A petition could split Ohio postseason competition. A three year Podium Watch review finds a debate that is more complicated than either side's slogan.
By Podium Watch | September 16, 2026
At Fortress Obetz, one second can separate a champion from a runner up. Under a proposal now moving through Ohio, a more basic question could come first: Which state championship is that runner allowed to enter?
A petition circulating among Ohio High School Athletic Association principals seeks separate public and nonpublic state tournaments. The proposal would leave both groups inside the OHSAA, but it would send them down different postseason paths. If it qualifies for a statewide vote and passes, the new structure could begin with the 2028 to 2029 school year.
That would be a historic change for every sport. For cross country and track and field, it would arrive just after the OHSAA expanded cross country from three divisions to four and track from three divisions to five. Ohio could be asked to rebuild two postseason systems that were only recently redesigned.
The central tension: Principals could be asked to approve separation before they know how many divisions, qualifiers, races, sites, medals, records, or championships each category would receive.
What the petition would actually do
According to WCPO reporting, organizers must collect 75 signatures from high school principals by December 1. At least five signatures must come from each of the six OHSAA athletic districts. If that threshold is met, principals at member high schools would vote from May 1 through May 15 in 2027. Each school would receive one vote, cast by its principal.
The petition was presented by public school administrators from the Northeast Ohio Suburban League. Their stated goal is separate tournament competition, not removal of private schools from the OHSAA. Traditional district schools, community schools, charter schools, and STEM schools would be placed in the public category. Privately operated schools would be placed in the nonpublic category.
WCPO reported that 121 of the 812 OHSAA high schools counted in the presentation were nonpublic, roughly 15 percent. The petition says separation would operate within the current divisional framework. It does not say whether every public and nonpublic category would receive every current division, how representation would be calculated, or whether early rounds would be combined.
What is confirmed
- The petition must first meet its signature threshold before any statewide vote occurs.
- If it reaches the ballot, the vote would be conducted by principals in May 2027.
- If approved, implementation could begin in the 2028 to 2029 school year.
- The proposal seeks separate public and nonpublic tournament championships while keeping both groups in the OHSAA.
What is not confirmed
- The number of divisions that either category would receive.
- The number of district, regional, and state qualifiers in each category.
- Whether public and nonpublic athletes would compete together at any tournament round.
- The state meet schedule, sites, records, awards, staffing plan, and additional cost.
Running sports do not use competitive balance
The public and private debate is often framed as a verdict on competitive balance. That framing does not fit cross country or track and field. The OHSAA competitive balance formula applies to baseball, basketball, football, soccer, softball, and volleyball. It does not apply to either running sport.
Cross country and track schools are placed primarily through enrollment and approved tournament division rules. Separation would therefore not replace an existing sport specific adjustment. It would add a new boundary to sports in which athletes currently qualify through the same enrollment divisions and meet on the same course or track.
Cross country moved to four divisions in 2025 and track and field moved to five divisions in 2026, creating 170 standard event championships across boys and girls competition. That expansion gave more schools and athletes access without separating them by school governance.
The number everyone quotes is not the whole story
The 15 percent membership figure is an important starting point, but it is not the same as participation in a specific sport. Some schools do not sponsor a full team. Some enter only individuals. The mix also changes sharply by gender and division.
| 2026 tournament team listings | All | Nonpublic | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cross country boys | 556 | 69 | 12.4% |
| Cross country girls | 468 | 62 | 13.2% |
| Track and field boys | 685 | 77 | 11.2% |
| Track and field girls | 644 | 68 | 10.6% |
Source: OHSAA 2026 divisional lists. Boys and girls are counted separately, so these are team listings rather than unique schools. Nonpublic status was checked against the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce directory.
The statewide averages also conceal a steep divisional swing. In the current girls cross country lists, nonpublic schools account for 2 of 67 Division I teams, or 3.0 percent, but 26 of 134 Division IV teams, or 19.4 percent. In boys track, the share rises from 5 of 82 Division I teams, or 6.1 percent, to 29 of 151 Division V teams, or 19.2 percent.
That is why a single statewide percentage cannot design a fair tournament. The practical question is not merely how many nonpublic schools belong to the OHSAA. It is how many sponsor each sport, in each gender, division, and district.
What three years of cross country results show
Podium Watch reviewed official OHSAA state results for 2023, 2024, and 2025. Those seasons include the final two years of the three division system and the first year of the four division system. The review counted every state starter, every full team qualifier, every top three team finish, and every championship. All Ohio was defined as a top 24 individual finish.
| Cross country measure | Total | Nonpublic | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| State starters | 3,833 | 442 | 11.5% |
| All Ohio finishes | 481 | 51 | 10.6% |
| Individual championships | 20 | 3 | 15.0% |
| State team qualifiers | 424 | 46 | 10.8% |
| Top three team finishes | 60 | 6 | 10.0% |
| Team championships | 20 | 1 | 5.0% |
Source: Official OHSAA state championship results for 2023 through 2025. The All Ohio total includes one tied place. Public status includes community, charter, and STEM schools under the petition definition.
