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.
Simply Put: Meridian Helps Athletes Showcase Athleticism, Become Champions
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
May 10, 2023
Mike Bilina’s strategy for success as the Sanford Meridian boys track & field coach is so simple, it almost seems absurd.
Get fast kids, and let them run. But also get good jumpers, and let them jump.
“We have some really good athletes that participate in track,” Bilina said. “We try to keep it as simple as we can, and let their athleticism show. … Basically go out there and just be a better athlete than everyone.”
That simplicity has worked wonders for Bilina and Meridian, as it not only helped the team win a pair of Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals championships in 2014 (with Dave Pettyplace as head coach) and 2016, but also has the Mustangs in a good position to do it again this year.
While there are more than 30 runners on the team, a core of five rank among the top two statewide in the division in five events and two relays. Another relay team ranks third. A team performance like that June 3 at Kent City would certainly be enough to take home a title.
“Knowing what I know now, it’s all dependent on a ton of variables,” Bilina said. “Some of those variables you can’t control, and some of them you can. Right now, we have a good chance of winning some hardware at the state meet. At the same time, we know it’s definitely not a given. We have to show up at the state meet, show up at the Regional. But we’re not going to let ourselves get in our own heads.”
Three seniors – Brayden Riley, Madix Saunders and Kenneth Emerson – and juniors Nick Metzger and Sawyer Moloy are leading the charge for the Mustangs.
Riley, Saunders, Emerson and Metzger makeup the 400-, 800- and 1,600-meter relays teams, which rank first, second and third in the division, respectively.
Metzger is the top long jumper in Division 3 so far this season with a leap of 22 feet, 4½ inches. He’s also second in the 400 meters with a time of 51.28 seconds.
Moloy is Division 3’s top-ranked high jumper at 6-7, while Riley is second in the 100 (11.02) and 200 (22.36).
It’s an impressive collection of talent, made more impressive by the fact that all are multi-sport athletes, and none have made track & field their main focus.
“Last year was my first year,” said Riley, an all-league quarterback who also plays basketball and came into high school with baseball as his spring sport. “They needed another leg for the (800 relay) because they wanted to win states back-to-back. I knew I would be quick, because I had shown it in football. But I didn’t know I was going to be state-time fast.”
For Riley, though, it’s about more than simply finding something else he does well.
“I think it’s pretty important (to play multiple sports),” he said. “I’ve been doing it for four years. It’s important to show that I care about my school and how we do.”
That fits Bilina’s strategy of simply getting athletes onto the track and letting them shine. The 2014 team won with a small core of multi-sport athletes, as did the 2016 team. Both of those actually had baseball players who also competed in track.
But it goes beyond just getting athletes. Bilina tries to keep things light and fun during his practices, which he’s found helps attract and retain those who are new to the sport. That, and they find they’re really good at it.
“I think once they get to experience a little bit of success, it’s contagious,” Bilina said. “They like to compete, and we found kind of their niche where they’re good at competing.”
Another plus to having athletes new to the sport is flexibility. Bilina said that because his runners and jumpers don’t come in as track specialists, they’re willing to try new events. Like Metzger, for instance, who hadn’t long jumped prior to this season.
“I did high jump all of last year, and I did OK in that,” Metzger said. “But then I injured my back really bad. The plan for this year was going to be hurdles or long jump, and in the first meet, my first jump, I jumped 21-4½. It kind of blew me out of the water.”
As teams hone in on the postseason, and the weather continues to get more favorable, it’s likely Meridian will see more competition pop up in the Division 3 rankings. But the Mustangs know that, and are more motivated by it than anything.
They’re hoping that motivation can combine with their athleticism to bring them the ultimate prize.
“Right now, where we’re standing, I think our chances are pretty high,” Metzger said. “I think we can definitely do it.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTO Sanford Meridian’s Brayden Riley makes his approach during the long jump at a home meet May 3 against Beaverton and Shepherd. (Photo courtesy of the Sanford Meridian boys track & field program.)