1 May 2013
by Isaiah Murtaugh, Sports Editor
YEAR’S END: As the final spring sports seasons come to a close, so does Poly’s first year in the Inland Valley League. Was the switch a good idea?
The idea behind moving to the Inland Valley League (IVL) was simple. Moving from the absurdly competitive Big VIII League (in which Poly averaged a 4th place finish in 2010-11) to the IVL would guarantee competitions at closer venues (most IVL schools are in Moreno Valley as opposed to the Big VIII’s Corona schools) and, probably, a much higher win percentage across the board for Poly High sports.
After a year of competition in the new league, Poly’s success has been off the charts. This year, teams won outright titles in volleyball, boys’ water polo, girls’ golf, boys’ soccer, girls’ soccer, girls’ water polo, boys’ golf and boys’ track, tied for a league title in boys’ cross country and are currently in good position to win titles in baseball, softball and girls’ swim. Boys’ soccer and boys’ track both went undefeated in the regular season, while volleyball and boys’ and girls’ water polo never lost a league game. Girls’ water polo made it all the way to CIF finals, and several other teams advanced deep into the CIF playoffs.
So was the year a success? If you simply look at the goals, yes. Poly dominated in what was, outside of marquee sports like football and boys’ basketball, a much weaker league than the Big VIII. But is that a good thing? Everyone likes to win, but when every game and meet is predestined to be a blowout, it saps the competition out of the game. It is impossible to accurately judge the success of a sport when the only examples are against sub-par competition.
If the NBA’s Miami Heat played all its games against college basketball teams, no one would watch the games and no one would actually think they were a good team because they never would be tested. Poly’s situation this year has been similar.
So is there a solution? Next year, no. The CIF southern section goes through a re-leagueing process every two years, so the next chance to join a different league will be before the 2014-2015 school year. At that point, I’d love to see some sort of Riverside city league. It would mean even closer games, huge rivalries every week and competition proportional to the talent at Poly. Will that happen? We’ll have to wait and see.