Former Southwest Junior High Bulldog Anthony Buffalomeat (back) defends former West Warhawk Brett Frantz as Frantz makes his way to the hoop during last year’s Warhawk Invitational Tournament. Because of his size and advanced skill level, coaches said Buffalomeat was one of those rare freshmen who could have competed for playing time at the varsity high school level last season. School district rules said otherwise.

Free state runner Lynn Robinson, center, crosses the finish line in this Oct. 11, 2008, file photo in the Free State Cross Country Invitational at Haskell Indian Nations University. Robinson, a freshman last year who was serious about basketball as well, likely could have played hoops at the varsity level for Free State, but high school rules prevented that from happening.

Now that the Lawrence School District officially has taken the first step in moving ninth-graders up to the high school level — with last week’s approval of a proposal to allow freshman eligibility for wrestling this winter — the question that lingers is, “Where do we go from here?”

The only answer for the foreseeable future: “Nowhere anytime soon.”

The rule currently states that junior high athletes competing in a sport that is not offered at the junior high level are eligible to compete with their corresponding high school. All others, regardless of ability, must remain with their junior high teams.

Although coaches at both Lawrence High and Free State High have put together their own proposals, hoping to follow wrestling’s lead, it is unlikely that the district seriously will entertain any additional action this school year.

“This has come up over the years at different times,” said Frank Harwood, the district’s chief operations officer. “In recent years it has been coming up more and more. It’s been talked about. But the best place to start is by asking the question, ‘Where’s the best place for the ninth-graders to be,’ and then we go from there. This will be ongoing and the board will be talking about it in its upcoming meetings.”

Harwood and other administrators throughout the district have said that the concept of moving ninth-graders to the high schools altogether — both for academics and athletics — is an option the district is considering for the near future.

Lawrence all alone?

According to Kansas State High School Activities Association director Gary Musselman, Lawrence is one of three remaining districts in the state that prohibits ninth-graders from competing at the high school level full time.

One of those — Olathe, which has allowed girls basketball players to compete for high school teams at the end of the season — is converting to the more popular approach soon.

“In 2010, we’re moving all the ninth-graders to the high school,” said Olathe East athletic director Ryan Ralston. “So then, we will evaluate how many freshman teams we will need — similar to how the Shawnee Mission schools operate.”

Ralston added that academics was the primary force that inspired the change but said the impact on athletics was heavily considered when the district was exploring its options. He added the Olathe district originally planned to move freshmen to the high schools in 2011 but pushed that date forward a year because of a chance to cut costs.

“Construction was down so much, those construction companies came in and really, really said to us that they could do this and, if they could start right now, they would give us a better deal,” Ralston said. “They were not as busy because of the economy and that saved us money. That’s the reason we moved it up a year.”

Olathe East alone will be adding nearly 500 students to its building next year. Because of that, East, as well as the three other Olathe high schools, will endure construction throughout the next year to add classroom space, gym space and parking.

Topeka Seaman is the most recent school to make the change. Seaman began its transformation by moving ninth-grade athletics up first and then half a dozen years later made the full transition by including academics and attendance in the high school building.

According to Harwood, Lawrence’s school board members are aware of the district’s position as a manual typewriter in a cyber world and he believes the actions of nearby districts such as Olathe and Topeka Seaman have increased the urgency to explore the possibility of change.

“When the board discussed it (for wrestling), they said we need to talk about it for everybody,” Harwood said. “Certainly the easiest thing for us is, at the end of the discussion, if we decide the best place for them to be is at the high schools then everything else kind of falls in place from there, including athletics. Then, we’d have to begin looking at a bunch of other issues.”

Ultimately, it comes down to a group of educators seeking to do what’s best for students. Although it’s difficult to say that freshman eligibility would benefit all of them, some of the more recent ninth-grade standouts who were hampered by the current rules say the change would be a good thing for everyone.

