Upstart runners like senior Jack Carroll of Loyola Academy would gain extensive experience by competing in regionals (S. Bulgarin photo)
One way to tell when the official post-season is upon us is by watching the leaves on trees falling in rapid succession. This is also a time when things begin to get real with the beginning of conference meets and then the state series…
In Illinois, the state series go regional, sectional, and of course the state championship. This weekend is the regional round. In most people’s eyes it is a worthless round of running. If you took a peek at the top 20 or 25 ranked teams in your favorite ranking source, it would be revealed that they almost always look past regionals and on to sectionals. In Indiana where I went to high school, we have four state series rounds: sectional, regional, semi-state, state championship.
As an athlete I never thought of sectionals and regionals as a waste of time. In those two rounds we usually competed against teams in our area- teams who we disliked or liked. So it was a joy to compete against friends as well as the thought of smashing an enemy team and ending their season.
Illinois has a different take on things. At least with fans and coaches it does. They feel it is a waste of time and we as a whole would be better off without it. But when you ask the athletes themselves they have a different take. My own kids for example are honored to be continuing their season. They seem to like the journey to state and the extra competition in between as opposed to its brethren known as track and field. Some of our junior varsity runners and top freshman and sophomore runners get several additional weeks to train with the varsity and get in some valuable experience. In a sense regionals is a good thing.
3A #8 Wheaton-Warrenville girls are a team to watch this post-season (S. Bulgarin photo)
On the flip side, I can see why there is opposition to regionals. If you took another peek at the format you can often see why coaches are at a loss for words. It is basically a dress rehearsal for sectionals. For example, the top six teams in the regional round advance to sectionals. You will often see nine or ten teams total in a field. There may be three to four teams of substantial quality. So it’s a glorified time trial in most cases. The coaches of the ranked teams that I mentioned earlier will often have their kids do a tempo race effort to save on their legs or get in another quality run. Some other schools will substitute some of their key athletes with aforementioned frosh-soph or JV lads. It’s not a game of much thought or trickery. It’s more like a battle of attrition. In order words survive and move on.
I will have a more ardent inside account of the sectional round next week. Some of it will be personal experience as a coach and athlete. I will also have something that you may personally see as your own.
Good luck to you all this weekend!