AURORA — This one has left some tracks, so today’s second of two annual Colorado High School Activities Association board of control meetings doesn’t require a backwoodsman to realize there’s a path toward a significant leap in track and field.
But will it be followed?
It’s led by Rhonda Blanford-Green, which isn’t difficult to believe — back when she was Rhonda Blanford and starring at Aurora Central and Nebraska, she was at the front of most running and jumping events.
The thing is, the sport’s top speed and power are going against old standbys for Coloradans when it comes to their high school sports, geographical self-entitlement and, a personal favorite, the fabled state-championship experience for as many kids as possible.
Board members, who had their first real whiff of major change tabled from January’s gathering, are set for another go, this time at a modified version.
Instead of the present four classes at two sites (5A-4A in Jefferson County, 3A-2A in Pueblo) and qualifying through set marks and traditional regionals, Blanford-Green is proposing to host all at one site and use an outside ranking system to keep strict tabs and allow everyone to know where they stand.
If immediate outrage was any indication, you would have thought Blanford-Green, who flirted with Olympic status, had decreed the sport silly and recommended replacing it with lawn mowing. She’s “an elitist,” and heading “a big-school proposal,” which at least 75 percent of other schools usually despise.
Undaunted, Blanford-Green insists “it’s the best possible way to advance kids — on performance and not on emotion or geography.”
Currently, competitors may meet a standard, then pass on regionals the week before state. While it ensures fair geographic representation, it opens the door for also-rans via absenteeism by top competitors.
Blanford-Green’s twists are interesting and, well, sensible, in that they eliminate regionals, lend more meaning to regular season-ending league meets that have been relegated to pedestrian status for years, and use the newer Varvee website to post the top-25 leaders in each event on Mondays. It would update official standings on the way to paring qualifiers to 16-18. The new meet would be held over three days at Jeffco Stadium or the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley (Legacy Stadium’s spiffy nine-lane track comes with iffy viewing points from its larger stands).
It would be a show, Blanford-Green said, particularly for smaller schools: an all-encompassing pageantry pleasing to the eye, logical in the ways of ensuring the best performers, and further motivating coaches and competitors. It works in wrestling, the state’s only sport with a money clip thick enough to afford the Pepsi Center. Football, basketball and baseball have been streamlined at finals sites and deemed huge successes.
Where Blanford-Green has needed to keep her composure most when selling has been in the face of initial, widespread misinformation of the proposal that traveled well to outlying areas, notably in the mountains.
“Not everybody wants it,” she admitted in pointing to historically conservative CHSAA members, but her personal experience tells her it’s the thing to do for Colorado kids.
Also under discussion: a 32-team playoff format for 2A basketball; increasing 1A basketball districts; beginning practice earlier for football teams in the ridiculous Zero Week (can’t someone help these poor souls?); and, for a laugh, a proposal to permit winter practice between Christmas and New Year’s Day, chances for which are about oh-for-a-gazillion.
Through the years, CHSAA board meeting No. 2 has been the lesser of the two, but today we may cross some tracks.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
