WPIAL Drops Team Playoffs in 2027

In the spring of 2027, however, some battles for team supremacy in the WPIAL will take on a more individualistic slant as District 7 officials recently notified member schools that the unique and decades-old track and field team playoffs had been discontinued.

On Aug. 25, the WPIAL e-mailed schools the spring sports sectional alignments for the 2026-27 and '27-28 school years. The correspondence noted that schedules for track and field would be released a week later on Sept. 1.

A memo dated Aug. 26 and posted on the WPIAL website detailing the upcoming season's schedule states in bold capital letters: "THERE WILL NOT BE A SEPERATE TEAM BRACKET AND CHAMPIONSHIP THIS YEAR. THE WPIAL TEAM CHAMPIONS WILL BE DETERMINED AT THE INDIVIDAL (sp) CHAMPIONSHIPS ON MAY 19, 2027, AT SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY."

However, the following paragraph also states in bold: "After regular season competition, teams and individual competitors will compete in their assigned PIAA classification for all postseason events. In the event of a tie for section champion or a place in the team tournament, head-to-head competition will be the first determining factor."

WPIAL: Schools had requested change

WPIAL Executive Director Vince Sortino said the decision to remove the team playoffs from the 2027 WPIAL track season came with the "overwhelming support of the (steering) committee" and that WPIAL schools "have been asking for it." Sortino added that the decision could be reversed in the future, possibly after just one year.

"We'll see how it goes," Sortino said of the change in the look of the WPIAL-dictated dual meet season, which had included the team playoffs since 1984.

Sortino did not indicate if a recorded vote of the steering committee, which uses its members' sports-specific knowledge to direct track and cross country efforts in District 7, was conducted virtually or in person. Chaired by Sortino, the 11-member panel includes current teachers, coaches and administrators, along with an adjunct member and longtime track official.

Several members of the committee who spoke on condition of anonymity said "casual conversations" occurred, but they were not asked to vote on the future of the team playoffs. A number of coaches whose programs have been regular qualifiers to the WPIAL team playoffs were surprised by the decision, both that it occurred and how the change was communicated to those in the sport.

"It's pretty shocking that the WPIAL would eliminate the track and field team playoff opportunities for 32 boys teams and 32 girls teams," said John Williams, Butler's girls coach. "That is almost 2,000 student-athletes that will miss out on the playoff experience. You would think that they would know their schools and get feedback prior to just pulling the plug. The majority of track and field people we have spoken to had no knowledge of this arbitrary cut of the playoffs."

 Williams also noted the WPIAL's continued focus on sectional alignments and scheduling dual meets between schools with no "reward for winning the section."

 "We typically don't keep track section titles, we train and plan our team portion of the season to include competing for the WPIAL team title, and we mean a true team title, not a few exceptional athletes that can score a bunch of invitational style points," he said. "The WPIAL team playoffs are one of the best things going for the student-athletes in western PA. It gives so many athletes the playoff experience and the chance to make lifelong memories with their teammates."

Modified scoring system possible in '27

In terms of deciding the 2027 team champions at the meet where the WPIAL's individual and relay winners are crowned, Sortino noted that tweaks could be made to the standard eight-place scoring system used in invitationals and the PIAA state meet. He said other states have developed a system but did not identify those other state federations.

Contacted last week, Director of Sports Julie Cochran of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) said she did not know of any states utilizing scoring systems other than the standard 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 points system to determine a state champion.

"A true team title is one team against another team covering all 18 events, first team to 76 points or 75.5 wins," Butler's Mike Seybert said of the playoff format that has rewarded more than 25 boys and 25 girls programs WPIAL team championships since 1984. "The excitement each team experiences trying to add any form of points to their team total is huge... Every athlete matters! It's a bond that makes a true team. Relays and true team playoffs are the two main reasons I've stayed coaching for 42 years. It represents a school's program!"

Other WPIAL coaches who spoke with PA MileSplit like the all-encompassing nature of the WPIAL team playoffs and were disappointed to learn of the change. A unique feature of District 7, the team playoffs include each section's top two teams based on dual meet record, with these teams entering as many as two athletes in individual events and one relay team per event in a semifinal meet and then potentially a championship scored as dual meets.

"I'm very disappointed that the WPIAL playoffs for track and field are being removed, if that's the case," Brian Fleckenstein, assistant track and head XC coach at Norwin, said. "I think it's been a very good thing for our program, and I think all of the programs that are consistently in the finals can agree that the best part of track and field is the playoffs when it's truly a team event.

"The state meet is not a true team champion. The only way to have a true team champion is to have every athlete in an event compete head to head. I know there are ways to simplify the system if they were trying to clean it up a little bit, but to just eliminate is truly disappointing and I think it's going to hurt the team aspect of the sport."

Fleckenstein said coaches of schools and programs pursuing district team honors likely will encounter "tough decisions to make with athletes in regard to either qualifying for the state meet or trying to push for the team title as it'll be tough to do both without sacrificing state qualifiers, possibly."