Class 1A CC preseason rankings

[mtdew_fever]

Here's my prediction on the Top 5 preseason rankings for Boys and Girls 1A rankings.


Class 1A ? Boys





1 Denver
2 West Fork
3 St Albert
4 Bellevue
5 Trinity Christian

Class 1A ? Girls

1 Pekin
2 Pocahontas Area
3 Central of Elkader
4 South Winneshiek
5 Griswold

This post was edited on 8/18 12:27 PM by mtdew_fever

 

[mfp mmiv]

You may want to consider Regina in the mix as they will be down to 1A this year. Girls return 6 from the #5 2013 2A team!
This post was edited on 8/18 11:06 PM by mfp mmiv

 

[cc coach]

ICR girls will definitely be in the mix, and North Linn will be a really good team this fall too. 1A Girls is loaded.

 

[ValleyHawk22]

Some un-ranked boys 1A teams that have run well so far - Tri-Center, Nodaway Valley. Any others?

This post was edited on 9/6 1:13 PM by ValleyHawk22

 

[215#]

No 1A individual boys rankings?

 

[captain_sparrow]

I emailed the IATC asking about why there were no 1A boys ratings last week. At the time I emailed them, they did not have rankings posted for 3A boys, 1A girls or 1A boys. They eventually got 3A boys and 1A girls posted late Wednesday night.

Thursday morning, there were still no 1A boys ratings.

Anyway, got an email back and I was told the reason those rankings weren't posted was that "there might not be anyone to do them" or else whoever does them is having computer problems.

My first thought was, how do they not know if there's not anyone to do the rankings? We're three weeks into the season and you don't know? You'd think that's something that would be ironed out before the season starts.

Then after the 1A boys ratings finally did get posted, it looked to me like they just took seniors out of last year's state meet results and copy and pasted things exactly the way they were. The runners I am familiar with all had last year's grade levels next to their names.

 

[On Wings of Eagles]

The 1A coaches need to step up and put their own rankings together like the other classes. There may have been coaches last year that did this in 1A Boys but may not be continuing this year.

In their defense, the difficult thing is that not all 1A schools are going to see each other and if only one or two coaches get involved in the rankings, the picture is not very clear. They need more 1A coaches involved in the team rankings and communicating from various parts of the state. Just looking at results isn't the best way to compare teams either but that's what they have to rely on if nobody is talking about common opponents, their records, depth, course conditions/accurate distances or who they are beating from other classes etc...

Each class and gender have coaches that submit their rankings weekly. They are volunteers. The more coaches that get involved consistently, the better. Their submitted rankings are averaged by the compiler and then posted. The IATC doesn't do the rankings per se, it's on the member coaches. The IATC simply takes what's given to them. Membership by 1A schools isn't always that great as reflected in the end of season COY recognitions that are given to member coaches. The committees really struggle recognizing the 1A schools that have had success because they aren't always members.

When it comes to using IATC rankings data for State Qualifying assignments, it is a struggle when the IHSAA & IGHSAU doesn't have accurate data to use. The end result is more stronger programs end up not as spread out as they would like and a lot of complaining by people who know more about the better programs than they do. Unfortunately, Geographic representation ends up being the top criterion at that point which doesn't always mean the best teams are going to make it to state. My observations over the past 10 years are that the larger classes see each other more frequently, more coaches are involved in the rankings and communicate with each other and typically the pairings are very fair and accurate.

 

[mfp mmiv]

1A rankings are pretty meaningless at this stage. Regina boys are justifiably ranked #9, however, have no boys in top 30. Girls are #5 with only one girl at number 25. Those who were 2A qualifiers that dropped down to 1A have been ignored. These should be top 20 boys! Tovar and Shott, Regina, Keller, Columbus Community, from 1A Quinn or Bencze from Winfield-Mt. Union. Connor Smith, North Iowa defeated both Twedt and Hansen from West Fork not reflected in rankings.

 

[B-K_Teach]

Originally posted by mfp mmiv:

1A rankings are pretty meaningless at this stage. Regina boys are justifiably ranked #9, however, have no boys in top 30. Girls are #5 with only one girl at number 25. Those who were 2A qualifiers that dropped down to 1A have been ignored. These should be top 20 boys! Tovar and Shott, Regina, Keller, Columbus Community, from 1A Quinn or Bencze from Winfield-Mt. Union. Connor Smith, North Iowa defeated both Twedt and Hansen from West Fork not reflected in rankings.

