MPA nixes NE return for teams Individuals are allowed to enter regional events

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The New England cross country championships are being held in Maine in November, and there are sure to be plenty of local high school runners involved. But don’t expect to cheer on top teams like Hampden Academy, Mt. Blue High of Farmington and Greely of Cumberland Center.

The Maine Principals’ Association, which allows individuals to compete in New England championships but does not permit high schools teams to compete, reaffirmed that rule with a unanimous vote regarding the MPA cross country committee’s report at a recent meeting.

In its report to the general body at its spring meeting April 25, the committee recommended that teams be allowed to enter this year because the competition is being held at the Riverside Municipal Golf Course in Portland.

According to the minutes of the meeting, all 84 principals at the meeting voted to strike that recommendation from the committee report, MPA assistant director Larry LaBrie said.

So individuals like Hampden’s Oriana Farley, who was the Class B state champion, have a chance to compete, but the Greely girls, who won the Class B state team title last fall, will not.

That’s the Maine rule for any New England competition that offers team competition, which has been in place since the MPA voted to return to New England competition Nov. 20, 1997.

The New England Council, which regulates the regional championships, also offers wrestling and gymnastics team competitions. Maine does not send teams in those sports, either. Golf, indoor and outdoor track and field and tennis do not have team competition.

Brewer High cross country coach Glendon Rand, who is the Maine Track and Cross Country Coaches Association liaison to the MPA committee, said Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire all send six teams and 25 individuals. Maine sends 25 individuals. Massachusetts does not participate because its state championships are held the same day of the New Englands.

“It’s just a great event,” Rand said. “The kids get regional exposure and the opportunity to compete at a regional level … all these other states get a chance to compete and we don’t. With the meet being held in Maine, it seems fair to allow the teams to go.”

Cross country committee member Jen Vitiello, an assistant principal at Westbrook High, presented the committee report.

For the principals, voting to strike the recommendation came down to money.

“Budgets were the issue,” LaBrie said of the discussion after the proposal was made. “[When the MPA voted to return to New Englands in 1997] the economy wasgetting better, and the cost was still a factor. Now the economy certainly isn’t getting any better.”

Even though Dirigo of Dixfield principal Dan Hart is a cross country committee member, he understands the issue of overextended budgets.

“I think most principals tend to want to put that kind of money into local conferences or state events,” he said. “This [vote] is very realistic. [Sending teams] is expensive, especially for the smaller [Classes] C and D schools.”

Rand doesn’t think the money argument is a good one.

“I know, for instance, for indoor track Brewer sent 10 kids. If a cross country team qualifies, only seven go,” he said. “To me, that doesn’t make sense. … If a school isn’t able to spend the money to send kids, you go out, you find the money, you do what you have to do.”

Other principals voiced concerns that allowing cross country to send teams in 2002 would set a precedent, and other teams would want to go next year. That might lead to wrestling and gymnastics teams asking for permission to go.

And that, too, came back to money.

“For most of the [cross country] teams, Portland is not an overnight trip,” LaBrie said. “But when you talk about wrestling, that’s at least one night.”

The 2002 New England wrestling championship meet was in Bristol, R.I., in March. The gymnastics meet was held in Salem, N.H. Last year’s cross country meet was in Warwick, R.I.

Rand said the members of the MTCCCA voted 35-1 at a March meeting to ask the cross country committee to include the proposal to send teams to New Englands in its committee report.

The idea was first proposed to the MPA at its fall meeting in November 2001 so that principals could think it over.

“I thought we gave it a good effort,” Hart said. “We lost the battle but the kids did get some recognition. They’re a good group of kids.”

The MPA voted 26-25 in favor of returning to competition in 1997 for individuals only.

Costs were an issue when the MPA’s forerunner, the State Principals’ Association, pulled out of the New England Council in 1978.

Maine had last participated in 1976. That year the Rumford basketball team defeated Bennington, Vt., for the regional title. Maine did not send a team in 1977 because the state basketball tournament was scheduled for the same weekend. Connecticut and Massachusetts had already decided not to attend that year due to fan behavior problems.

The SPA then voted 39-5 to withdraw from the New Englands. The reasons cited were loss of school time for participants, a lack of participation by Connecticut and Massachusetts, and the cost of travel, lodging and meals.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.