Guest column by Ed Boehmke, coached for 38 years in South Carolina. This was originally published March 14.
All of you that have followed my articles over the past years have seen that I will speak my mind and hopefully open up some communication about problems, ideas, or concerns that may bother us as it relates to the sports of Track & Field and Cross Country. You should know by now I speak with passion and hopefully common sense in these areas that I, and I am certain, you love as much as I do. I have spent my life working with coaches through our group, the South Carolina Track and Cross County Coaches Association (SCTCCCA) and our governing body, the South Carolina High School League (SCHSL or the League) to make our sports better through meaningful changes and keeping traditions that we can all support and eventually treasure, as the best way to promote and advance TF & XC.
At the Chick-fil-a Games Saturday, I was told of potential changes in our sport that absolutely amazed me and then made me mad that these changes were even being considered.
Picture this scenario. The College Football Playoffs that decides the National Championship has a committee that selects the top 12 teams, ranked from 1st to 12th. These are chosen by their win-loss record, strength of teams played, head to head games, and probably a few other criteria. Where they are in the country does not matter. Suppose, the CFP committee decides that six of the schools must be east of the Mississippi River and the other six from west of the mighty river. Then they rank them 1-6 until the two winners from each side get to play each other until we have an east-west champion in the Championship Game. Then - Clemson would have never played Alabama, Alabama would have never played Georgia, Ohio never would have played Notre Dame and Indiana would have never played Miami. In fact eight of the twelve National Championship Games would have never happened.
How about another? The NCAA basketball committee decided that having 68 teams in the National Championship bracket was too many and cut it back to 16. March Madness becomes Spring Break Basketball Week! Without doing the research, you can bet there are many teams that progressed high into the bracket that help bring prestige and recognition to their school. What an uproar there would be if this occurred.
But these are the things that the SCHSL Class 5A bracket committee is getting ready to decide for track and field. This group is suggesting that we revert back to only EIGHT in the State Championships and that those eight are decided by a Lower/Upper State meet or maybe a one site qualifier, but still with an Upper/Lower concept. These are the two ideas that for years the SCTCCCA fought to get rid of! The four best athletes are not geographically separated.
What do we get with 16 athletes at the State Championships and different qualifying sites like we presently have?
1) Better competition. When we had eight in the state meet, many events would only finish seven athletes because of an injury/sickness or the athlete did not want to compete in that race leaving the one point to no one. Sixteen guarantees that an eight will finish and that eight place will have to compete to earn that spot, not just finish. That one point many times decides who wins the team State Championships.
2) The best athletes are in the State Championships. As I said above, choosing the state meet athletes from how they compete based on where they live is a ridiculous idea. Sure, we know that place is the most important aspect to track and field and those athletes in the top should advance, but now that we all use electronic timing to ensure that all sites have exact measurements of performance, we need to reward those that are not in the top four for their superior performances. Countless times, athletes with performances that did not make the qualifying spots had times/distances that are better than the best performances at another qualifying spot. In an eight athlete state meet, they get left home. And those athletes, the at-large athletes, given the chance to compete in a sixteen athlete State Meet have risen to the occasion. In fact, in 95% of the contested events at least one at-large athlete scored in the 2025 championships. In the 5AD1 and D2 meets not one event finish in which at least one at-large athlete makes the podium. SIX STATE CHAMPIONS and FOURTEEN RUNNER-UPS in the 2025 meet would not have even been there under the old format! This is what we love about sports! The underdogs rise to the top!
3) More excitement! Let's face it. With only eight athletes on the track, there are not many people in the stands cheering. After Covid and we had eight athletes and single classification meets, the stadium was quiet. It felt more like a dual meet. These kids are used to performing in front of a thousand or more screaming fans and athletes at our invitationals and then they go to the State Meet, the most important meet of their season, and the stadium feels more like a funeral! Sixteen brings cheering and excited fans to urge our athletes on!
The argument from the bracketing committee is reducing all sports in the state playoffs. That is fine! The team sports have been taking way too many for years. Football teams that are 1-9 do not deserve playoff berths, but all sports are not alike and should not be treated the same. The individual sports, track, swimming, wrestling, golf and tennis deserve the best athletes going against each other. Leaving some of the best at home is wrong.
Coaches, our system may not be perfect but it's pretty darn close. Our system keeps a qualifying meet site close to all of the schools involved and ensures that the BEST sixteen get to the State Championships. It takes extra work on our officers to select the at-large, but it is worth their time.
Reverting back to our old system would be a travesty to the sport and the athletes that compete. You must reach out to your Athletic Director and explain the situation to him/her very soon! The 5A bracket committee is meeting this week and whatever they decide will trickle down to the rest of the classifications. If you know people on this committee, give them a call. We have worked too hard to get what we have, don't let a few destroy this in a few days. We must not allow this change to happen!