Torn between two levels

In the fall of 2008, then-West Junior High ninth-grader Lynn Robinson got a taste of the big time.

As a key member of the Free State High varsity cross country team that placed third at the Class 6A state meet, Robinson competed in every varsity event, nearly collapsed from exhaustion when each meet was finished and rejoiced when, at the end of each 2.4-mile race, she learned quite often that her times were good enough to count toward the team score.

But that thrill was nothing compared to what she experienced a few months earlier at the Firebirds summer basketball camp. There, finally, Robinson got to play with other players who, like her, dedicated themselves to the game.

Basketball is Robinson’s first love. It’s what she devotes much of her year to, what she’s best at and what she hopes to play in college, ideally at Kansas State if she has things her way.

Last winter, however, her favorite sport was little more than an obligation, largely because of the disappointment that came after competing at the highest level in cross country and then dropping back down several levels for her hoops season.

“(Basketball’s) my passion,” Robinson said. “It’s what I’m focusing on and what I want to play in college. But it felt kind of degrading, that I could be good enough to run cross country at Free State but that my basketball skills weren’t good enough to allow me to play.”

A handful of Lawrence’s high school coaches have said that moving freshmen to the high schools would go a long way toward leveling the playing field for all student-athletes. Freshmen, like everyone, would play at the appropriate level. If they’re good enough to play varsity, they play varsity. If they’re good enough to play junior varsity, they play junior varsity and so on.

The way things are now, the rules are forcing all ninth-graders to play at the same level, but not all ninth-graders have the same ability.

“It’s almost unfair to the players who take it seriously,” Robinson said. “There was one game where I had 35 points, which should not have happened. I think that if a player is good enough, they should be able to go and play where they belong.”

Nearby, at the Class 4A schools in the area such as Eudora, De Soto, Baldwin, Tonganoxie and Perry-Lecompton, that’s exactly the way it goes. Ninth-graders often participate with the varsity teams in all sports because of the numbers game. Those schools don’t have as many students participating in athletics as Lawrence High or Free State and therefore coaches often look to freshmen to fill their varsity and JV rosters.

Still, Eudora High athletic director Dave Durkin said it takes a special athlete to play a prominent role on a varsity team for the Cardinals.

“For the most part, (freshmen) don’t play,” Durkin said. “There might be a kid once in a while that earns the spot and we let him. It’s a little different where you’ve got all the ninth-graders in your building. Lawrence schools, with the junior highs, are at a disadvantage when it comes to that.”

Missed opportunities

Former Lawrence High girls basketball coach Kristin Mallory, who serves as the athletic director at Southwest Junior High, said she learned to accept the rule, even if she’d like to see it change.

“Football has never pushed it because there’s never been a ninth-grader ready to play at the varsity level,” Mallory said. “But I think if football pushed it, it could happen.”

The subject is dear to Mallory’s heart because girls typically mature at a faster rate than boys.

Therefore, had Mallory been allowed to pull ninth-graders up to her varsity team, current seniors Cassie Potter, Haley Parker and Jasmyn Turner, who all contributed mightily to the Lions’ state title as sophomores in 2008, would have developed even earlier. It’s realistic to surmise that Mallory’s team could have won back-to-back titles.

That’s getting ahead of the issue, but Jeff Melcher, ninth-grade girls basketball coach at West Junior High, is not.

When asked what taking Robinson and her 15-20 points-per-game average out of his lineup would have done to the Warhawks last season, Melcher did not beat around the bush.

“It would (have been) a huge blow to our team,” he said.

But that alone was not reason enough for Melcher to oppose the idea. After all, he’s the one who watched as Robinson ran circles around her teammates in practice. And he’s the one who racked his brain for ways to help Robinson develop without hurting the team.

“I don’t know if (it was) a disservice to her,” Melcher said of Robinson being forced to play against ninth-grade competition. “I think she enjoyed competing with her classmates. But, sure, when you’re playing against people that aren’t of your same caliber, it can get frustrating.”