The nonpublic individual champions were Heartland Christian in the 2023 Division III girls race, Legacy Christian in the 2024 Division III girls race, and Cincinnati St. Xavier senior Dom Ellis in the 2025 Division I boys race. Columbus Bishop Watterson's 2025 Division II girls title was the only nonpublic team championship in the 20 races reviewed.
This is not proof that the current system is perfectly fair. State results cannot show every athlete who lost a district or regional qualifying place. Geography can create a difficult route in one region and an easier route in another. OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute told WCPO that the membership should examine regional data rather than relying only on championship totals.
It is proof of something narrower and still important: the recent statewide record does not support the claim that nonpublic schools are controlling Ohio cross country championships. The deeper question is access before the state meet, and the petition has not yet published that evidence.
What three years of track results show
Podium Watch also reviewed the 2024, 2025, and 2026 state track meets. The period captures two years with three divisions and the first year with five. Event entries count an athlete or relay once in each event, so a sprinter who qualified in four events appears four times. Scoring places include the top eight, with ties preserved.
| Track and field measure | Total | Nonpublic | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listed state event entries | 6,617 | 599 | 9.1% |
| Scoring places | 3,004 | 296 | 9.9% |
| Event championships | 374 | 40 | 10.7% |
| Top three team finishes | 68 | 8 | 11.8% |
| Team championships | 24 | 2 | 8.3% |
Source: Official OHSAA state qualifier and final result files for 2024 through 2026. Listed entries are not unique athletes. Scratches and ties cause totals to vary from the scheduled number of positions.
Hathaway Brown won the 2025 Division II girls team championship. Chaminade Julienne won the 2026 Division II girls championship. Those were the two nonpublic team titles among 24 champions during the period, including cochampions. Nonpublic athletes and relays won 40 of 374 standard events.
The numbers again resist a simple narrative. Nonpublic programs produced fewer than one in ten scoring places, yet their effect was concentrated in certain divisions and events. Gilmour Academy, for example, won four Division IV boys events and finished second as a team in 2026. A statewide average can obscure a powerful program just as easily as one powerful program can distort a statewide debate.
What the data can and cannot say: Three years of results describe outcomes. They do not measure recruiting, open enrollment, coaching quality, facilities, family wealth, club access, or every athlete eliminated before state. They should discipline the debate, not end it.
How cross country could change
Important: Every format in this section is hypothetical. The petition does not guarantee that both categories would receive all four divisions, equal field sizes, or separate races at every round.
Ohio currently stages eight state cross country races, four for boys and four for girls. Division I sends 20 teams per gender to state. Divisions II, III, and IV each send 24. Individual advancement is connected to team representation.
Under one possible model, the OHSAA could duplicate every current division for both categories. That would create 16 state races, 16 team champions, and 16 individual champions. It would also require enough schools in every category and region to support a credible district, regional, and state route. The petition does not promise this model.
A second model could give nonpublic schools fewer divisions because their participating pool is smaller. A third could keep athletes in the same races but score public and nonpublic results separately. A fourth could combine early rounds and separate only the state championships. Each option solves one problem while creating another.
Separate races could produce much smaller nonpublic fields in parts of the state and longer travel where nonpublic teams are sparse. Combined races with separate scoring would preserve direct competition, but critics could argue that schools were not truly separated. Fewer nonpublic divisions would create deeper fields, but it would place schools with very different enrollments in the same category.
Fortress Obetz currently hosts all eight races on one Saturday. A model with 16 separate races would likely require another day, another course, smaller fields, or combined races with separate awards. Any of those choices would affect staffing, timing, security, travel, course wear, and the ability of families to watch more than one team.
How track and field could change
Important: The numbers below illustrate one possible full duplication model. They are not an approved OHSAA schedule.
Track is the harder puzzle. Ohio now conducts five boys divisions and five girls divisions across four days at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. Each standard state event has 18 qualifying positions. With 17 standard events for each gender, the current system awards 170 event championships and ten team championships, apart from seated competition.
If every public and nonpublic category received all five current divisions, the standard event total could rise from 170 to 340. Team championship competitions could rise from ten to 20. If all 18 positions were preserved in both categories, the maximum standard event entry count could rise from 3,060 to 6,120.
That scale would likely require more days, another site, longer sessions, or smaller fields. Splitting the existing 18 positions between categories would avoid doubling the schedule, but it would reduce opportunities inside each event and force the OHSAA to decide how many berths each region deserves. Separate sites would protect the timetable, but wind, weather, surface, and competition would make marks less directly comparable.
