We're in the midst of the March frenzy here, but it is worth noting that the Minnesota State High School League has just released its new section assignments for 2011-12. The MSHSL goes through the process every two years, and there are always a few items of note.
The biggest thing we could immediately glean was that Totino-Grace, which opted-up to Class 5A football, has been placed in Section 2. Here is how that football section looks now (should be interesting to see how it plays out):
Irondale High School
Mounds View High School
North St. Paul High School
Roseville Area High School
Stillwater Area High School
Tartan High School
Totino-Grace High School
White Bear Lake Area High School
The process for determining sections, as stated on the MSHSL site:
The Process for Re-Sectioning
1. We start with the current placements
2. We place schools new to that class in the nearest geographic region.
3. We then may move schools to balance the number of teams in each section.
When moving schools to a new section the following is considered:
1. Move as few schools as possible.
2. Geographic sections should not overlap.
3. Numerically balance class AA (or higher) sections to within 2 teams
4. Numerically balance class A sections to within 4 teams
5. In activities that have asked for a top XX, try to balance sections evenly
6. Travel concerns or time out of school only if all above can still be satisfied.
The following are not considered:
1. Strength of program or strength of other programs in section.
2. District or Conference rivalries.
3. Requests to the MSHSL office.
You can see the entire section list by clicking here and navigating various sports.
