Out of all 19 sports that West athletes compete in, 11 of the state champions within the past year have been from private schools. In previous years, private schools have been sweeping the board on state finishes throughout Missouri.
This causes a lot of disagreement between both private and public schools. Many people say private schools have the opportunity to recruit students from anywhere, but nothing is done to stop it. On the flip side, public schools have higher student body numbers, resulting in a larger pool for coaches to pick from.
The LSW boys swim and dive team competes against private schools frequently, both in the regular season and postseason meets. Out of all the private schools they compete against, two bring a lot of trouble for the Titans.
Senior swimmer Fineas Howser played a big role in the Titans’ success this year. Howser said, “Rockhurst and SLUH (St. Louis University High School) are our biggest competition.” In the past five years, Rockhurst has won three class two state championships and SLUH has won two.
A school like Rockhurst has the ability to have athletes from both the Kansas and Missouri side of the state line. “My sophomore year, they recruited one of our swimmers, and he was really good,” Howser said.
Kirk Hipple, the LSW athletic director, is in charge of assisting coaches in creating schedules for their upcoming seasons. In this process, he helps coaches establish who they will play in the upcoming season, and sign the contracts regarding these games.
“Sometimes private schools are going to excel in one sport, but maybe not the other, and so on and so forth,” Hipple said. Even though there are several private schools in the area, they all vary in size. However, when competing in the postseason, there are two factors that go into the placement of these schools.
“They do have multiplier factors of their enrollment to put them in an appropriate level. Then also, championship factors, so if they run the table, they are going to get bumped up,” Hipple said. Hipple feels as if the system is pretty equal and fair for everyone because it is designed to be that way.
Last fall, LSW girls volleyball had their season ended by St. Teresa’s Academy (STA) in the district championship game. Junior Margot Randall, STA student, said that she believes, “Public schools have a larger student body, which gives them more athletes in general. This gives them a better chance to have better teams.”
According to Randall, some of the private schools STA faces during the season are smaller, leaving them with less experience which makes playing these teams quite boring. Randall said, “We probably play more private schools, but I would rather play some of my friends from public schools because it’s always fun to play people you know.”
Both public and private schools have different advantages to the creation of their teams and some may see it as unfair. Even though there is an argument for both sides, a definite resolution will never be created. Hipple said, “I feel like what we have in Missouri is pretty close to about as equitable as it can be in all sports.”
