As of today, CHSAA has published the list of reports and proposals going to January's Legislative Council meeting. Decisions made at Legislative Council, then, become what the various CHSAA-sanctioned sports will abide by next school year.
Among the reports being forwarded to this Legislative Council meeting is the cross country committee report.
In that report are a couple of items of interest.
One of those items is the 4A regional alignments. Those alignments were not fully settled upon at the committee meeting and some changes have been made. Here are the regional alignments going to Legislative Council for approval (asterisks indicate regional hosting responsibilities):
4A Region 1 - Battle Mountain*, Central-Grand Junction, Conifer, Eagle Valley, Evergreen, Glenwood Springs, Golden, Green Mountain, Mullen, Palisade, Steamboat Springs, Summit
4A Region 2 - Air Academy, Discovery Canyon*, Falcon, Harrison, Lewis-Palmer, Littleton, Mitchell, Palmer Ridge, Ponderosa, Sand Creek, Sierra, Wheat Ridge
4A Region 3 - Abraham Lincoln, Alameda International, Arvada, Centaurus*, Denver North, George Washington, John F. Kennedy, Niwot, Northfield, Skyview, Standley Lake, Thomas Jefferson, Vista Peak
4A Region 4 - Erie, Frederick, Fort Morgan, Greeley Central, Longmont, Mead, Mountain View, Northridge, Roosevelt, Silver Creek, Skyline, Thompson Valley*, Windsor
4A Region 5 - Canon City, Cheyenne Mountain, Coronado, Durango, Mesa Ridge*, Montrose, Pueblo Centennial, Pueblo Central, Pueblo County, Pueblo East, Pueblo South, Pueblo West, Widefield
As a footnote, of sorts, to this, some of the asterisks in other classifications and regions moved from what was indicated at the committee meeting. So, those schools wearing asterisks as the report moves forward to Legislative Council are now:
2A - Byers (1), Evangelical Christian Academy (2), St. Mary's (3), Lake City (4)
3A - Aspen (1), Alamosa (2), Arrupe Jesuit (3), Eaton (4), D'Evelyn (5)
5A - Aurora Central (1), Bear Creek (2), Boulder (3), Brighton (4), Doherty (5)
The other, and probably more contentious, matter advancing to Legislative Council is the part of the cross country committee report recommending a shift to scoring four runners in 2A and a competing proposal from the San Juan League to keep the scoring at three runners.
For now, I'm just going to leave it at that--reporting what the committee report says and making mention of the competing proposal. Later, though, and probably some time next week, I'll publish an article of pros and cons on the issue. If you have pros and/or cons you'd like to receive mention in that article, you're welcome to send me an email including that information.
On a separate note, there is one proposal coming before January's Legislative Council meeting that could easily impact cross country at some future date.
This proposal is entitled "Season of Sport - Football." Briefly, the proposal seeks to put Colorado's high school football schedule into alignment with the NFHS calendar. The most direct and immediate impact of that would have football practice beginning one week earlier (August 6, for 2018).
It's not very difficult to foresee that if the opening of football practice moves a week earlier, other fall sports (except golf, which already starts early) are likely to follow. The same NFHS calendar would impact volleyball and cross country directly. I'm not certain if other sports would be impacted directly, but it would be difficult for the other sports to escape the domino effect even so.