A move to allow cross country teams to run in regional meets is tabled.

ROCKPORT – The sport of gymnastics took a tumble Thursday while hopes of cross country teams participating in the New England Championships have some miles to go yet.

The Maine Principals’ Association voted to eliminate gymnastics from its roster during the Interscholastic Business Meeting at the Spring Conference at the Samoset Resort.

A proposal to permit cross country teams to compete in regional competition was sent back for review and a recommendation. Therefore, teams won’t be able to compete in the New England Championships next year. The Interscholastic Management Committee will likely offer a recommendation on the proposal at the Fall Conference in November.

“The (cross country) committee hoped it would pass,” said Jennifer Vitiello, the assistant principal at Westbrook and chairperson of the cross country committee. “The committee is behind it. We brought this forward two years ago and three of the four current members were here before. We put it forth before and thought it would pass this time. We thought it would be close, but we thought it would pass.”

Individual runners are currently permitted to compete. Thursday’s proposal would allow teams to compete in sports in which the Council of New England Secondary School Principal’s Association sponsor team competition. That currently includes cross country and gymnastics. Cheerleading may be added to that list next month.

Since cross country is the only sport that would effect Maine teams, at this time, Thursday’s proposal specified that six teams would be able to attend. The state champions in four classes would qualify and have the option to compete. Whatever remaining spots are available will be determined by recalculating team totals from the state meet. The proposal stipulated that qualifying procedures would be adjusted by the Interscholastic Management Committee depending on the needs of a specific sport.

That proposal, however, was never voted on during Thursday’s meeting, which barely had the needed minimum of 40 voting members. Many questioned the financing of these teams should a squad qualify and not have the money budgeted. Extending the sport season an extra week was also a concern. The Interscholastic Management Committee, a group of nine principals and assistant principals and a handful of liaisons, had differing opinions on the proposal. That also hindered approval this time around.

“If the committee does more research and comes back and says We’re looking at this and this is how it fits,’ I could be in favor of it,” said Dave Wing, principal at Leavitt. “I really count on the committee structure and people who have looked into it. I’m on the field hockey committee, and when I tell them This is what the field hockey committee believes’, I expect them to support us because we’ve done our homework. When the committee doesn’t have a recommendation, it makes me nervous.”

The hockey committee’s recommendation to change the venue for the hockey regional championships was approved. The Eastern and Western A championship games will be at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland while the Class B regional finals will be in Lewiston.

“Both of these are being done for accommodation to the crowds that we’ve had and for ticket sales, presales, parking and better venues,” said Mike Haley, chairman of the hockey committee and assistant principal at Leavitt.

A change in cheerleading venues was also approved. The Eastern A event will be moved from Bangor to Augusta and join the Western B and C competitions. Western A will be held at the Portland Expo on a different evening. Eastern B and C and the overall D meet will remain in Bangor. This moves makes the competitions less congested and shortens the number of hours for the teams competing.

Because the morning session ran out of time, the final three committee reports – track, volleyball and wrestling – were tabled.