New Math: Division & Multiplication Problems
July 25, 2017
By Jack Roberts
MHSAA Executive Director
This is the second 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.
High school tournament classifications went viral before there was social media and most of us knew what “viral” meant.
Much as a virus infects computers today or has created epidemics of disease around the world for centuries, high school tournament classification – once introduced – tends to spread uncontrollably. Once started, it tends to keep expanding and rarely contracts.
While we are still some distance from providing every team a trophy as a result of expanding high school tournament classification across the country, there is criticism nevertheless that we are headed in that direction – a philosophy which is supposed to exist only in local youth sports for our youngest children.
Michigan could be blamed for all this. Michigan is generally accepted as the first state to provide different classifications for season-ending tournaments for different sized schools. It started a century ago. Today, every state has various classifications for its tournaments in most if not all sports. And it is a bit ironic that Michigan – creator of the classification chaos – more than most other states has kept the number of tournament classes or divisions under control.
Yes, there is evidence that tournament classifications have expanded over the years in Michigan, especially with the relatively recent introduction of tournaments in football and the late 1990s’ move from classes to divisions in most MHSAA tournaments. But the MHSAA Representative Council has held true to its word when it expanded the playoffs for football from four classes to eight divisions: this is needed because of unique factors of football, factors that exist in no other sport; and all other sports should be capped at a maximum of four classes or divisions.
Kentucky is the preeminent defender of single-class basketball. All of its 276 high schools compete for the single state championship for each gender. In Indiana, there are still open wounds from its move in 1998 from one to four classes for its 400 schools in basketball.
Multi-class tournaments have tended to increase the number of non-public school champions, which some states are trying to lower through enrollment “multipliers,” and also tend to increase the number of repeat champions, which some states are trying to affect with “success factors” which lift smaller schools into classifications for larger schools if they take home too many trophies.
While there is considerable evidence that state tournaments do as much bad as good for educational athletics, state associations persist in providing postseason tournaments because, on balance, the experiences are supposed to be good for student-athletes. And once we reach that conclusion it is just a small leap to believe that if the tournaments are good for a few, they must be better for more – which leads to creating more and more tournament classifications. One becomes two classes, then three, then four and so forth.
While the argument is that more classifications or divisions provides more students with opportunities to compete and win, it is undeniable that the experience changes as the number of tournament classifications expands. It is not possible for state associations to provide the same level of support when tournament classifications expand to multiple venues playing simultaneously. For example, there is less audio and video broadcast potential at each venue, and less media coverage to each venue. Focus is diluted and fans diminished at each championship.
No one can argue reasonably that today's two-day MHSAA Football Finals of eight championship games has the same pizazz as the one-day, four-games event conducted prior to 1990.
In some states the number of divisions has grown so much that it is difficult to see much difference between the many season-ending state championship games and a regular-season event in the same sport.
It is a balancing act. And Michigan has been studying that balance longer than any other state, and charting a steadier course than most.
Addition by Division
The shift to Divisions for MHSAA Tournament play in numerous sports has added up to a greater number of champions for teams and individuals across the state. Following are the sports currently employing a divisional format, and the procedures for determining enrollment and classification.
In 23 statewide or Lower Peninsula tournaments, schools which sponsor the sport are currently divided into nearly equal divisions. They are:
- Baseball - 4 Divisions
- Boys Bowling - 4 Divisions
- Girls Bowling - 4 Divisions
- Girls Competitive Cheer - 4 Divisions
- LP Boys Cross Country - 4 Divisions
- LP Girls Cross Country - 4 Divisions
- LP Boys Golf - 4 Divisions
- LP Girls Golf - 4 Divisions
- Ice Hockey - 3 Divisions
- Boys Lacrosse - 2 Divisions
- Girls Lacrosse - 2 Divisions
- Boys Skiing - 2 Divisions
- Girls Skiing - 2 Divisions
- LP Boys Soccer - 4 Divisions LP
- Girls Soccer - 4 Divisions
- Girls Softball - 4 Divisions
- LP Boys Swimming & Diving - 3 Divisions
- LP Girls Swimming & Diving - 3 Divisions
- LP Boys Tennis - 4 Divisions
- LP Girls Tennis - 4 Divisions
- LP Boys Track & Field - 4 Divisions
- LP Girls Track & Field - 4 Divisions
- Wrestling - 4 Divisions
Lists of schools for each division of these 23 tournaments are posted on MHSAA.com approximately April 1. Listings of schools in Upper Peninsula tournaments for their sports are also posted on MHSAA.com. The lists are based on school memberships and sports sponsorships in effect or anticipated for the following school year, as known to the MHSAA office as of a date in early March.
In football, the 256 schools which qualify for MHSAA 11-player playoffs are placed in eight equal divisions annually on Selection Sunday. Beginning in 2017, the 8-player divisions will be determined in a like manner on Selection Sunday as well, with 32 qualifying schools placed in two divisions.
