Preps YIR: The rating game

In 2005, we asked Fred Kroner to come up with a formula to fairly evaluate all of our area schools against one another, whether they competed in five sports or in 20.

Like he has done the past eight years, he eliminated conference championships as a possible factor because not all area schools belong to conferences. That left him with six categories in which points were awarded.

The subsequent point total was divided by the number of sports a school offered, and that revealed an average by which schools were rated from first through 38th.
This year, Kroner tweaked the process in two areas. He still recognized 20-win teams but gave two bonus points for any 30-win teams. Also, schools with state medalists still receive six points, but if they had a state champion, those schools receive three additional bonus points.

Here’s how St. Joseph-Ogden extended its area streak to three years in a row and secured its sixth overall Area All-Sports title, which places equal weight on boys’ and girls’ sports. The Spartans had six teams that won at least 20 games. Each mark in that column resulted in three points, starting the school with 18 points, plus a two-point bonus for one 30-win team.

In six sports, SJ-O won regional titles. Each of those was worth two points, adding an additional 12 points to the total. A sectional championship was captured in four sports. At a value of four points each, that earned St. Joseph-Ogden 16 more points. One super-sectional title added six more points.

Finally, in each sport where SJ-O earned state medals, six points were tallied per sport. The Spartans had individual medalists or top-four team finishes in four sports, so their overall score was boosted by another 24 points.

No “extra credit” is given for a school with multiple state placers (for example, five track medalists) instead of one in a particular sport. Finally, the school had the Player of the Year or Coach of the Year in four different sports, which added an additional eight points.

When all columns are tallied, St. Joseph-Ogden collected 86 points from its 14 sports, which meant an All-Sports average of 6.14, and a sizable edge over runner-up St. Thomas More (3.89), also a member of the Sangamon Valley Conference.

*3/2* *2* *4* *6* *2* *6/3*
SCHOOL 20-WIN REGIONAL SECTIONAL SUPER-SECT. AREA STATE NO. OF TOTAL AVG. PER
(PREVIOUS YEAR RANK) TEAMS TITLES TITLES TITLES POYs MEDALISTS SPORTS POINTS SPORT
1. St. Joseph-Ogden (1) 6/1 6 4 1 4 4/0 14 86 6.14
2. St. Thomas More (11) 2/1 4 2 1 5 4/2 18 70 3.89
3. Centennial (7) 4/2 7 3 1 5 4/0 20 74 3.70
4. Salt Fork (37-T) 2/0 2 1 1 1 3/0 11 40 3.64
5. Tri-County (32-T) 2/1 1 1 1 0 1/0 8 26 3.25
6. Mahomet-Seymour (8) 3/0 1 2 0 5 3/0 16 51 3.19
7. Urbana Uni High (10) 1/0 1 1 1 1 3/0 12 35 2.92
8-T. Fisher (21) 1/0 3 0 0 0 3/1 11 30 2.73
8-T. LeRoy (3) 2/0 4 1 0 0 2/0 11 30 2.73
10. Schlarman (29-T) 3/0 2 1 0 0 3/0 14 35 2.50
11. Urbana (34) 1/0 2 1 1 5 3/1 19 46 2.42
12-T. Clinton (41) 3/0 2 1 0 0 2/0 14 29 2.07
12-T. Monticello (4) 1/0 4 0 0 1 3/1 15 31 2.07
14-T. Argenta-Oreana (12-T) 1/0 1 0 0 0 3/0 12 23 1.92
14-T. Watseka (29-T) 3/0 2 1 0 0 1/0 12 23 1.92
16. x-East Central (16) 3/0 3 0 0 0 0/ 0 8 15 1.88
17-T. Bismarck-Henning (6) 2/0 2 0 0 2 1/0 12 20 1.67
17-T. Danville (14) 0/ 0 0 1 0 4 2/2 18 30 1.67
19. Unity (5) 1/0 0 1 0 1 2/0 13 21 1.62
20. Arthur-Lovington/A-H (15) 2/0 2 0 0 0 1/0 8 16 1.60
21. Cissna Park (26) 1/0 1 1 0 0 0/ 0 6 9 1.50
22. Paxton-Buckley-Loda (18) 2/0 0 1 0 0 1/0 11 16 1.45
23. Prairie Central (17) 0/ 0 0 0 0 0 3/0 13 18 1.38
24. Champaign Central (12-T) 1/0 0 3 0 3 1/0 20 27 1.35
25. Iroquois West (39-T) 1/0 3 1 0 0 0/ 0 10 13 1.30
26-T. Tuscola (2) 0/ 0 1 0 0 0 2/0 11 14 1.27
26-T. Villa Grove (24-T) 1/0 0 0 0 1 1/1 11 14 1.27
28. Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley (9) 1/0 1 1 0 0 1/1 13 14 1.08
29. Georgetown-RF/Chrisman (24-T) 1/0 0 0 0 0 1/0 10 9 0.90
30. Arcola (23) 0/ 0 1 0 0 0 1/0 9 8 0.89
31. Westville (—) 1/0 0 0 0 0 1/0 11 9 0.82
32-T. Arthur Okaw Christian (29-T) 1/0 0 0 0 0 0 4 3 0.75
32-T. Cerro Gordo/Bement (—) 2/0 0 0 0 0 0/ 0 8 6 0.75
34. Blue Ridge (27) 2/0 1 0 0 0 0/ 0 11 8 0.73
35. Oakwood/A-P (39-T) 0/ 0 1 0 0 0 1/0 12 8 0.67
36. DeLand-Weldon (—) 1/0 0 0 0 0 0/ 0 5 3 0.60
37. Sullivan (28) 0/ 0 1 0 0 0 1/0 14 8 0.57
38. Ridgeview (19) 1/0 1 0 0 0 0/ 0 10 5 0.50

x — The 20-win category also includes teams with at least 10 wins in football; the East Central total also includes results for Heritage and Shiloh.