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MSHSAA Votes Against Split State Titles, Approves More Football Playoff Teams
BY JIM WIENERS
Missouri State High School Activities Association member institutions, for the second time in 10 years, voted against a proposal, initiated by petition, for separate public/private state championships.
Of the 578 member schools, 70 of them private, only 413 voted on the proposal and it was rejected by a margin of 321-92. The proposal was initiated by Belle High School, near Jefferson City, and signed by 62 high schools statewide, including Orchard Farm and Valley Park High Schools. The original proposal was for separate state championships for all sports but MSHSAA Executive Director Dr. Kerwin Urhahn decided to exclude football from the proposal.
Urhahn, who was against the proposal, said in a May 3 press release; “We are encouraged by the results of this vote and the desire of our membership to work together. However, there is still a lot of work to be done in this area. In the near future, we will be establishing a standing committee on public and nonpublic school relations to make sure that our membership has a formal channel to communicate concerns as they arise and recommend changes when they are needed. Keeping an open dialogue on these issues is critical to making progress and moving forward.”
Urhahn, according to a published report, was to put together a 31-person task force in hopes of easing public-private tensions. That was taking place before the ballots went out.
Meanwhile MSHSAA member football schools voted 169-91 in favor of doubling the number of teams in post-season play by including district champions and runner ups, beginning with the 2008 season. That means there will be 32 schools in Classes One-Four and 16 in Classes Five-Six. It also means the football season will start one week earlier beginning in 2008 than in 2007, where the schedule for next season is set.
DISTRICT TRACK & FIELD — McCluer North will host Class Four, District Four Track & Field this Saturday. McCluer North and their Suburban North Conference rivals Hazelwood Central, Hazelwood East, Hazelwood West, McCluer, Pattonville, Ritenour and Riverview Gardens competes against former Suburban North rival Normandy as well as DeSmet (an all-boys school) Incarnate Word Academy (an all-girls school) and Parkway North.
Mary Institute-Country Day School will host Class Three, District Three with Trinity Catholic, Lutheran North, McCluer South-Berkeley and Jennings among the participating schools. The top four finishers in each district event, boys and girls, will advance to the Sectional meet May 19 (at Chaminade in Class Four, at MICDS in Class Three). The MSHSAA State Championships will be May 25-26 at Jefferson City.
North County Tech was to compete in Class Two, District Two at Louisiana, Mo., May 5 with the top four finishers in each event competing this Saturday at The Principia.
State for Class Two is May 18-19.
BASEBALL — Most of the area high schools will compete in Class Four, District Seven, hosted by Hazelwood West. Hazelwood Central, Hazelwood East, McCluer North, McCluer and Riverview Gardens will be competing. Lutheran North will host Class Three, District Five with Trinity Catholic, McCluer South-Berkeley Cardinal Ritter and Jennings among the nine-team field.
District winners advance to sectional round with the odd-numbered district winners hosting the sectionals round May 24. Quarterfinals are May 26 at sites to be announced. State Semifinals-Finals are June 1-2 at University of Missouri-Columbia Hi Simmons Field-Taylor Stadium.
GIRLS SOCCER — Trinity Catholic will host Class One, District Five with Lutheran North, Jennings, Crossroads, Soldan International Studies and Lutheran North in the field. Florissant Valley Park, near the Eagan Civic Center, will be the site of Class Two, District Three with McCluer North hosting and McCluer, Hazelwood Central, Hazelwood East and Riverview Gardens in the field. Hazelwood West will be in Class Two, District Five at Parkway North with Pattonville, Ritenour and Francis Howell North competing
The District winners will compete at the Anheuser-Busch Center, Fenton May 22 or 24 for sectionals, May 26 in the Quarterfinals, June 1 in the Semifinals and June 2 in the Finals.