Schools have the option to play in any higher division in one or more sports for a minimum of two years.
The deadlines for "opt-ups" are as follows:
- Applications for fall sports must be submitted by April 15
- Applications for winter sports must be submitted by Aug. 15
- Applications for spring sports must be submitted by Oct. 15
Subsequent to the date of these postings for these tournaments, no school will have its division raised or lowered by schools opening or closing, schools adding or dropping sports, schools exercising the option to play in a higher division, or approval or dissolution of cooperative programs.
When the same sport is conducted for boys and girls in the same season (e.g., track & field and cross country), the gender that has the most sponsoring schools controls the division breaks for both genders.
Holland West Ottawa Remains Unmatched in Duals with 35-Win Streak
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
May 18, 2023
HOLLAND – The West Ottawa girls tennis team has experienced unbridled success in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Red over the last six years.
The Panthers own an impressive streak of 35 consecutive dual wins dating back to 2017.
And while several factors have contributed to West Ottawa’s dominance, a devotion to reaching its full potential has been a mainstay.
“The girls have been terrifically dedicated,” said Panthers coach Pete Schwallier, who’s been at the helm of the program for 16 years.
“They've had access to all these different coaches helping them. It’s one thing to have it, it’s another thing to really take it in and use it and they have just 100-percent committed themselves to doing all of these things.
“Whether it be the strength training, the mental side of it or the on-court training. Just all of it. They’ve been doing so much.”
The Panthers will compete in a Lower Peninsula Division 1 Regional today at Hudsonville and chase a fifth-consecutive title. The LPD1 Finals are slated for June 2-3.
The last time West Ottawa lost a dual match to an O-K Red school was May 8, 2017, against Rockford.
Three days later, the Panthers avenged that loss by winning the conference tournament. They’ve won six straight O-K Red championships, including four outright.
“There’s a lot of pride in that, but I think it’s been earned with a lot of hard work,” West Ottawa sophomore Jessica Zhang said. “We put a lot of hard work into these matches. A lot of physical strength and effort along with the mental aspect of the game.”
Despite recently extending their current dual winning streak, the Panthers did finish second to Rockford in this week’s conference tournament by a single point, 60-59 – resulting in a shared league title.
Schwallier said the setback won’t change his team’s intense focus as the Panthers embark on the final two weeks of the season.
“These girls have worked really hard to not use wins and losses as a motivator,” he said. “Their core values are to be people of integrity and to give their very best. They are very adamant about that.
“They want to win very badly, but they do have this belief that the best way to get there is to not focus on how many wins we've had or which teams we’ve been beating this year. They maintain a strong character and work ethic on the court, and they have a belief that wins will be the result of that.”
The success of the program has been fueled by several people behind the scenes, as well as the team’s local club, the DeWitt Tennis Center.
Andy Blake is the team’s strength and conditioning coach and works with West Ottawa consistently throughout the season, while Hope College junior Kayla Wolma is looking toward a career in sports psychology and has been the Panthers’ mental training coach.
West Ottawa boys coach and girls assistant Brian Metz and past Kalamazoo College All-American David Borski also have played vital roles.
“It’s been a gradual ramp-up in the amount of community members who have been willing to volunteer as assistant coaches on our staff, and their expertise in particular areas has helped the girls’ development,” Schwallier said. “They are examples of individuals who have helped us make big gains.”
Sophomore Eden Hamilton said Blake and Wolma have been instrumental in assisting the team.
“He helps us do lifts and cardio drills to help with footwork and upper-body strength,” she said. “He also helps with nutrition, and it helps us play better throughout the season. Kayla helps us with our mental state, and we feel like we can play to our full potential because we are preparing ourselves mentally and physically.”
Former players Chloe Karp and Kennedy Dumas also helped set the bar.
Karp graduated in 2019, and according to Schwallier, was the best player to go through the program.
“A lot of young girls in middle school and the underclassmen watched what she did and how she trained and how she got good,” Schwallier said. “The girls started copying her training regiment, and now we have several Chloes. She was the catalyst, and then it was Kennedy Dumas, who was part of the young crew watching Chloe and then took it to the next level.”
Those who have benefited from looking up to past standouts include current singles players Chloe Duckworth and Kam Dumas, both seniors, junior Megan Blake and sophomore Danielle Lebster.
“This next group is continuing that,” Schwallier said. “These four have many young players in middle school who are watching them just as closely as they watched the girls before them. It just shows the power of role models and the value of having good role models.”
This year’s senior group also has influenced younger ones.
“The upperclassmen on our team have definitely set an example for me, starting in middle school,” Zhang said. “They’ve always been around, and I've always looked up to them when it comes to not only tennis but mindset, and how to carry yourself as a person.”
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for five years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTO courtesy of the Holland West Ottawa girls tennis program.