Last weekend they held the HS Regional qualifying meets in Illinois. Next comes Sectionals, then State.
Two of the Regional meets were held in other states!
One was held in Wilmot, Wisconsin and the other was held in Davenport, Iowa.
Shouldn't they at least hold the Illinois state series in the State of Illinois?
When they split into three classes, the IHSA forgot to take a look at filling all the regional courses each year. The watered down fields for regionals meant that some of the weaker regionals, which don't have good cross country courses, had to find their courses elsewhere. It's not a big deal, especially for regionals, but I agree that they should try to hold all state series races in the state.
They should, but the park in Wilmot is less than 1/2 mile over the state line (which is maybe where Antioch runs its meets), and Credit Island Park actually sits in the middle of the Mississippi River. So while it has a Davenport address calling it out of state is kind of splitting hairs since the "official" Illinois state line is just a few hundred feet away.
I think they should hold the state meet at UW-Parkside, it's a great course, and the runners can great a look at the course for the state to state competitions!
Yeah, you would think it would be a requirement or something. Also, I can't believe there wouldn't be some liability issue where you're not holding events in your own area. Why would Wisconsin or Iowa open themselves up for lawsuits should there be a tragedy of some sort?
The course at Wilmot is a wonderful course. I ran there many times in high school. It's hilly and scenic and the course runs along a river. It even has a hill named "Suicide."
It typically added a minute (at least) to one's 5k time on a flat course. The only worse course hill-wise in the area was the Crystal Lake course.
I think we had regionals there my senior year, come to think about it. So it's not unheard of.
The irony is that, at least until a few years ago, Illinois did not allow out of state competition.