ALBANY — Derik Doescher, the Albany-Monticello girls basketball head coach and Albany Athletic Director, learned April 12 his team’s appeal to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Classification Committee to remain in Division 5 was approved.
The Space Stallions’ appeal was the only one of 12 submitted to be approved.
“The districts of Albany and Monticello are very appreciative of the news that the WIAA Classification Committee approved the Albany-Monticello girls basketball appeal on the Tournament Performance Factor,” Doescher said. “We feel that the appeal process allows districts like Albany and Monticello to present factual information about a specific sports’ success with clarity as to why that success has been achieved. The student athletes of Albany and Monticello have earned their team success through hard work, dedication to their sport, and teamwork while performing under the highest ideals of sportsmanship and respect for our competition. We appreciate the appeal process and the recent decision that was deemed to be in our favor.”
COMPETITIVE BALANCE AND TOURNAMENT PERFORMANCE FACTOR
In April 2023, the WIAA member schools approved 265-115 a competitive balance proposal that determines postseason divisions based on a performance point system. The new system includes a Tournament Performance Factor that doles out points based on a team’s postseason success on a rolling 3-year period.
If a team reaches six points in any given 3-year period, that team will be moved up a division for the next season’s playoffs. No team can get moved up more than one division at a time. If a team that previously got bumped up does not accumulate six or more points in a 3-year span, they will be moved back down a division. The exception to these rules is enrollment.
Newly formed cooperatives, like the Albany-Monticello girls basketball team, that combine enrollments when determining divisions will also combine point totals.
For baseball, basketball, football, hockey, softball, soccer and volleyball, points are distributed as such:
● State champions: 4 points
● State runner-up: 3 points
● Final 4: 2 points
● Final 8: 1 point
Sports that do not operate in a bracket during the postseason will have their points calculated differently. Track and Field and swimming will continue to use only enrollment when determining divisions.
Going back to the 2021-22 season, which is the first year of the current 3-year span, Albany girls basketball alone reached the sectional final. They fell to Randolph, earning one point. In 2022-23, the Comets reached the state tournament for the first time in program history. They lost to eventual champion McDonell Catholic, 59-20, picking up two points. In March 2024, the first-year co-op Albany-Monticello team won its first girls basketball state title, worth four points.
As a solo team, Monticello did not earn any points in the 2021-22 or 2022-23 seasons, getting knocked out in the first and second rounds, respectively.
Thus, Albany-Monticello as a cooperative accumulated seven points in the designated 3-year window, making them subject to the new cooperative balance rule.
APPEAL CRITERIA AND APPROVAL
The proposal also allows a team to appeal its promotion to a new division. The classification committee — 15 members who serve 3-year terms — consider the following eight criteria when approving or denying an appeal. For an appeal to be approved, a majority of the classification committee must be in favor.
● Prior year out-of-building student percentage on rosters or historical movement of student athletes
● Socioeconomics of the school’s population
● Demographics of the school’s population
● Competitive history and balance
● Geography
● School’s enrollment trend
● Student participation rate in WIAA-sponsored activities
● Student enrollment factors (i.e open enrollment, students from outside your school’s location)
Albany-Monticello’s appeal was approved on Friday, April 12, meaning they will remain in Division 5 for the 2024-25 season. Doescher submitted the following data as reasoning for his appeal.
Over 28% percent (4 of 14) of the 2023-24 Albany-Monticello team were seniors. The 2024 class — Alana Durtschi, Avary Briggs, Myah Johnson and Rachel Wildt — played a large role in the 97-12 record in the last four years. Perhaps the largest loss will be Durtschi, who is a two-time Six Rivers East Player of the Year and 2024 first-team all-state member (movement of student athletes).
Neither school district had a clear advantage in socioeconomics, as both had a Free and Reduced Lunch Rate over 30% and the median income per family ranged between $68,000 and $72,000 (socioeconomics).
Likewise, Albany and Monticello demographics do not favor athletic performance. In fact, Albany’s percentage of students with learning disabilities (16.7%) is above the state and national average, which is 15% (demographics).
In regards to geography, both Monticello and Albany are at a disadvantage when it comes to access to athletic facilities. Both school districts have just one regulation-sized basketball gym that is shared by athletic programs and the community. The Green County YMCA, located in Monroe, is 12-16 miles from either community. The nearest AAU girls basketball teams are located in either Sun Prairie or across the border into Illinois, 40-some miles away. Janesville and Madison, home to numerous training facilities, are upwards of 30 miles away, too. A roundtrip to any of these locations would be an hour or more — not to mention time actually spent at the facility.
