What I said in this Department on July 7 was that the National Games were a contest among "teams from leagues," and not among "teams from schools," and that therefore the question of school supremacy did not enter into the discussion. Further, I added that the only way the title of "Champion School" could be secured by Hartford would be for her to have dual meets with all other schools of her class. I should have added that another way for Hartford to earn the title of "Champion School" would be to hold a large interscholastic field-day, at which teams representing individual schools--not teams representing leagues or associations--should compete.
At any track-athletic meeting where teams of athletes represent certain units, the team winning the greatest number of points becomes the victorious unit, and the athletes who aided in piling up these points, as representatives of that unit, are of no importance whatever so far as they can claim any relation to the other athletes who strove as representatives for the rival or defeated units. The Connecticut High-School A.A. is made up of a number of units--schools. Each unit sent a team to New Haven on June 6 to the annual field-meeting of the association. The athletes who came from the Hartford High-School piled up the greatest score: therefore the Hartford High-School is the champion of that association. It seems to me that this must be perfectly clear, and I do not understand how any one can logically deduce anything else.
But, supposing a majority of this point-winners for the Hartford High-School on that day were members of the class of '96--as they probably were--have they any claim to the title of "Champion Class" of the State or of the association? Certainly not. The games at New Haven were not "class" games; they were "school" games, and nobody knew or cared to what class the winning athletes belonged. In the same way it was of no importance whatever, so far as the championship was concerned, to what school the point-winners in the National Games belonged. These games were held among associations, and the association that scored the greatest number of points became the champion association for the year.
In the case of the Connecticut Association it happened that the greatest number of point-winners were members of the Hartford High-School. This may justly be a source of pride for Hartford, and for all the members of the High-School, but it is not a matter to interest the National Association, nor is it a matter for the National Association to take any cognizance of.
