Classes Still Create Hoosier Hysteria
July 27, 2017
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
This is the fourth part in a series on MHSAA tournament classification, past and present, that will be published over the next two weeks. This series originally ran in this spring's edition of MHSAA benchmarks.
Twenty years ago, Bloomington North High School won the Indiana High School Athletic Association boys basketball championship, defeating Delta 75-54 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.
The date, March 22, 1997, is at the same time revered and disdained by traditionalists in the state who saw it as the last schoolboy championship game the state would ever host.
That’s how devout the game of basketball, particularly interscholastic basketball, had become in the Hoosier state during the 87 years a state champion – one state champion, to be precise – was crowned.
Following that 1997 season, the IHSAA moved to a four-class system for its roundball tournaments, like so many of its state association counterparts had done years earlier.
It would be shocking to find more than a small percentage of current high school basketball players around the country unfamiliar with the iconic movie Hoosiers, even though the film is now more than 30 years old.
And, the storyline for that blockbuster unfolded more than 30 years prior to its release, when small-town, undermanned Milan High School defeated Muncie Central High School 32-30 in the 1954 IHSAA title game.
Perhaps it’s because of the David vs Goliath notion, or the fame of the movie that replaced Milan with the fictional Hickory and real-life star Bobby Plump with Hollywood hero Jimmy Chitwood, or the simple fact that Indiana had something other states didn’t.
Whatever the reason, plenty of opposition remains to this day to basketball classification in the state.
The fact is, the small rural schools were regularly being beaten handily by the much larger suburban and city schools as the tournament progressed each season.
Small schools also were closing at a rapid rate following the state’s School Reorganization Act in 1959, as students converged on larger, centralized county schools. From 1960 to 2000, the number of schools entering the tournament dropped from 694 to 381, and in 1997 a total of 382 schools and 4,584 athletes began competition at the Sectional level (the first level of the IHSAA Basketball Tournament).
It was at the entry level of the tournament where school administrators felt the pain of the new class system, but not necessarily for the same nostalgic reasons as the fans who either attended or boycotted the tournament.
At the Sectional round of the tournament, the IHSAA was culling just 2 percent of the revenue, with the participating schools splitting the balance. So, when Sectional attendance dropped by 14 percent in that first year of class basketball, many schools realized a financial loss. It was money they had grown to count on in prior years to help fund various aspects of the department.
Schools cumulatively received more than $900,000 from Sectional competition in 1998, but that total was down from more than $1 million in the last year of the single-class tournament.
Yet, the current format provides a great deal more opportunity and realistic chances at championship runs for schools of all enrollments.
To date, 60 additional teams have championship or runner-up trophies on display in school trophy cases around Indiana.
That was the mission in front of then-IHSAA commissioner Bob Gardner (now National Federation executive director) once the board made its decision: to give thousands more student-athletes the opportunity for once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
As any statistician knows, figures can be manipulated to tell any side of a story. Declining attendance in year one of class basketball is such a number.
The truth is tournament attendance had been on a steady downward spiral since its peak of just over 1.5 million in 1962. By the last single-class event in 1997, the total attendance was half that.
The challenge then and today, as it is for all state associations, is to find that delicate balance for those holding onto tradition, those holding onto trophies, and the number of trophies to hand out.
Editor’s Note: Stories from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette in 1998 and from a 2007 issue of Indianapolis Monthly provided facts in this article.
TC Central Boys Break Rival's Finals Title Streak, Claim 1st Since 2011
By
James Cook
Special for MHSAA.com
February 26, 2024
HARBOR SPRINGS – The first birthday gift of the day for Jace Rowell was hard to beat.
The Traverse City Central junior had all his Trojans teammates and parents sing "Happy Birthday" as he went to the podium to accept his medal for placing third in the slalom at Monday's Division 1 alpine skiing championships at Boyne Highlands in Harbor Springs.
The medal was the first of several for Rowell and many of his TCC teammates, as the Trojans won the boys program's first Finals championship since 2011.
"It's super big," Rowell said. "We've been working hard at it and been super close the past few years and we finally, finally got it this year. It feels really good."
