By Michael Newman

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There was debate going through the Illinois High School Track & Field Community years ago for the IHSA to contest a team championship similar to what the IHSA does with wrestling.

It would demand a number of changes in the track schedule. If the team championships were contested a week after the stat championships, how would they be contested? Would every team eligible compete?

There were so many challenges to make this type of a meet a reality. So, let’s have some fun with DyeStat TFX on Athletic.net and have some fun with stats.

I came up with the ILXCTF Illinois True Team Championships using the final guidelines:

1.   Each team champion in each of the three classifications in both genders will be determined through a hypothetical meet using the events contested in the IHSA State Track & Field Championships.

2.   16 (or more) teams will compete in Class 2A and Class 3A. 18 (or more) teams will compete in Class 1A.

3.   The IHSA Sectional winners in each classification (11 in 2A and 3A, 14 in 1A) will be included. If there was a tie for the top spot in one of the sectional meets, both teams will be included.

4.   Five at-large teams will be selected in Class 2A and 3A. Four at-large teams will be selected in Class 1A. At-large teams can ONLY be selected if the team finishes in the top three in the sectional that they competed in. Only three teams from each sectional can compete in the ILXCTF Illinois True Team Championships.

5.   If a team finishes in the top three at the IHSA State Track & Field Championships, the team will be included as an at-large team regardless if they finish in their sectional.

6.   Teams will be selected as at-large teams using the final standings in the IHSA State Track & Field Championships using the above rules.

7.   The top two athletes in each event for each team will be used in the scoring. Performances used will be from Athletic.net from meets uploaded into Athletic.net that were contested up to June 3, 2018.

8.   Scoring will be the same as the IHSA State Track & Field Championships. Nine places scored using 10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 in both individual and relay events.

There are no limitations on how many events an athlete can compete in. If an athlete were limited to four individual events, it would mean the coach of the school would need to make the decision on what event an athlete would compete in.

It does not make this competition realistic if an athlete competes in all three distance events. It is fun to do this to see how strong a team was during the season.

This is what I came up with:

Class 3A

Girls

Naperville North won the IHSA title in this classification. It was Homewood-Flossmoor, who finished second at state, that came up on top ahead of Naperville North and Belleville West.

Boys

Neuqua Valley won the IHSA State Championship at the end of May. In this competition, only .25 of a point separated Homewood-Flossmoor and Neuqua Valley.

Class 2A

Girls

Who else but Dunlap in this category? The Eagles scored in all but one event to come out on top. East St. Louis-Senior and Urbana finished second and third.

Boys

17 teams competed in this category. I included East St. Louis-Senior mainly because they would have won their sectional if the Flyers were allowed to compete. Metamora, who finished eighth at the IHSA State Meet, won this competition more than five points ahead of East St. Louis-Senior. IHSA State Meet Champion Marmion Academy finished fifth.

Class 1A

Girls

Ten points separated the top three teams in this category. Bureau Valley, who finished fourth at state, was on top ahead of state champion St. Joseph-Ogden with Rock Island Alleman finishing third.

Boys

Rockford Christian, who finished second at the IHSA State Meet, dominated in this category finishing more than 40 points ahead of Warrensburg-Latham and state champion Colfax-Ridgeview.