Creating Balanced Sectionals, Regionals and Semi-States

[ghughes1974]

The intent of this post is to talk about imbalanced sectionals/regionals/semi-states.  What are the impacts of the imbalance and what are potential solutions.

 

The current approach is to create sectionals based entirely on geography.  There’s no consideration of school size/class mix.  Urban areas where there’s a high concentration of talent face a greater challenge to get to semi-state or state.  This creates negative impacts:

1.       The best kids don’t always make it to state

2.       The best teams don’t get invited to team state

 

See the post Growing Small School Wrestling with or without classing for more details on impacts.

 

Here are two alternatives to consider to minimize this issue.  The philosophy behind these approaches is to consider a balanced mix of school size/class when forming sectionals in addition to geographic considerations.

 

Option 1: Fully class sectionals 1A – 4A or 1A – 2A. Wrestlers cross classes in regionals.

Take 2 existing regionals (which are based on geography), and create 4 sectionals based on classes.

 

Example: two of today’s regionals in the same semi state that are highly imbalanced.  8 large schools in one.  2 large schools in the other.

Perry Perry Meridian, 4A  Franklin Central, 4A Southport, 4A Warren Central, 4A    Greenfield-Central, 3A Roncalli, 3A  New Palestine, 3A Shelbyville, 3A   Beech Grove, 2A Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter, 2A Indianapolis Crispus Attucks, 2A Indianapolis Emmerich Manual, 2A Indianapolis George Washington, 2A Indianapolis Howe Academy, 2A   Providence Cristo Rey, 1A Victory College Prep, 1A Eastern Hancock, 1A Indianapolis Lutheran, 1A Indianapolis Scecina Memorial, 1A Triton Central, 1A

Richmond Richmond, 3A East Central, 3A      New Castle, 2A. Batesville, 2A Connersville, 2A Franklin County, 2A Greensburg, 2A Lawrenceburg, 2A Rushville Consolidated, 2A South Dearborn, 2A   Blue River Valley, 1A Cambridge City Lincoln, 1A Centerville, 1A. Hagerstown, 1A Knightstown, 1A Northeastern, 1A Shenandoah, 1A Tri, 1A Milan, 1A Oldenburg Academy, 1A Union County, 1A

 

Take the same teams, and create four classed sectionals.

4A Perry Meridian, 4A  Franklin Central, 4A Southport, 4A Warren Central, 4A	3A Richmond, 3A Greenfield-Central, 3A Roncalli, 3A  New Palestine, 3A Shelbyville, 3A East Central, 3A
2A Beech Grove, 2A Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter, 2A Indianapolis Crispus Attucks, 2A Indianapolis Emmerich Manual, 2A Indianapolis George Washington, 2A Indianapolis Howe Academy, 2A New Castle, 2A. Batesville, 2A Connersville, 2A Franklin County, 2A Greensburg, 2A Lawrenceburg, 2A Rushville Consolidated, 2A South Dearborn, 2A	1A Providence Cristo Rey, 1A Victory College Prep, 1A Eastern Hancock, 1A Indianapolis Lutheran, 1A Indianapolis Scecina Memorial, 1A Triton Central 1A Cambridge City Lincoln, 1A Centerville, 1A. Hagerstown, 1A Knightstown, 1A Northeastern, 1A Shenandoah, 1A Tri, 1A Milan, 1A Oldenburg Academy, 1A Union County, 1A

 

Top 3 (or 4) wrestlers from each sectional advance to the next round of the individual tournament...a new regional.

 

The Team that wins each sectional gets to participate in Team State.  Use a wild card system to take additional top teams to team state so you still have a chance to make it if you're in a sectional with another powerhouse team.

 

Option 2: Use a “class rank” to ensure sectionals are balanced.

This approach would require a consistent “mix” of school sizes in all sectionals.

 

Each sectional would have 10 teams.

1 4A school

2 3A schools

3 2A schools

4 1A schools

 

The goal here is to help make sure the Sectionals start balanced which then leads to balanced Regionals and Semi States.  Also, this approach gives teams a much more equal chance to qualify for Dual Team State. 

 

To address drive distances, the host location of sectionals changes every other year.  So at most, a school would have a longer drive every other year.

[Jcjcjc]

33 minutes ago, ghughes1974 said:

The intent of this post is to talk about imbalanced sectionals/regionals/semi-states.  What are the impacts of the imbalance and what are potential solutions.

