Andrean = Crown Point North?

A USA-365.com Special Commentary by Mark Smith

7-4-2005

CROWN POINT (7-4-2005) I 'm not so clueless that I don't understand the bone of contention that often arises when Andrean and Crown Point high schools are used in the same sentence.

It's not like Hanover Central and Lowell, who consider themselves rivals when, to outsiders, they are two peas in the same pod.

Truthfully, Hanover is Lowell. Much of where Hanover Central draws from is the 'old' Lowell school district. Competitiveness between the two is like two twins arguing about which one is better looking.

But Andrean has always had students that lived in Crown Point. And when it came to athletics, Crown Point people have always wondered how well they could have done if they'd have had all the CP natives who attended Andrean.

Star players like Tim and Jamie Gutowski, Billy, Bobby and Tommy Finn and Shane Power all, at one time, lived in the CP schools district.

The latest is probably softball star Lori Knopf (21-1), who helped boost the 59ers to the state finals while CP had a sub. 500 record.

It's a little like the old Arab-Israeli conflict where the Arabs never recognized Israel's right to exist while Israel never acknowledged their homeland as being Arab land.

We're talking largely about boys sports here. One thing that becomes obvious is that girls teams in the South Lake County area win far more than boys teams.

In my 10 years here, Andrean, Lake Central and Hanover Central softball have reached the state finals 11 times. CP (1997) and LC (1995, 1998) have been to the girls state finals in basketball. Just this year, gymnastics reached the finals. Hanover and Lowell have been to the semi state in girls basketball in the last 10 years.

The only boys teams in this area that has reached the state finals in basketball in the last decade are Merrillville and Andrean. The only football state finals' teams from the South Lake County area in the last 10 years is Andrean.

Baseball? Boone Grove once. Lake Central twice. But mostly Andrean.

The girls sports success, I believe, can be directly attributed to the long-standing and prolific nature of the girls basketball program at Crown Point. The majority of girls in that program do not end up playing for coach Tom May. But like Little League baseball is the launching pad for boys in most sports, May's Lady Bulldog basketball success, beginning 20 years ago, quickly followed with success at neighbor Lake Central, boosted all female athletic efforts at Hanover, Boone Grove and Lowell, simply by introducing more girls to the sport. Andrean, which draws largely from the LC and CP school districts, also benefited.

But Andrean's state finals victory last month inadvertently highlights a point. For the last three years, Andrean has reached the state finals. In the last three years, Crown Point's won-loss record in baseball is 61-33. Lake Central won the Duneland Athletic Conference in 2005 and reached the state finals in 2004. Andrean reached the state title game in both years. CP and LC met for the regional title in 2003, the same year Andrean went to the state finals.

The point is, Andrean doesn't hurt Crown Point athletics on balance.

I'm 100% against vouchers for private schools and you should be, too. It would make them defacto public schools with no controls or publicly-agreed upon guidelines. If you aren't worried about that, maybe you want to send big Buster and little Bessie Sue to the 'Tom Cruise school of Scientology.' If a voucher would send a kid to Andrean, it would also legally have to be allowed to send an otherwise normal kid to Liberal Lunatic Actor Tech. Plus, as a tax payer, I won't pay for public schools and then also pay to send public school students to private schools, crippling the public schools I just funded with my other hand. But public schools can't really consider any student within their boundaries as 'their' students. That denies them the right to go anywhere they want to.

From a CP standpoint, forget that the Gutowskis are relatives of Andrean baseball coach Dave Pishkur and, short of Andrean closing, weren't ever coming to CPHS. Just like the success of CP's girls basketball programs bleeds over into other neighbor schools, bumping up the total girl pool, the success of Andrean baseball and football inspires boys who will eventually play for CP. With a $64 million dollar, brand new CPHS now sitting at the south end of Crown Point, I cannot believe that any family, which wasn't previously inclined that way, would send their kid to Andrean just because the 59er ball teams win. Parents can do strange things, but not when a $4,000 tuition is involved. But again, I'm not naive. CP and Andrean compete for athletes.

Andrean must request/requisition/recruit kids from Crown Point to come to their school. If they don't they won't exist. That's what private schools do. CP people are correct as saying that they are at a competitive disadvantage against schools like Valparaiso and Portage who do not have a private school neighbor.

But people like Andrean softball coach Frank Podkul are correct, when they say that, a Crown Point native can pay to go to Valparaiso and it will cost less than tuition at Andrean. If the 59ers have successful programs which attract students to the school, that, in a private school world, is the natural order of things.

Here's some more truth. If Andrean closed tomorrow, there wouldn't be enough room in Lake Central for all the kids. Even the new Crown Point will be at capacity soon. As NW Indiana and south suburban Chicago residents continue to migrate south, all South Lake County schools can look for new fresh faces at the door.

Andrean actually should be in Crown Point. They draw most students from the Tri-Town and CP areas. The Andrean connection to Merrillville is in another era. And I have a sneaky suspicion that if Andrean doesn't move south with the population, Bishop Noll will. There's no anchor that's tying the rapidly shrinking Noll to the north end of Hammond. The 59ers are landlocked where they are and the next Catholic school to the South of Ridge Road is Lafayette Catholic. Andrean in Crown Point would have 1,200 students.

And Crown Point, as a city, should be okay with that. Nobody says it out loud, but CPHS is eventually going to have almost 2,500 students unless something changes dramatically about the South Lake County area in the next 20 years. Crown Point appears to be growing at a rate which should be alarming to city planners. Not only could Andrean offer the town an educational alternative within walking distance and keep CPHS from busting at the seams. But I think CP should actually use Andrean's athletic excellence to both sides' mutual benefit. IF CP ever has a basketball tournament again, I would hope that Andrean would be invited because that will bring in lots of fans. The same is true of baseball. IF CP football ever needs a 10^th game, I would hope Andrean would be considered. Use the 59ers excellence instead of feuding with them. CP, now that they have a 21^st Century school building, can be proud enough of their product to stand next to Andrean and still stand tall. Cash in on the 59ers affluence at the box office while the 59ers compete in a separate class of state playoffs and cannot eliminate CP once the state tournament starts.

There's plenty of students for both CP and Andrean and, with both schools' futures so bright that shades should be standard issue,
why not make the Bulldogs-59ers the most top-level and profitable athletic rivalry in NW Indiana? Then they could see each other as two dogs on the same sled instead of two horses in the same race.

It's okay for CP to see Andrean as Crown Point North. As long as they know the south's gonna rise again.

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