COLUMN: MSHSAA tries to take step in right direction
Anthony Crane Sports Editor
You don’t have to search hard or look far to find a critic of the Missouri State High School Activities Association. The organization has often struggled to meet the moment, leaving coaches, administrators and fans questioning many of its decisions.
But 2026 has been different.
In February, Missouri lawmakers proposed adding another layer of oversight to high school athletics, creating more bureaucracy for schools already navigating an increasingly complicated landscape. For perhaps the first time in a while, MSHSAA found itself cast as the good guy.
June brought more changes with the state inching closer to the shot clock being the norm. But the bigger news comes from its new point system for the non-public schools.
Private schools have long served as the favorite target in debates over competitive balance. But, much like MSHSAA itself, the issue isn’t as simple as right versus wrong. Governing hundreds of schools and student-athletes is difficult, and no system will ever satisfy everyone.
The answer in this month’s meeting was an adjustment to the points system. The board decided on a depreciating model for the accumulation of points earned by non-public schools for state championships, runners-up, final fours and district championships.
For example, if Bishop LeBlond were to win a state title in volleyball this fall, the program’s 10 points would go towards the 2027 season where they would move up a class. Those points would then start to fall off in 2028, moving from 10 points to seven and so on.
“This is a first step toward continuing to examine competitive equity more closely in an effort to be responsive to our member schools,” MSHSAA Executive Director Dr. Jennifer Rukstad said. “Our conversations will continue this fall as we explore additional ways to provide fairness and equity within a diverse membership.”
This system will provide its own set of problems, but it shows that the organization understands and listened to the concerns of the people it governs.
Kudos for that.
The new formula will inevitably reshuffle classifications across Missouri as enrollment numbers and competitive success intersect.
“I think it’s good for all parties,” Bishop LeBlond head coach Mitch Girres said. “Not everybody gets everything they want and not everybody is going to be super happy.”
The Eagles will benefit from the changes in sports like basketball and volleyball where they’ll make the move from Class 3 to Class 2 this upcoming season due to enrollment. For some private schools, those reclassifications will come without a second thought—but not all private schools are built equally.
“What I have taken away from it, it seems like it’s a good thing overall for competition,” Official Dave Fast said. “Not all private schools are set up the same with some that recruit and some that don’t. Working the Class 3 final two years ago between KIPP KC and Principia—those programs rivaled the Class 6 schools.”
Some private schools clearly possess competitive advantages that extend well beyond enrollment. Others simply operate as small community schools that happen to be private.
St. Pius for example, found few sympathizers as the school climbed the class ladder with resources that make achieving “fairness and equity” almost unachievable. But the Warriors’ argument is that with an enrollment of fewer than 400 students, they shouldn’t be forced to play in a class with schools who double that enrollment number.
And while the Warriors are historically good in most sports, the school hasn’t won a state title in any of the three major sports since 2021. Football for example, hasn’t won a state title in 25 years.
Do they believe they’re a Class 3 school? Not exactly, as one source says they believe they should be in Class 4.
The school that has caused the biggest upheaval as of late is Principia, with the boys winning back-to-back championships in basketball. The program had to leave the state and time zone to find a team that could beat them.
The girls program has also been highly successful, winning last year’s title and finishing runners-up the previous two seasons in Class 3.
It’s tough to argue they belong anywhere near their current class.
“I think if you’re dominating lower classes, you should have to play closer to your talent level…I like that part,” LeBlond baseball coach Myles McLaughlin said. “For LeBlond though, I worry about delayed punishment of sorts. If we have a couple nice years, then I’m taking a roster of 15 into a Class 4 Tournament. That roster will suffer because of a team they weren’t on, and I’m not sure I like the unlimited class jumps for that reason.”
While Principia, CBC, Rockhurst, and a few others tend to dominate certain sports, Missouri is still a state that hands its state championship trophies more to public schools at a much higher clip. Public schools make up roughly 70-75% of the state champions.
What deserves appreciation today isn’t that the MSHSAA found a perfect solution. It didn’t.
But as we all know, fair is subjective and that makes the task of reaching that point almost impossible. So for now, we should commend them for listening and attempting the impossible.