Track would also need new answers for relays, team scoring, records, podium medals, and All Ohio recognition. If a division has only a small number of nonpublic programs, should the top eight still score? If the two categories compete on different days or at different sites, which mark becomes the division record? Would historical lists continue together or split at the date of implementation?
The proposal could also remove some of Ohio's most anticipated head to head matchups. Dom Ellis won a 2026 distance triple crown for St. Xavier. Gilmour athletes won four Division IV boys events. Cincinnati Country Day's Luke Schnieber produced the best boys pole vault mark in OHSAA tournament history. Under separate championships, performances like those could remain extraordinary while never occurring against the full enrollment division field.
The strongest case for separation
Supporters begin with opportunity. Public schools generally operate within geographic, financial, and governance structures that differ from privately operated schools. They argue that a state association should not force unlike institutions to compete for the same limited tournament berths and trophies.
From that perspective, the state championship totals in this review do not settle the issue. A private program does not need to win the state title to eliminate a public athlete at district or regional competition. The relevant unit may be the qualifying place, not the championship. Separate paths would guarantee that public schools and nonpublic schools each have access to their own final stage.
Supporters can also argue that separation is more transparent than an adjustment formula. Every school would know its category. The rule would not depend on a complicated roster calculation, and the annual debate over whether one program has an unfair structural advantage would no longer decide who shares a tournament field.
The strongest case against separation
Opponents begin with the evidence from the sports themselves. In the periods reviewed, nonpublic schools earned 10.6 percent of Cross Country All Ohio finishes and 9.9 percent of track scoring places. Those results do not look like statewide control. A sweeping solution could therefore alter every athlete's postseason to address a problem that is concentrated in particular sports, divisions, regions, or programs.
The public and nonpublic labels are also imperfect measures of competitive advantage. The petition places community, charter, and STEM schools in the public category even when they do not resemble a traditional attendance boundary school. Open enrollment, school choice, coaching, facilities, roster size, community resources, and club access can shape a program without appearing in a binary label.
Separate championships would create more winners, but they could also thin fields and change what qualification means. Ohio would need to decide whether two category champions are the final answer or whether a Meet of Champions should restore a best against best conclusion. New Jersey uses public and nonpublic group championships followed by a Meet of Champions. Tennessee uses separate classification paths. Neither structure can be copied without accounting for Ohio's membership and geography.
The questions Ohio must answer before any vote
A vote on the principle of separation is also a vote on its consequences. Before principals cast ballots, the petitioners and the OHSAA should publish a sport specific plan that answers at least these questions.
- How many public and nonpublic schools sponsor boys and girls teams in every current division and athletic district?
- How many district, regional, and state qualifiers came from each category during at least the last five years?
- Would both categories retain four cross country divisions and five track divisions?
- Would early tournament rounds be combined, separated, or combined with separate scoring?
- How would regional representation and statewide performance berths be assigned?
- How many athletes and teams would advance to each state championship?
- Where would additional races or meet sessions be staged, and how much would they cost?
- How would records, All Ohio awards, podium places, and historical title counts be handled?
- Would Ohio add a Meet of Champions after the separate category tournaments?
The bottom line
The petition has raised a legitimate question that Ohio schools have debated for decades. Public and nonpublic institutions are not identical. Neither are all public schools, all private schools, all divisions, or all regions.
The three year record in running sports points away from easy conclusions. Nonpublic programs are not dominating the statewide outcomes reviewed here. Their presence is nevertheless much heavier in some smaller divisions, and state results cannot reveal every lost opportunity at districts and regionals.
The finish line can be divided with one vote. Building two credible roads to reach it will be the harder part.
If principals are asked to separate championships, they should know the fields, routes, schedules, costs, and definitions they are creating.
Methodology
Podium Watch reviewed official OHSAA cross country state results from 2023 through 2025 and track state qualifier and final result files from 2024 through 2026. Cross country state starters are individuals listed in state results. All Ohio means a top 24 finish. Full team qualifiers and team results were counted separately. Track event entries count each athlete or relay in each event, not unique athletes. Scoring places are first through eighth, with ties preserved.
School category was assigned using the petition definition reported by WCPO. Community, charter, and STEM schools were counted as public. School names were checked against the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce nonpublic directory and OHSAA divisional lists. The review excludes seated track events because the petition has not described how seated competition would be classified.
Sources
- WCPO report on the proposed public and nonpublic tournament split
- OHSAA announcement expanding cross country and track divisions
- OHSAA 2025 cross country state tournament coverage
- OHSAA 2024 track and field state tournament coverage
- OHSAA 2025 track and field state tournament coverage
- OHSAA 2026 track and field state tournament coverage
- OHSAA 2026 cross country divisional lists
- OHSAA competitive balance information
- Ohio nonpublic school enrollment directory
- New Jersey cross country tournament structure
- Tennessee track and field championship classifications
Podium Watch independently produced this report. The OHSAA logo is used for editorial identification. This is not an OHSAA publication or endorsement.
