I would guess Mayfield and Beechwood would be 2 teams that would probably ask to move up. I'm sure Bwood would much rather get that district rivalry back with NCC and the same for Mayfield with Crittenden and Murray.

Agree Clyde. I would remove the success factor and put more weight on the out of district component. IMO, that is the reason for the success.

Overall, I believe it is a good idea.

IMO the bigger question is how KHSAA accounts for geographical location of a particular school and how that impacts the situation.

IMO the bigger question is how KHSAA accounts for geographical location of a particular school and how that impacts the situation.

 

Location has a very big impact. It is the only way in the current system that a school may be allowed to move up in class if they want to do so. If there aren't enough schools in an area to fill a district, then the KHSAA will allow a school to move up in class to get to a "local" district.

I would guess Mayfield and Beechwood would be 2 teams that would probably ask to move up. I'm sure Bwood would much rather get that district rivalry back with NCC and the same for Mayfield with Crittenden and Murray.

Neither school asked to move up in 2007, when the six-class format was passed, so why would they now? Mayfield and Beechwood can still play those teams and compete for a state championship in Class A.

Neither school asked to move up in 2007, when the six-class format was passed, so why would they now? Mayfield and Beechwood can still play those teams and compete for a state championship in Class A.

 

:ohbrother: Come on westsider! You should know better than that. You have over 21,000 posts on here and this has been discussed ad nauseum in thread after thread. Neither school had a choice to ask to move up. They had local districts in their classification they could play in. The only way schools have been allowed to move up in class is due to geographic hardship ... in other words, there weren't enough teams close by in their class to make a district.

:ohbrother: Come on westsider! You should know better than that. You have over 21,000 posts on here and this has been discussed ad nauseum in thread after thread. Neither school had a choice to ask to move up. They had local districts in their classification they could play in. The only way schools have been allowed to move up in class is due to geographic hardship ... in other words, there weren't enough teams close by in their class to make a district.

I'm referring to 2007, the first year of the six-class format. Several schools asked to be moved up and were granted those moves, including Russellville and Somerset, as I recall.

 

Mayfield and Beechwood didn't ask to move up.

I'm referring to 2007, the first year of the six-class format. Several schools asked to be moved up and were granted those moves, including Russellville and Somerset, as I recall.

 

Mayfield and Beechwood didn't ask to move up.

 

Are you sure geography and districts weren't a factor? I don't recall schools being allowed to move up just because they wanted to.

VOR, you are exactly right. Russellville would have had over an hr to its closest district opponent(Crittenden Co) and over 2 hrs to the other 4(Ballard, Mayfield, Fulton Co & Fulton City), whereas them playing in 3a they had McLean Co, Webster Co, Union Co & Butler Co all within an hrs drive, I don't recall the exact situation with Somerset, but, I know they were in a similar situation, so, yes, geography had everything to do with those 2 teams.

Are you sure geography and districts weren't a factor? I don't recall schools being allowed to move up just because they wanted to.

That's just it ... schools rarely, if ever, just want to "move up" for competitive reasons. I don't know why teams such as Mayfield and Beechwood would ask to.

 

Mayfield "played up" in Class 2A for several years before dropping down to Class A in 1995, the first year they beat Beechwood in the state championship game. I've never heard anyone from Mayfield, inside and outside of the program, suggest doing it again.

I assure you, Mayfield would much rather play in 2a than 1a. Theres been no reason to suggest it, because it's not an option in the current format. Plus, in 1995, when they 1st went to 1a, it was a much more competitve class. Until 2010, when they limited it to the smallest 32 teams, 1a was okay. During a big portion of those years, teams like NCC, Danville, LCA, Cov Holy Cross, Middlesboro and a couple of others were also in 1a. With the loss of several good teams, it's not near as competitive as it used to be.

VOR, you are exactly right. Russellville would have had over an hr to its closest district opponent(Crittenden Co) and over 2 hrs to the other 4(Ballard, Mayfield, Fulton Co & Fulton City), whereas them playing in 3a they had McLean Co, Webster Co, Union Co & Butler Co all within an hrs drive...

 

So why didn't Russellville move up to 2A instead of 3A? They would have been in a district with Todd County Central (in their basketball district) and Fort Campbell (next county over). I have no doubt they moved up for geographical reasons, but I also believe without a doubt they asked to go to 3A instead of 2A for competitive reasons as well. No Mayfields, Fort Campbells, or Owensboro Catholics in that old 3A district.

If I recall, they had to go to 3a because of the district size. 2a already had 5 or maybe even 6 teams in it while 3a only had 4..

If I recall, they had to go to 3a because of the district size. 2a already had 5 or maybe even 6 teams in it while 3a only had 4..

 

Every 2A district from 2007-10 has four teams except District 1, which was five teams (Purchase area schools; wouldn't have included Russellville). If we look at their two "play-up" options, here are the distances:

 

2A District (average 55.75 miles)

-Fort Campbell - 43 miles

-Hancock County - 88 miles

-Owensboro Catholic - 77 miles

-Todd County Central - 15 miles

 

3A District (average 64.25 miles)

-Adair County - 101 miles

-Butler County - 30 miles

-Edmonson County - 51 miles

-Hart County - 75 miles

 

Two of the three shortest trips would have been in 2A. Both districts had one really long trip. And the average works out to about 10 miles less per trip going to 2A. But the talent in 2A was much better. Fort Campbell was dominant and Owensboro Catholic is always good. The 3A pool was a bunch of no-names, with Edmonson County having a couple decent teams 10 years ago. I still stand by the fact that Russellville wanted to move up for geographical reasons and requested 3A instead of 2A because they knew they could compete better.

 

I say all this, not as a knock on Russellville (who proved themselves quite capably in 3A) but to prove the point that geography is not always the only basis. Teams can hide behind the veil of geography, but I'd wager the majority of requests have more to do with competition than anything else.