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DAC gap keeps widening

By Drew White
Unwritten No More
Published: Monday, June 25, 2012 9:10 AM CDT
It’s that time of year again when all of the chips have fallen in the 2011-12 athletic school year and the number cruncher in me gets to analyze the results.

Last year I introduced readers to the Duneland Conference All-Sports standings and the phenomenon that is the upper four and the lower four in the DAC. It is a phenomenon that has held true for yet another year.

The upper four - Chesterton, Crown Point, Lake Central, and Valparaiso - all stayed in the top half of the DAC standings while the lower four - La Porte, Merrillville, Michigan City, and Portage - all stayed in the bottom half of the overall DAC standings.

Over the past seven years, the schools might swap spots within the upper four and lower four of the overall all-sport standings, but no school has risen or fallen between the two.

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If you’ll remember, the upper four and lower four have a common denominator in not only athletic results, but also in the amount of the student population that receives free-and-reduced lunch and textbook benefits. The upper four receive the least assistance while the lower four receive the most.

It continues to be a valid correlation between athletics and socioeconomics.

What’s worse, however, is that the standings show that the gap between the top four and bottom four was at an all-time high this season.

The all-sports standings are similar to golf in that you’re looking for the lowest number. Schools receive one point for a first place finish, and up to eight points for an eighth place finish.

In the event of a tie, the points are split between the schools. For instance, the Wolves tied Merrillville for second place in the boys basketball standings this season so the teams divided the second and third place points and received a total of 2.5.

This year’s overall champion was Valparaiso, which finished with a total of 60.5 points between its 20 boys and girls sports. Crown Point was second (63.5), Lake Central was third (65.5), and Chesterton was fourth with 75 points.

Subtract 60.5 from 75 and you’ll find that 14.5 points separated first and fourth place.

What’s the difference between fourth and fifth place, or the upper four and the lower four? Portage was fifth this season with 101.5 points.

I’ll save you the math and tell you that is a difference of 26.5 points.

Rounding out the bottom half of the standings was La Porte (110), Merrillville (118), and Michigan City (126).

The difference between the upper four and the lower four hasn’t always been this wide. In 2005-06, the margin between fourth-place Crown Point and the fifth-place Slicers was only six.

In 2006-07, Lake Central finished in fourth-place with 94.5 points, only one point ahead of Portage and only three points ahead of sixth-place La Porte.

Since then, it hasn’t been lower than 16.5, where it was last year. It was 25.5 in 2008-09 and 24 in 2009-10.

I’m having a hard enough time with the fact that Michigan City has now finished in last place in the all-sports standings for the sixth straight year, but knowing that the lower four is that far behind the upper four is even more alarming.

I like the DAC all-sports standings as I believe they are a better indicator of where a school’s athletic program is as a whole.

A last place finish might seem to indicate that there was little to celebrate at City this season, but there were bright spots at both the team and individual levels.

Two sectional titles - one in girls basketball and the other in girls tennis - is up from just one in each of the past two years. Boys basketball finished in a tie for second in the DAC, but lost in the sectional title game.

Individuals advanced beyond sectionals in cross country, wrestling, swimming, and track.

There are positives to build on, but if the all-sport standings are any indication, there is a huge gap to overcome.

Contact sports writer Drew White at dwhite@thenewsdispatch.com or 874-7211, Ext. 447.