Joe Drennan
Sports EditorCretin-Durham Hall just wants a conference to call home, but nine metro-area conferences have turned them down.
The Minnesota State High School League has stepped in and recommended that Cretin-Durham Hall be placed in the Suburban East Conference, one of the conferences that initially turned them down.
Cretin-Durham Hall has been competing as an independent team this year after it was asked to leave the St. Paul Conference. Prior to being asked to leave, Cretin-Durham Hall competed in the St. Paul Conference for 26 years.
Both the SEC participating schools, and Cretin-Durham Hall do not agree with the placement.
ìThe criteria for placement of a school in a conference is geography and enrollment,î Forest Lake High School athletic director Joel Olson said. ìNeither of which are compatible of the schools in the SEC.î
Since Cretin-Durham Hall doesnít comply with the criteria used for placement of a school in their conference, SEC athletic directors chose to appeal the MSHSLís placement of Cretin-Durham Hall into the SEC.
ìThey didnít meet the criteria, and the committee who over saw this did not follow that criteria,î Olson said. ìThere is a better fit for them.î
Cretin-Durham Hallís 2003-04 enrollment for grades 10-12 is 985 compared to Hastingsí 1,380, the SECís smallest school. Stillwater, the largest SEC school has an enrollment of 2,235. In terms of geography, Cretin-Durham Hall is located in St. Paul, and truly is not close to any of the SEC schools.
In a released statement, Cretin-Durham Hall athletic director John Janke said, ìCretin-Durham Hall has decided to appeal the decision of the MSHSL placement committee which recommended Cretin-Durham Hall be placed in the SEC. After meeting with officials of the SEC, and our own careful consideration of the situation, Cretin-Durham Hall has determined it is in the best interest of our student athletes and our programs to contest the placement. We have sent written notification to the state high school league of our intent.î
Part of the reason Cretin-Durham Hall was asked to leave the St. Paul Conference after 26 years was because of the dominance in sports, mostly football and baseball.
Forest Lake High School football coach Jim Herman said, ìThey are a good program, but there are a lot of good programs in the conference. The biggest problem with adding them in football is that it would give us nine teams in the conference and you wouldnít be able to play everyone in the conference.î
This scheduling conflict would also force all SEC teams to scramble to find a non-conference opponent in the middle of the season when most teams are playing their conference schedules because of the odd number of teams in the conference.
ìIf we had somebody else to make ten in the conference then we wouldnít at least have to scramble for non-conference games in the middle of the season,î Herman said.
The addition of Cretin-Durham Hall also brought up the question of what schools are supposed to do about games they have scheduled with a non-conference team.
ìWhat happens to teams that have a two-year contract like us with Menomonie,î Herman said. ìWould we have to break that contract?î
Apart from the initial scheduling conflict, Forest Lake Baseball coach Brian Raabe sees the travel to Cretin-Durham Hall as an issue as he said it just didnít make sense for Cretin-Durham Hall or any of the SEC schools to have to travel like that.
Neither Raabe or Herman are against Cretin-Durham Hall joining the SEC because they are knowing for their dominating programs.
ìWhen people say theyíre good competing, yea, they are,î Herman said. ìBut when you play them instead of Hastings, Mounds Vie or Stillwater, itís not the big of a deal. There are a lot of good programs in the SEC.î
Raabe felt the same way, saying, ìAs a coach I love playing good competition. It would be great to have a school like Cretin-Durham Hall in our conference.î
Herman added that it would be a bigger adjustment for Cretin-Durham Hall to join the SEC and compete against several quality programs week in and week out than it would be for SEC teams to get used to playing another good team.
ìWe already have a good conference and I think it would be fun to have them in our conference to get ready for section,î Raabe added. ìWe set games up with teams like that [Cretin-Durham Hall to set kids up for a good high school career as well as a playoff run.î
The idea of Cretin-Durham Hall being a superior athletic program is just that, an idea. Coach Herman agreed saying, ìNo teams in our conference donít want them in the conference because theyíre a good program. Weíre all quality programs.î
Now that both Cretin-Durham Hall and the SEC have appealed the MSHSLís decision, they have to wait for their appeals to go to the MSHSL. With winter sports state tournaments already beginning, it could be April before Cretin-Durham Hall and the SEC find out what is going to happen.
ìThey could stay,î Olson said. ìIf thatís the case weíll work with them and weíll have a good relationship.î
Herman agreed saying, ìIf theyíre on our schedule weíll play them.î
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