The problem is that the regional and state high school meets are closed to any athletes who do not submit to joining their school team and being subject to whatever inane rules and regulations may be instituted even if these rules are far from the norm that other schools may implement. Often these organizations are not about providing opportunities but TAKING THEM AWAY.
When I was in high school, I played basketball in the winter until my soph year. My junior year, I did not play so I could run all winter. Besides a couple roadraces, I set up a schedule of 4 indoor races to run before I ran with our school team for 3 more. I went on to have a great track season. Over that summer, the state athletic association ruled that athletes could no longer compete separate from their school (unattached) and if they wanted to run any of these indoor meets, they must be a part of a sanctioned indoor team and have a coach present. This was not going to happen at my small school so the end result was that I was denied opportunities to compete. I feel that state athletic associations and schools should be PROMOTING opportunities, not DENYING them.
Sadly, some people are more interested in forcing people to rigidly conform than they are about helping people achieve the most they can.