If you'd like a crack at it, post them here along with a little comment to justify each (such as #4 Jimbo beat #8 Rosco by 9 seconds at the ___ Invite) and I will send them to the ranking committee.

I don't coach 1A and have no idea who belongs where or I'd be on top of it. I'm sure others here have similar sentiments.

 

[cc coach]

Hey - sorry I did not post sooner. Got logged out, forgot my password, etc..... took me a while to get back in.

I do the 1A boys rankings....... so, definitely feel free to send me some info, point out mistakes, make your case, etc.

In regard to some of the questions....

The reason the rankings (and 1A in particular) were slow to get going was two-fold. #1 - I was not sure if I was even needed to do a set of rankings this season or not. The person who oversees posting all the rankings was having some significant technology issues, so communication was slow to start. When I found out I was needed to do 1A, and the boys side of it, it happened to coincide with being crazy-busy at school...... So, it took me a few days to get something organized. And, yes, I took the state meet results, removed seniors, put in a couple kids I knew should fit in elsewhere (forgot to change grades) and posted them as they were...... as there really was not much in the way of meet results at that point, and I had only found out for sure that they needed me to help with 1A boys.

The way the rankings get done is that they need to find someone willing to volunteer their time to put them together and send them in. Generally not much of a line for the job. The entire thing is done by volunteers, and to be honest, it is kind of a PITA to try to rank 30 individuals. Top 10-15 are not that hard. After that, it starts to be a crapshoot to some extent.

My method is simple...... I try to find key meets, with head to head competition from each region. So, for example, something like the North Fayette meet or Starmont meet in NE brings in most of the kids in the region. I take those results and put the 1A kids in order...... So, say Ryan Izer from TValley is at "0" then put kids in at 2-4-6-8-10....... seconds back (as they finished behind him). I do this for 6-10 "bigger" meets, that involve as many regional 1A kids as I can find. This gives me a pretty good idea of the order and time spread for each region. I basically have 6-10 strips of paper that have an order of finish and are spaced out according to time. I then look for cross regional comparisons.. and start to match up the strips of paper...... think of something kind of like a slide-rule.

It really takes about 3-4 weeks of getting some decent results to get things ironed out...... 1A especially as there are just so many more schools, and they are so spread out, and waiting for some of those cross-regional head-to-head meets to happen simply takes time.

I also try to see multiple results before I move kids all over the place. I also take into account abnormally hot meets (that don't really give the best indication of where kids fall compared to each other). I take into account a kid having a bad meet and am not going to move kids 20 places in one direction or another based off of a single performance.

But, yeah, that is kind of how it goes. I know there are certainly some mistakes and areas that need to be moved around..... I think that will get a little better each week. Also, often it is hard to track down some of the 1A results in a timely fashion..... If I do the rankings on Tuesday, send them in, and then see results the next day..... or week..... that contradict what I posted..... it just has to wait till the next time around.

As I said, always looking for input. Specific is best....... List the winner of the race and his time, the 3-7 1A kids and their times. And, any inside info that is relevant..... "so-and-so was sick" or "it was 98 degrees" etc.

 

[captain_sparrow]

I appreciate the response, cc coach. I know ranking individuals is not an easy task and I appreciate the job that is done. My biggest problem was when I was basically told they didn't even know if there was anyone to do the rankings or not. Three weeks into the season seemed a little late to be wondering about that to me.

 

[mfp mmiv]

Thanks CC Coach!! I know it is a tough job to cover the entire state and rank individuals, particularly 1A. I'm a combined coach/statistician, and in the past I have done team rankings for newspaper - it requires time to do it properly. I follow our part of the state very closely for 1A and would gladly send my inputs weekly along with justification. I currently have about 120 girls from approximately 30 teams ranked for our area that I update very Sunday. I have my own process in a spread sheet I've developed over about 5 years. Uses Times, Throw out the clinkers on both ends, adjusts for long course and short course to the extent possible, any injury or illiness info I have, and then reorder if necessary based on any head to head, and finally consistency of performance factored.
Is there anyway I could send info directly to you or is this your preferred mechanism. I believe there are some great athletes that are being overlooked because there remoteness from the larger metro areas.

 

[cc coach]

If anyone wants to send something directly, just send to: kkearney_21@msn.com Or, feel free to post something here and I will see it when I check in every couple days. I am currently just doing 1A boys individuals. But, I also send in some info in regard to teams (1A, 2A, 3A generally) that I see in the meets I attend. I can also try to pass along info on other athletes ..... male/female in other classes.