 

The current approach is to create sectionals based entirely on geography.  There’s no consideration of school size/class mix.  Urban areas where there’s a high concentration of talent face a greater challenge to get to semi-state or state.  This creates negative impacts:

1.       The best kids don’t always make it to state

2.       The best teams don’t get invited to team state

 

See the post Growing Small School Wrestling with or without classing for more details on impacts.

 

Here are two alternatives to consider to minimize this issue.  The philosophy behind these approaches is to consider a balanced mix of school size/class when forming sectionals in addition to geographic considerations.

 

Option 1: Fully class sectionals 1A – 4A or 1A – 2A. Wrestlers cross classes in regionals.

Take 2 existing regionals (which are based on geography), and create 4 sectionals based on classes.

 

Example: two of today’s regionals in the same semi state that are highly imbalanced.  8 large schools in one.  2 large schools in the other.

Perry Perry Meridian, 4A  Franklin Central, 4A Southport, 4A Warren Central, 4A    Greenfield-Central, 3A Roncalli, 3A  New Palestine, 3A Shelbyville, 3A   Beech Grove, 2A Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter, 2A Indianapolis Crispus Attucks, 2A Indianapolis Emmerich Manual, 2A Indianapolis George Washington, 2A Indianapolis Howe Academy, 2A   Providence Cristo Rey, 1A Victory College Prep, 1A Eastern Hancock, 1A Indianapolis Lutheran, 1A Indianapolis Scecina Memorial, 1A Triton Central, 1A

Richmond Richmond, 3A East Central, 3A      New Castle, 2A. Batesville, 2A Connersville, 2A Franklin County, 2A Greensburg, 2A Lawrenceburg, 2A Rushville Consolidated, 2A South Dearborn, 2A   Blue River Valley, 1A Cambridge City Lincoln, 1A Centerville, 1A. Hagerstown, 1A Knightstown, 1A Northeastern, 1A Shenandoah, 1A Tri, 1A Milan, 1A Oldenburg Academy, 1A Union County, 1A

 

Take the same teams, and create four classed sectionals.

4A Perry Meridian, 4A  Franklin Central, 4A Southport, 4A Warren Central, 4A	3A Richmond, 3A Greenfield-Central, 3A Roncalli, 3A  New Palestine, 3A Shelbyville, 3A East Central, 3A
2A Beech Grove, 2A Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter, 2A Indianapolis Crispus Attucks, 2A Indianapolis Emmerich Manual, 2A Indianapolis George Washington, 2A Indianapolis Howe Academy, 2A New Castle, 2A. Batesville, 2A Connersville, 2A Franklin County, 2A Greensburg, 2A Lawrenceburg, 2A Rushville Consolidated, 2A South Dearborn, 2A	1A Providence Cristo Rey, 1A Victory College Prep, 1A Eastern Hancock, 1A Indianapolis Lutheran, 1A Indianapolis Scecina Memorial, 1A Triton Central 1A Cambridge City Lincoln, 1A Centerville, 1A. Hagerstown, 1A Knightstown, 1A Northeastern, 1A Shenandoah, 1A Tri, 1A Milan, 1A Oldenburg Academy, 1A Union County, 1A

 

Top 3 (or 4) wrestlers from each sectional advance to the next round of the individual tournament...a new regional.

 

The Team that wins each sectional gets to participate in Team State.  Use a wild card system to take additional top teams to team state so you still have a chance to make it if you're in a sectional with another powerhouse team.

 

Option 2: Use a “class rank” to ensure sectionals are balanced.

This approach would require a consistent “mix” of school sizes in all sectionals.

 

Each sectional would have 10 teams.

1 4A school

2 3A schools

3 2A schools

4 1A schools

 

The goal here is to help make sure the Sectionals start balanced which then leads to balanced Regionals and Semi States.  Also, this approach gives teams a much more equal chance to qualify for Dual Team State. 

 

To address drive distances, the host location of sectionals changes every other year.  So at most, a school would have a longer drive every other year.

Cool ideas. The winner of the sectionals going directly to team state may cause some problems, as team state is currently in early December as it isn’t sanctioned by the IHSAA/in the postseason. 
I like thinking about the classed sectionals; it is definitely a change, but it has many upsides. 

[julio]

I think you second option is easier to apply, if you balance out the teams in regards to size between the 2 sectionals that feed into a regional.

