State Qualifying (Districts) assignments are out

[Herdcyclones]

Always kinda interesting to see who goes where. I suppose it depends on who is selected to host. I'm partial to 2A, and was kinda surprised to see A-P, D-NH, and Columbus heading to Story City. I guess the corners are what they are, no surprises there. It's just kinda how they mush up the middle.

Is there a rhyme or reason for 4A? Who gets with who in the CIML? Who draws the short straw (or is it a good thing?) for who gets sent out west to hang with the Sioux City and Council Bluffs schools?

Track Districts

 

[On Wings of Eagles]

In 4-A it always seems like a repeat of conference meets from the week before. Not too exciting and somewhat predictable since nobody really cares about winning a team title and focuses on positioning for the state meet. Schools on the east and west borders don't really have options. CIML schools are usually broken down a little and sent to claim their spots from the weaker western districts so it makes sense that Valley and Waukee would be sent that direction but Johnston is a stronger team this year as well so it must be their turn. I-380 corridor seems to get the benefit of splintering out a bit, some being sent to about 3 different sites which is fair for them as well. Bottom line; geographic representation wins first, then with top 2 auto and next best 12 performances it's about as fair as it can get. It's a lot easier to manage 48 schools than X# of schools in 2A & 1A but the flipside is 4-A schools can field better team lineups and actually have a chance at a "true team" state meet vs. the smaller schools that could win state with about 6 kids anyway. That's another topic for another day though.