Rowell's all-state slalom effort helped Traverse City Central win its 20th Finals championship.
"He had a great birthday today," Trojans head coach Amy Kudary said. "What a present for his day. It was icing on the cake."
Kudary became only the fourth woman to lead a boys team to the Division 1 title, and sixth overall in any MHSAA Class/Division.
"It's pretty cool to be a female coach of a boys team and win this," Kudary said. "They give me the same respect they give everybody."
Central's boys were nearly flawless in the morning slalom session, leading three-time reigning champ Traverse City West 18-41. The Titans cut into that deficit in slalom with an 18-point performance of their own, but Central scored 29 to come away with a 47-59 final tally. The remainder of the finals field consisted of Marquette (97), Linden-Lake Fenton (191), Northville (202), Birmingham (210), Milford (235), Clarkston (244) and Detroit Catholic Central (246).
TC West senior Caleb Lewandowski added to his legacy with a GS championship, raising his career total to four individual Finals titles.
"It's pretty cool to do that, but kind of sad the team couldn't do it, too," Lewandowski said.
Lewandowski took a gate too tightly early in his first slalom run, resulting in a bobble that cost him precious time. He made up for it the rest of the run and with a solid second run that put him second overall to Marquette's Sam Dehlin by 1.02 seconds.
He rebounded in GS with the day's two fastest runs to edge out Dehlin by 0.56 of a second.
"It was my last high school race ever," said Lewandowski. "We were hoping to come away with it, but we had fun out there."
West had won the last three boys D1 titles, getting dual titles last year with the girls' first since 2015.
Central's boys were Finals runners-up in seven of the last 10 years.
"We finally ended that drought," Kudary said. "Anything could happen today. It's always been a battle with West all season. All of the team contributed to the effort today. So happy to bring one home this year. The boys have been working on this for awhile."
Sophomore Rocco Elkins helped lead Central's efforts with a fourth-place slalom finish and fifth in GS.
Last year it was really, really close," Elkins said. "It definitely felt good to come from a close loss last year to a pretty good win this year."
Central's slalom group put four in the top 10, with Rowell third, Elkins fourth, Asher Paul fifth and Trevor Suttle seventh.
"The morning was awesome," Kudary said. "The boys just completely dominated in slalom, and we knew we had a good lead going into the afternoon."
Isaac Shapiro (fourth) and Grady Ellis (ninth) joined Lewandowski in the GS top 10 for West, with Didier Ramoie (seventh) and Cooper Gerber (10th) joining Elkins in the GS top 10.
"It feels really good knowing (TC) Central is one of the best teams in Michigan," Elkins said. "The whole Traverse City area just has the best skiers in Michigan."
The remainder of the slalom top 10 consisted of Lake Orion’s Marcel Anders (sixth), Brighton’s John Popov (eighth), Flushing’s Anthony Trovato (ninth) and Kalamazoo United’s Sam Oberlee (10th).
Trovato took third in GS, with Popov sixth and Lake Orion’s Broden Janczarek eighth.
Dehlin earned his fifth and sixth all-state finishes as a junior, winning the slalom with the event’s two fastest runs.
“I thought I skied pretty well,” Dehlin said. “My slalom was good. I think my GS wasn't the best, but was pretty good. I'm happy with it.”
He took second in slalom and third in GS last season, and said slalom is his favorite of the two.
“Slalom is just a lot faster paced, and there's a lot more going on,” Dehlin said. “I just find it more interesting.”
Marquette could return five of its top six skiers next season.
Dehlin said Marquette looks to end Traverse City’s four-year stranglehold on the D1 boys title next year. Marquette had won eight Finals titles in a row before West ended that streak in 2021.
“We're going to try,” Dehlin said. “Next year, we have some promising athletes coming in. I think it's going to be interesting. It's going to be fun.”
PHOTOS (Top) Traverse City Central's Jace Rowell approaches a gate during Monday's Division 1 Finals. (Middle) Traverse City West's Caleb Lewandowski finishes one of his championship runs. (Below) Marquette's Sam Dehlin races the slalom. (Photos by Tori Burley. Click for more; photos will be added throughout this week.)