 

[casualwrestlingfan]

I'm wondering if school size or school ranking would be the best. You could have 4A & 3A schools that aren't that competitive and you could also have a few 1A & 2A schools that are really competitive compared to the norm. I think that is another factor to weigh in.

[HornetPride]

Simplicity and objectivity will always reign supreme when trying to get something like this passed with the IHSAA. Evening out school size at different sectionals will certainly harm some schools more than others (Danville being stuck near Avon and Brownsburg is rough) but for the vast majority of teams it will lead to a much more equal starting point.

[ghughes1974]

Bump

[bbulldog152]

It's going to be hard to balance out sectionals but could it be possible to balance semi-states?

 

This is how the semi-states look roughing based on class I just pulled these off of the document with the classes split up

 

ECC SS 75 total teams

1a- 26

2a- 23

3a -16

4a - 10

 

FW SS 76 total teams

1a 31

2a 25

3a 16

4a 4

 

NC ss 79 total teams

1a 31

2a 24

3a 9

4a 15

 

Ev SS 83 total teams

1a 25

2a 28

3a 22

4a 8

 

So from this data It looks like ECC is the closest to being balanced with lower than average at 1a and 2a by 2 and at the average at 3a and 4a and below average on total teams. FW is high a little at 1a but very low at 4 a, average at 2a and 3a and just shy of  average with total teams. NC is above average at 1a and 4a, about average at 2a and about half the average at 3a while being right at the average amount of total teams. EV is below average at 1 as and shy of average at 4a while being above average at 2a and 3a as well as above average with total teams. Now I'm not sure how accurate these numbers are based on teams not being active and I believe the elkhart schools are 1 so I assume that makes them 4A giving FW 5 4a but still making then low. 

The question would be, is there a way to at least even out the semi-state so each Semi-state is closer to the average of each class as well as totals? Could this maybe help 1a school that are in a heavy 4a area like New Castle or help 2a schools pared up with a lot of 3a schools in evansville? This may be info to pounder for a realignment. Also if someone can do this data better go ahead.

[ghughes1974]

The data you shared is a good view of things...of the imbalance.  Balancing at any level will help.  The data shows that to balance Semi State, Indianapolis should be carved up a little more...sending more large schools up towards FW.  Moving a few schools up to FW SS would impact some of the sectionals that feed into NC SS, so there's an opportunity to balance better at that level as well.  

 

I think we're talking the same thing for the most part.  Your recommendation is to look at the top (SS level) and work down.  I was saying start at the bottom (Sectional level) and work up.  Either way works.

 

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by ghughes1974

[ghughes1974]

Here are some examples that show the significant difference in the make up of some of our sectionals.  There are many more examples.  Just picked a few that were handy.  

 

I gave each of these a "class rank".  The concept of Class Rank is to rate the difficulty level of each sectional based on school size. 

 

4 points for a 4A school, 3 points for a 3A school, 2 points for a 2A school, 1 point for a 1A school.  Some sectionals have Double the class rank of others. 

 

Sectionals in Indiana with significant 4A/3A presence:

 

25. Avon (11) | class rank 28 Avon, 4A Ben Davis, 4A Brownsburg, 4A Pike, 4A Plainfield, 3A Speedway, 2A Danville Community, 2A Greencastle, 2A North Putnam, 1A South Putnam, 1A Tri-West Hendricks, 1A

22. Warren (10) |class rank 23 Warren Central, 4A Franklin Central, 4A Greenfield-Central, 3A New Palestine, 3A Shelbyville, 3A Indianapolis Howe Academy, 2A Indianapolis Lutheran, 1A Scecina Memorial, 1A Triton Central, 1A Eastern Hancock, 1A

26. Mooresville (10) | class rank 26 Center Grove, 4A Decatur Central, 3A Franklin Community, 3A Greenwood Community, 3A Martinsville, 3A Mooresville, 3A Whiteland Community, 3A Monrovia, 2A Cascade, 1A Cloverdale, 1A

Sectionals in Indiana with significant 1A/2A presence:   13. Peru (10) | class rank 12 Maconaquah, 2A Peru, 2A Cass, 1A Caston, 1A? Manchester, 1A. Team State North Miami, 1A Northfield, 1A? Rochester Community, 1A Southwood, 1A Wabash, 1A. Team State     Not a perfect system as school size is only one factor.  Culture, coaching, school commitment to the sport are all significant factors as well.  But school size is a controllable factory when trying to establish balanced sectionals.