In comparison to other girls basketball teams that reached the six-point threshold to be bumped up — Arrowhead, Brookfield East, Kettle Moraine, Pewaukee, Notre Dame, Waupun, Laconia and McDonnell Catholic — Albany-Monticello is further away from large cities with basketball resources (geography).
The last three topics of consideration — school enrollment trends, student participation rates and open enrollment — are where the Space Stallions are hit the hardest.
Both Albany and Monticello’s enrollments have been on the decline in the last five years. In 2023-24, Albany’s enrollment totaled 80 students, down from 96 in 2019-2020. This number is projected to decline in the next two years, reaching record lows of 75 and 73. Although larger than Albany, Monticello has seen the same trends. In 2019-2020, the district had an enrollment of 113 students, which decreased to 98 in 2023-24. Monticello school district is projected to reach record lows in 2027-28 and 2028-29 with 81 and 73 students, respectively (enrollment trends).
Fewer students mean fewer athletes. The enrollment trends previously listed are a large factor in girls basketball co-op, which began in the 2023-24 season. For the last five years, Monticello has offered only varsity girls basketball — there were not enough girls to a JV team. Although Albany has had slightly greater participation, they too, were on the brink of not offering JV. Even with the co-op in place this season, there were just 14 girls on the roster — 10 Albany students and four Monticello students (student participation).
Additionally, all athletes on the girls basketball roster are either Albany or Monticello residents — none of them were acquired via open enrollment. Other teams that are being promoted are in the Greater Milwaukee or Fox Valley areas that, as mentioned in the geography portion, have more to offer. Parents who want to focus on their child’s athletic career could still find a job in those areas and the quality of education for said children would still be high enough to draw open enrollment interest.
What Doescher did not mention in his proposal but is worth noting is that Albany has actually suffered because of open enrollment. Allie Dahl, whose siblings all played Albany sports, open enrolled to Brodhead prior to high school. In the 2023-24 season, Dahl was the Rock Valley-Rock Offensive Player of the Year and earned honorable mention all-state (open enrollment).
COMPARISON TO FALL SPORTS
Albany-Monticello was just one of 37 winter sports teams affected by the new WIAA competitive balance rule — 9 boys basketball teams, 8 other girls basketball teams, 9 gymnastics teams, 5 boys hockey teams and five boys wrestling teams also fit the bill.
Of the 37 teams affected, 24 were able to send an appeal because they were not already in Division 1. Only half of the teams that had the ability to send an appeal did, and Albany-Monticello was the only team whose appeal was approved.
In the fall, there were 62 teams impacted — 10 boys cross country, 11 girls cross country, 15 football, 4 girls golf, 8 boys soccer, 5 girls tennis and 9 girls volleyball. Of those affected, 40 teams were able to send in an appeal, and 24 did so. Wonewoc-Center volleyball was the only team whose appeal was approved, but the addition of a fifth division in the WIAA state volleyball tournament essentially made this a denial, too.
Although the sample size is larger in fall sports, the difference in percentage of appeals sent in is significant. In both fall and winter, an average of 65% of teams had the opportunity to send an appeal. In the fall, the first round of the appeal process, 60% of teams sent in an appeal. In the winter, that percentage dropped to 50%.
Overall, 99 teams have been impacted. This does not include any spring sports. Of those 99 teams, 64 were eligible to appeal, and 36 did. There have been just two approvals thus far.
ON THE HORIZON
Albany-Monticello girls basketball will remain in Division 5 for the 2024-25 season, but Monroe and Darlington football will be moved up to Division 2 and 5, respectively.
Although the spring sports season is still young, early indications show that Brodhead softball and Pecatonica baseball may be the next local teams impacted by the new competitive balance rule.
Brodhead softball, which won its first state championship since 2004 (4 points), is 6-0 this season. The team has shut out half of its opponents, pitched a no-hitter and recorded a perfect game. If the Cardinals make it to state again, they’d likely be bumped up to Division 2 in 2025.
Pecatonica baseball, which was the state runner-up last season (3 points) and a sectional finalist the year before (1 point), is off to a 3-1 start with wins over Six Rivers Conference opponents. The Vikings’ loss came to Division 3 Mineral Point. If they make it back to the state tournament, they’d likely get bumped up to Division 3 in 2025.
