UHSAA should set a precedent

Let Uintah go.

I know Ute administrators said they didn't want to travel. I know they said it was their biggest issue with being moved into a 4A region in Utah County during discussions for the 2009 realignment.

But the solution, which addressed the issue of travel first and foremost, is worse than the original problem.

Under the newly adopted realignment, they are not just a school without a region. They are a school without a classification.

To address travel concerns, Board of Trustees members voted to move Uintah into a 3A region for league play. Then, using some yet-to-be-determined seeding system, Uintah will be incorporated into a playoff system in 4A that relies completely on region records.

The decision was meant to keep Uintah students in class more and on the bus less. It was a valiant effort to think outside the traditional model of region play. But it created some practical problems that will hurt an already fragile athletic system at Uintah.

First of all, while Uintah has the numbers to be a 4A school, it does not have the participation. But this time around, numbers were one of the deciding factors in where a school landed in realignment.

So they are 4A.

Except during region play. And just exactly how will that playoff seeding work? Will they displace a team from one of the four 4A regions with a worse record? Will there be a play-in game for Uintah only? Which region will provide the opponent for the play-in game?

And for individual sports, athletes will just compete at 4A region meets on their own. That way, they will qualify — or not — while competing against other 4A students.

So team sports have one system, while individuals will have another.

Uintah didn't foresee this solution or situation because it's never been done.

Region 9 is a combination of four 3A schools and three 4A schools, and even that created unforeseen consequences. Like who gets the region trophy? Does the state pay for an extra? And do you count wins and losses against school that are not in the classification? The first year they didn't; this year they did.