Since then, many schools in the section have experienced a significant increase in enrollment so that the number of schools in each of the 3 largest divisions are now quite different, thus leading to a clear competitive imbalance between the divisions.
• The table below shows the distribution of teams this year (information taken from the CCS website)

• Note that the CCS has historically been strong in DIII and thus the boys this year received 4 automatic berths to the state meet and the girls 3, however that division had significantly fewer schools than DI or DII. For example, in the DIII boys race at the CCS finals, only 10 schools competed for 4 state meet berths while in DI, 17 schools competed for only 2 spots.
• Also note that because of the small relative size of most of our schools, the CCS schools in each respective division are in general smaller than the schools in the same division from other sections.

Proposal (using the 2004-2005 C-BED enrollments):

• Due to the increase in student enrollment in the CCS, in order to better equalize the divisions we need to adjust the cut-off points higher. Note that this will also adjust our divisions to more closely match those of the other sections.
• The table below shows a proposed adjustment with the number of schools listed according to the 2004-2005 C-BED enrollments found on the CCS website.

*Note that not all DV schools field cross country teams.

The above cut-off points addresses all of the considerations detailed above. The ranges for the smallest two divisions remain the same while the number of schools in each of the largest three divisions is roughly equal. Conveniently, the ranges for the divisions would more closely match those of the other sections, and the cut-off points fall within "natural" breaks (both in terms of the roundness of the numbers and the gaps in the C-BED numbers).

I believe that such a divisional structure would not only improve the competitive balance at the CCS level, but also help our schools be more competitive at the state level.