By Scott Taylor | @Taylor_Sports
If you look up and down most programs at Benet Academy, you would find a great deal of success.
From the back-to-back state titles in girls basketball to the almost years trip to state for the girls volleyball team and to the success for the boys basketball team, the Redwings make a name for themselves throughout the year.
However, one of the sports that hasn’t had a whole lot of success recently is track and field.
So, while basketball teams compete in Class 4A, the boys and girls track and field teams this year were moved down to Class 2A in the three class system.
It only made perfect sense that the Redwings would bring home five state medals on the girls side this year, including a state championship from Ali Munson in the pole vault (Munson had the top vault in the state for all classes).
In sectional competition both the boys and girls won sectional titles in 2A after being afterthoughts in 3A sectionals. Now, I understand that having success in one sport has no impact on another sport, but it is funny how Benet’s drop in class immediately made it relevant in another sport in addition to all the others that are strong programs on the top level of their respective sports.
I guess my complaint is if you are so good in so many sports, why do you get to go down a class in other sports that aren’t as successful? You have proven you can compete with the top teams in the state in a plethora of sports, so just because a couple sports lag behind shouldn’t mean they get to benefit from not being as successful. This is just yet another advantage of a private school over a public school in this system.
Benet’s Ali Munson won the state championship in the pole vault.
Public schools are stuck in their class across all sports no matter what. If Downers Grove South, for instance, is great in so many sports (which it is solid in a ton) but not as good in one sport (we will just use basketball as an example), the basketball team doesn’t get to go down a class to be more competitive in the playoffs. That’s just silly. Yet, here is a private school that is able to attract athletes from all over the area and have successfully done so in many sports, allowed to lower a class to have more success.
Now, I’m not taking away anything from any of the athletes who have had success this year, it is well deserved. But from a big picture, it doesn’t seem fair that Benet Academy athletes are competing in the same class as Lisle athletes. Does it to you?
It will be very interesting to see what class Benet ends up in next year. What does an 11th place finish in state equal? Does it matter that the Redwings had five medals and a state champion? It gets even more confusing in an individual sport because what is the measure of success that the IHSA is using? Is it fair to the Class 2A pole vaulter who vaulted 12-feet, 3-inches to not win a state title because Benet was wrongly moved down a class? In individual sports like track and field, not only does misclassification hurt a team, it hurts individuals greater.
Like I said previously, the athletes and Benet Academy have nothing to do with this and nothing to feel sorry for. They deserve whatever they earn throughout the state meet system. I just find it as an injustice to some of the other 2A athletes from schools much smaller than Benet who can only get athletes from their town to come out, and they miss medaling by one place to someone from a school with far greater resources.
Hopefully the IHSA will stop being fluctuating classes so easily and will keep schools like Benet and Providence Catholic, which was also in Class 2A and has been in girls track for several years, up to 3A where they belong. Providence does just fine competing in the highest class in baseball and softball and in Class 7A for football.