LHAC Tournament - On or Off?

  There was plenty of confusion surrounding why the first annual Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference wrestling tournament was cancelled two days prior to it happening back in January.
  Last week, the proposal of a tournament was turned down by a 13-2 vote. The reading states that it was denied based on the fact that it's not a true championship and extends the number of events.
  You can also find insight on the matter on Eric Knopsnyder's blog here. In it, Eric talked to Penn Cambria coach Todd Niebauer.
  On Monday afternoon, I discussed the events with Dave Crumrine, the vice chairman of the District 6 Committee and principal at Martinsburg Central High School. Personally, I'd like to thank Dave for his openness to talk, both in January and this week, about the LHAC Tournament.
  As Niebauer told Knopsnyder, the event is not entirely dead. Crumrine confirmed to me that the 13-2 vote was only against waving the competition points for it.
  "Speaking for the committee, I can say that we believe the tournament is a great idea," said Crumrine. "We just think it should be run with the points being used. The tournament could very well still happen."
  According to Crumrine, one of the main sticking points appears to be where the tournament would fall in the calendar. Per that 13-2 vote, most of the committee members (and maybe some coaches) would prefer that the event be held later in the season as opposed to sometime in early to mid January. The 2012-13 LHAC Tournament was scheduled for January 5.
  Should the tournament be reproposed, I would see the most likely dates as around the time of the PIAA Team Tournaments after the district duals. Two seasons ago, the WestPAC held its tournament on that Saturday, but for the record, it was held prior to Christmas this season.
  On my calendar, it looks like the state duals should be held from February 6-8 next year. That might allow for most teams if not all to be involved, assuming one or more of the LHAC members do not advance to Hershey.
  While it appears that moving the tournament to the end of the team season might be the way to save it, Crumrine is not sure whether an approval of the tournament for that timeframe would receive a majority vote of the committee.
  Going back to January's original decision, there seemed to be plenty of confusion about the competition points and whether they were supposed to be used in the LHAC scenario. Questions came about during that week among some of the conference members which forced a late cancellation, rather than have the event go off and realization come later that the tournament counted towards the maximum points allowed. That would have caused more chaos for sure.
  In the WestPAC's case, Portage is the only District 6 school involved in that tournament. Crumrine could not confirm whether Portage has used points for that event or not. The Mustangs' schedule this season included 12 dual meets plus dual meet tournaments at Claysburg and Glendale, plus the Sheetz Holiday Classic and the WestPAC Tournament.
  I do know in my talks among coaches and administrators over the past few years, sentiment is more towards not crowning team champions at individual tournaments. When asked about it, Crumrine said he didn't believe that point was widely regarded as part of the decision-making in this matter.
  Crumrine did say that there has been a lot of communication and ideas spoken about the tournament proposal. For what it's worth, Bedford and Somerset, the two District 5 members of the conference, did have representatives present at the District 6 Athletic Director's meeting on January 17, presumably to present their side of the story involving the original LHAC Tournament and its cancellation.
  "We've had various discussions about this and also the differences between wrestling and basketball, and the other sports," said Crumrine. "Both sides of this proposal were well presented. We take the PIAA rules seriously and enforce them to all our members. Again, it's unfortunate that there was miscommunication before. We all feel badly about that and hopefully, the tournament can happen in the future in a way that is fair to all of us."
   To go back to my earlier posts on this topic from January, go here, and for a followup, go here.