The proverbial “section of death”
If you didn’t hear the news yet… i’ll tell you. Last Thursday evening, the MSHSL dropped new section re-alignment for 2023-2024 (next year). Let’s just say, as with any change, there are some unhappy campers.
Competitive Sections in MSHSL are designed to break the state up into 8 areas or “sections” (weird). The goal is to provide geographic representation at the state tournament. It is NOT designed to account for competitiveness or getting the “best” teams to the state tournament. Why that is, I do not know.
My soapbox here before we dig into the new sections is this: I know it’s high school athletics and, from a big picture perspective, is designed to provide a lot more to student athletes than simply winning/losing, so, I can appreciate that. But, at what point are we doing these athletes, coaches, parents and fans a disservice by not providing a way for the best 8 teams to advance to the state tournament. Sure, it may be 4 schools in a 5 mile radius at times. But, teams and programs fluctuate. It’s not always going to be the same.
I know for the biggest class of HS football, they do not do sections, they seed everyone top to bottom and play a tournament (like a college NCAA type thing). Single elimination down to the championship played at US Bank stadium.
I get it, lacrosse is not football. So, this may be a big ask. But, a seeded tournament could still give everyone a playoff game but allow the top 8 teams to find their way to the state tournament. Yes, you still have to win. But, in theory, the #2 team in the state should not have to play the #3 team in the state in the round of 16 (the 8 section finals) while two teams that are completely unranked are battling for another section. I love having new teams at the state tournament and giving opportunity to teams to be there, but, I think most varsity coaches and players don’t really want to “just be there.” This won’t change any time soon, so, this is just me complaining.
On to the new section re-alignment which had some interesting changes.
Overall, the most of the sections remained the same. The two biggest issues were
Co-op’s forming in section 6. As of 2022, Apple Valley/Eastview combined and so did Bloomington Kennedy/Burnsville. These are all section 6 teams, so their section went from 10 teams down to 8.
The emergence of Waconia, Mound-Westonka and Southwest - Christian (Chaska) in the last few years - All three are section 2 teams geographically - they were added to an already full section 2 giving it the most teams (13) in their section.
This is where it gets interesting. In order to balance out the sections and, what I am guessing, to minimize they amount of work they needed to do or sections they needed to mess with - they moved two teams from Section 2 (Shakopee and Eden Prairie) and put them in section 6. And took one team from section 2 (Southwest Christian) and moved them to section 1. Other than that (I apologize if I missed one) - there didn’t look to be any other movement.
Section 6 though, oof. Let me preface by saying… sections fluctuate. What looks like a brutal section today could change in as little as a year. Aside from Prior Lake and Benilde… most teams have been up and down over the years. Shakopee was great last year and I would assume be good for the foreseeable future with a great youth program, but, you just don’t know. Eden Prairie is probably “down” from what most people think when they think EP Lacrosse, but they do have a solid 2025 & 2026 class so they could have a resurgence. Also, EP is just not a team you can ever count out with the size of the school, their coaching staff and the amount of available athletes they have. But adding them to Prior Lake, Rosemount, Edina, The Valley and Jefferson. That is a stacked section and almost certainly will be one of the harder sections for then next two years
I guess before we say this is “unfair” Shakopee and EP were the two eastern most teams in section 2, so, I guess if you looked geographically, it makes sense they moved to 6. Just a tough break as many of those teams will sit in the top 10 for the next few years and only one will get to advance to state.
Here is a link to the section placement (make sure you select 2023-2024 from the drop down to get next years placement): MSHSL SECTION PLACEMENT