23. Tri (10) | class rank 13 Richmond, 3A New Castle, 2A. Team State Blue River Valley, 1A Cambridge City Lincoln, 1A Centerville, 1A. Team State Hagerstown, 1A Knightstown, 1A Northeastern, 1A Shenandoah, 1A Tri, 1A

15. Jay County (9) | class rank 12 Bellmont, 2A. Team State Jay County, 2A Norwell, 2A. Team State Adams Central, 1A. Team State Blackford, 1A Bluffton, 1A. Team State South Adams, 1A, Team State Southern Wells, 1A Union City 1A

Edited March 5, 2021 by ghughes1974

[ghughes1974]

In case this is helpful, here are today's sectionals with details on each school's class.  I included a "class rank" for each sectional.  

Sectionals w Class Detail.pdf

[ghughes1974]

BBulldog152, I was thinking more about the data shared for the semi states.  Thanks much for sharing that.

 

Perhaps the best way to look at things is what is the single easiest change to make to address the imbalance at the semi state level.  I looked through sectionals and the geography.  Here is a simple change that would make a huge improvement to balancing the semi states. 

 

If the IHSAA moves the Frankfort sectional to Fort Wayne semi state and moves the Delta sectional to New Castle, that significantly improves things. 

 

GEOGRAPHY: This change does not appear to create a significant geographic issue. Frankfort sectional is the north side of Indianapolis and contains several 4A schools.  Sectional and regional would still be reasonably close.  When their wrestlers advance to Semi State, they would have a longer trip to the Fort Wayne Semi State (but no longer than the same trip Fort Wayne wrestlers make the next week when they travel to state at Bankers Life).  Delta sectional is in the Muncie area.  Muncie is only 20 miles from New Castle.

 

This is an easy 1 to 1 flip flop. 

SCHOOL SIZE

Move to New Castle   16. Delta (10) | class rank 14 Muncie Central, 3A Delta, 2A Yorktown. 2A Cowan, 1A Daleville, 1A Monroe Central, 1A Randolph Southern, 1A Wapahani, 1A Wes-Del, 1A Winchester Community, 1A

Move to Fort Wayne   18. Frankfort (10) | Class Rank 24 Carmel, 4A  Fishers, 4A Hamilton Southeastern, 4A Westfield 4A Frankfort, 2A Lebanon, 2A Clinton Central, 1A Clinton Prairie, 1A Rossville, 1A Sheridan, 1A

 

SEMI STATE IMPACT

Current Semi State

ECC SS 75 total teams  (class rank 160) 1a- 26 2a- 23 3a -16 4a – 10	FW SS 76 total teams (class rank 145) 1a 31 2a 25 3a 16 4a 4
Ev SS 82 total teams (class rank 177) 1a 25 2a 27 3a 22 4a 8	NC ss 79 total teams (class rank 166) 1a 31 2a 24 3a 9 4a 15

 

 

New Split after flip flopping these two sectionals

ECC SS 75 total teams (class rank 160) 1a- 26 2a- 23 3a -16 4a – 10	FW SS 76 total teams (class rank 159) 1a 28 2a 25 3a 15 4a 9
Ev SS 83 total teams (class rank 177) 1a 25 2a 27 3a 22 4a 8	NC ss 79 total teams (class rank 156) 1a 34 2a 24 3a 10 4a 11

 

At a glance the folks in Delta may be thinking this is not good for them, but remember, a chunk of what makes New Castle so challenging just went North.  Both roads to state are much more similar with this change.

 

There are still several imbalanced sectionals and regionals we should look at splitting up.  But I think this single change is an easy one worth considering. 

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by ghughes1974

[chambers]

On 3/5/2021 at 4:24 PM, ghughes1974 said:

In case this is helpful, here are today's sectionals with details on each school's class.  I included a "class rank" for each sectional.  

Sectionals w Class Detail.pdf 553.19 kB · 37 downloads

A few errors in the class details. In the Southridge sectional, Southridge is a 1A school this year not a 2A school. Tell City is listed as going to the Jeffersonville sectional. They were in the Southridge sectional this year. In the Castle sectional Wood Memorial is listed. They have not had a team for at least 2 years with no plans to have a team. 

[ghughes1974]

Thank you for the corrections.  I have updated the document and attached it.

 

Sectionals w Class Detail 3-17-21.pdf

Edited March 7, 2021 by ghughes1974

[WoodJC82]

Jay County was at Team State...finished 3rd

Edited March 8, 2021 by WoodJC82