By 
First year commissioner of the CIF-San Diego Section, Jerry Schniepp, has successfully engineered the creation of a new Open Division in which the top eight high school teams will annually compete for the section championship regardless of enrollment. A voice vote by the section Board of Managers on January 23 was overwhelmingly in favor of the plan.
As reported in East County Sports, the eight teams will be selected by a yet-to-be determined formula that will measure “strength of program.” The system is to be put in place as early as this spring for the section baseball season.
Boys’ water polo will begin competition under the new rules this coming fall.
The format change is the most significant since the section created two enrollment-based water polo divisions in 1990. Prior to then all teams competed for a single championship, the first of which was held in 1967. In 2010 a third division was created to account for an increase in the number of section schools and water polo participants. The new Open Division will not replace existing divisions, which will continue to be organized based on enrollment. It is not known whether the section will maintain all three current enrollment-based divisions for water polo in addition to the open one.
While the plan has met with criticism from football and baseball coaches, it could appeal to county water polo fans who want the championships to include all the teams widely acknowledged to be the best in the area. Those teams might include well known boys and girls teams such as Coronado, The Bishop’s School, Carlsbad, Cathedral Catholic (formerly USDHS), Vista, and La Jolla.
