R-C Sports Notebook: Top 5 in the last 5

In Wednesday morning's paper we are printing the beginning of what will be a casual look at the current state of Douglas High School sports.

We kick it off with a new feature (and maybe this will become and annual thing, maybe it won't) called "The top 5 in the last 5." As the title suggests, it's our attempt to rank the athletic programs at the school based on their performance over the last five years.

Across the board, Douglas has been enormously successful in the past five years, so this is more just an attempt to highlight the programs that have been exceptional in all facets of the game and not to put down any program.

The basketball and the tennis programs at the school, for example, didn't make the top five, but that's not to say they haven't been strong programs over the last five years. Basketball has been to the state tournament and the regional title game twice and tennis has produced a number of state qualifiers and regional champions in the last few years.

What we did was compile a sort of foundational rubric to grade each team based on their performance primarily on the field - although teams that won the state academic title in their respective sport received a point-bonus equal to that of winning the athletic state title.

I created seperate grading tables for team sports and individual sports, because it's tough to come up with a way to compare an individual team that can produce numerous state qualifiers in a year with a team that can technically only qualify once. Similarly, there was no real way to award some of the individual sports any kind of points based on regular season performance, whereas that's obviously a huge part of how the team sports' seasons play out.

Overall, postseason performance, players going on to play at the next level and individual honors (all-league, all-region) played a large part in the positive points, while teams were docked for coaching changes because anyone will tell you continuity plays a huge part in success.

Here's a look at the grading scales:

TEAM SPORTS

Winning percentage: +1 point for each percentage point above .500 overall in the last five years. -1 point for each percentage point below.

League championships: +10 points

Playoff appearances: +5 points for each Northern 4A Regional Playoff appearance.

Regional runners-up: +10 points.

Regional championships: +25 points.

State tournament appearances: +20 points.

State runners-up: +30 points

State championships: +50 points/athletic; +50 points/academic.

Postseason honors: +10 points for each player or coach of the year award.

Next-level: +30 points for each professional/semi-pro player; +20 points for each Division I player, +15 for each 4-year school player, +10 for each junior college player.

Coaching changes -10 points.

INDIVIDUAL SPORTS

League championships: +10 points/team; +5 points/individual.

Regional tournament appearances: +5 points/team.

Regional championships: +25 points/team; +20 points/individual.

State tournament appearances: +20 points/team; +10 points/individual.

State runners-up: +30 points/team; +25 points/individual.

State championships: +50 points/team; +40 points/individual.

Postseason honors: +10 points for each player or coach of the year award.

Next-level: +30 points for each professional/semi-pro player; +20 points for each Division I player, +15 for each 4-year school player, +10 for each junior college player.

There are some obvious flaws in the formulas, particularly on the individual side. For instance, sports like wrestling, track & field and swimming & diving don't have to qualify for regionals as a team to be eligible for the team championship. That eliminates their eligibility for the regional tournament appearance points. However, that is counteracted somewhat by the greater number of available spots at state in those sports, as compared to tennis, skiing or golf, where only a handful of athletes in total advance.

You'll have to look at Wednesday's paper to see how the grading played out. I had an idea going in of who would be in the top five on each side, but I was pretty surprised at how the order turned out. I was surprised even more on the individual side at the teams that didn't make the top five. There were a number of very solid programs that just got edged out. Just goes to show what a strong athletic program overall that has been developed at Douglas High.

I won't tell you the final rankings, but I will pass on a couple of interesting facts I came across during the grading process.

- The girls' volleyball team has by far the best overall winning percentage over the past five years (.804) out of the school's eight team sports. The Lady Tiger Spikers have also won the most league titles (four in five years). They also have the most coaching changes (4).

- Girls' soccer has produced the most next-level athletes (14).

- Baseball has produced the most Division I athletes (4), trailed closely by football and softball (three each).

- Seven of the eight team sports have been to the playoffs in each of the last five seasons.

- The eight teams have combined to finish as regional runners-up nine times in the last five years.

- Football takes the cake in terms of postseason honors, winning seven player of the year awards (offensive, defensive or lineman) and one coach of the year.

- Wrestling has sent 27 athletes to the state tournament in the last five years, leading the school by far.