The NCTCCCA needs to hear the voices of coaches, athletes, and parents as they prepare to advise the NCHSAA on this issue.
Today NCRunners launches the second in a series of polls conducted on behalf of the North Carolina Track & Cross Country Coaches Association (the NCTCCCA for short). That organization's board of directors, manned by current and former high school coaches, has an advisory role with the NCHSAA that provides the opportunity to push for positive changes in the running sports when needed. The first article in the series covered the new NFHS jewelry rule and its implementation in North Carolina, and this time around the subject is the NCHSAA's method by which the team points from wheelchair and adaptive events are recorded. The NCTCCCA needs you to make your voice heard, so that if there is a clear consensus on the subject they can communicate that to the leadership in Chapel Hill.
Some background on the subject: for years now, wheelchair and adaptive athletes (such as Hillside's Desmond Jackson, an amputee who runs with a "blade") have been scoring team points if they meet a minimum standard in their performances at the state meet. If there is one athlete in the event, then one point is scored; if two athletes compete against each other, the winner gets 2 points and second place gets 1. If more athletes participate, the point value for winning will increase on the 8-place scoring system, until the scoring is the same as for all events when there are 8 participants (10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1). This is one of three ways that the NFHS suggests for state associations to choose from regarding wheelchair and adaptive athletes. For the first time since this system was implemented, the points from the wheelchair events played a role in determining the overall team title, as Mount Tabor won by 6 points over Apex after the Spartans' wheelchair athletes earned 8 points for their team. The argument in favor of this system lies in the fact that these athletes trained with their teammates, traveled to meets together, and competed all season for their team, and it seems unfair to exclude them based on a disability. The argument against the current system rests on the fact that wheelchair and adaptive events are, by definition, not open to the general population like all other events, meaning that most schools do not have any athletes eligible to compete in those events.
There are two alternatives to this method under NFHS rules:
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Create a separate division for wheelchair and adaptive athletes, which is then scored and treated like all other classifications. Adaptive athletes would compete for a separate team championship. This could be done by classification, potentially leading to the NCHSAA awarding 8 championships, or all adaptive athletes could compete together in a single division for a 5th championship. The latter version is being considered by the NCTCCCA as a proposal for this upcoming track season, and it has the added benefit of increasing the competition in the wheelchair events by grouping the athletes together regardless of the classification of their schools. This is Option 2 in our poll.
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The NCHSAA can also maintain the current scoring system as outlined above, but then choose to award two team championships whenever the wheelchair/adaptive points affect the outcome of the standard team championship. For example, under this system there would have been two 4A team championships in 2014: one for Apex, which scored the most points counting only the standard events, and one for Mount Tabor, which scored the most points including adaptive events. This rule would be invoked only when the team championship is directly affected by points from wheelchair/adaptive events, but otherwise those athletes would continue to score points for their team as they have in the past. This is Option 3 in our poll.
Make your voice heard, and empower the NCTCCCA to advise the NCHSAA on this event. Option 1 is the default position if there is no consensus for an alternative, as it is the system already in place; if you feel it should be changed, this is an opportunity for you to impact the conversation.