David Schneider, the ninth-grade boys coach at Southwest, struggled with the same dilemma when watching K.J. Pritchard and Anthony Buffalomeat annihilate competition last year. Schneider’s solution is simple and would have changed the make-up of his Bulldogs. But that’s the furthest thing from Schneider’s mind when it comes to deciphering what is best for the athletes he coaches.

“Moving them up would definitely be good for their development,” he said. “The competition, they need that. It’s pretty easy for those guys to get an alley-oop or post up in practice. If they were in a 6A setting, it would be a lot tougher and that’s what they need. I’m all in favor of moving those kids up. It’s weird we can’t.”

Ready to rumble

Perhaps Robinson, Pritchard and Buffalomeat are anomalies. It cannot be said with certainty that Lawrence’s junior highs are full of prospective varsity players on a year-to-year basis.

But Free State girls basketball coach Bryan Duncan said on a number of occasions last season that Robinson was good enough to start at point guard for his varsity team. Having Robinson, Duncan said, could have transformed that team from a solid squad into a state-championship contender.

Schneider echoed such sentiments about his two freshmen.

“I love coaching them,” Schneider said. “Believe me, it’s great. But at the same time, those guys could (have contributed) at LHS (last year). I don’t want to overstep my bounds and speak for that coaching staff, but I think both K.J. and Anthony could have played significant minutes.”

LHS sophomore Reece Wright-Conklin is another prime example of an athlete handcuffed by the current system. Forced to wrestle inferior opponents in ninth grade, Wright-Conklin breezed through his competition, going undefeated and winning all but one match on first-period pins.

At the end of the junior high season, Wright-Conklin joined the LHS varsity program and instantly became one of the team’s best wrestlers. In fact, though just a freshman, he was named the Sunflower League’s Wrestler of the Year for 2008-09.

After a few weeks with the Lions, Wright-Conklin qualified for the Class 6A state tournament and brought home a fifth-place medal from Wichita.

Had he been allowed to join the LHS team from the outset, Wright-Conklin said he believed he would have placed higher.

“The tournaments I missed were some of the harder tournaments,” Wright-Conklin said. “I might have seen some of the guys I saw at state earlier in the year and that would’ve helped me. I think I would’ve done better at state. Besides, junior high practices are nothing compared to high school practices. I think not being there set me back.”

Why wrestling first?

The question remains: Why wrestling and nothing else?

Harwood said that was the first question that popped into his mind. After being briefed, he fully agreed with the answer.

“For this year, it’s logistics and safety,” Harwood said. “Wrestling was the only place where we had ninth-graders going against seventh graders. In basketball or football at least it’s ninth-graders against ninth-graders. Besides that, we already have contracts with other schools to compete (in other ninth-grade sports). This may not pose a huge financial problem because there’s not a lot of money tied to it. But we don’t want the reputation that we break contracts because that will just make it harder to schedule competitions in the future.”

Knowing that the financial well-being of the district is a concern for all, coaches in other sports have crunched the numbers and discovered that cutting ninth-grade sports across the board and rolling those athletes into the high schools could save the district tens of thousands of dollars.

“Clearly, we are looking for any way we can to save money,” Harwood said. “We don’t want to rush something through that’s not good for the students.”

There are many more factors at play than finances, the well-being of the student-athletes or the luxury of adding more talented players to the high school programs. At the top of the list is the academic challenges. In addition, concerns about accommodating more students at each high school have been voiced.

Free State principal Ed West said he expected the Lawrence school board to engage in formal discussions about where to go from here at its Sept. 14 meeting.

“I think our superintendent, Rick Doll, probably said it best in terms of moving ninth-graders up to the high schools,” West said. “We know the rest of state is doing this or is headed toward this. We know there are certainly some conveniences about having the ninth-graders up at the high schools. We just have to make sure it’s the right timing and the right thing.”