Denver Post high school sports editor Neil Devlin posts his high school sports mailbag during the high school season.

In this installment of our prep mailbag, Neil tackles four questions, including one about Valor Christian's move to Class 5A in football this season.

Keep an eye out for our next installment. Send your Q's in an email to Be sure to include your name and hometown.

Neil, now that we're in the final four for football, do you think Valor's move to 5A was good for the sport? It seems 4A has been much more competitive this year, and 5A has also been awesome.
— Craig, Littleton

Yo, Craig: Indeed, I do think it was good and it should have happened a year ago. I firmly believe that Mullen, Regis Jesuit and Valor should play 5A in everything. They are more than capable. And, yes, 4A has been really competitive and 5A arguably has had the deepest field I've seen in years.

The competitive nature presented has been good for everyone. They all feel like they had a chance. The games have been good and people have been following. It couldn't have been much better.

Neil, from what I understand, Valor Christian is not in a football league. So, how did Valor qualify for the playoffs?
— Steve, Arvada

Yo, Steve: You are correct. Valor isn't in a league because a year ago, the Eagles were put into one for the first year of a new two-year cycle, but the Pioneer League voted them out because of recruiting claims and such, including having probems with private schools. It's a long story. Hence, the Eagles played a 2012 schedule against Pioneer foes, but none of the league games counted in the league standings. I know, it was strange.

And yet, the CHSAA opted to keep them playoff-eligible. It's about to come up again, all of that stuff surrounding the school, as Valor will face ThunderRidge, which also is in Highlands Ranch. Ultimately, the CHSAA isn't big on penalizing kids for transgressions of adults. A lot of the players at Valor are good kids and I worry about them hearing so much negativity from adults.

Hi Neil, My question is: why do I occasionally see a school playing in a lower classification than their enrollment is likely to merit? Is it because of years and years of sheer futility, at which point CHSAA says "OK, let's see how you do against smaller schools"? Are classification adjustments in general initiated by the school itself or by CHSAA?
— David, Denver

Yo, David: There are a couple of reasons. First, football has different enrollment numbers than any other sport, and it's why you see, say, Dakota Ridge, Green Mountain, Loveland and Monarch playing 4A football and 5A in everything else. Second, while the enrollment numbers almost universally dictate where a school plays, CHSAA officials can respond to petitions when schools wish to play down if a program is stuggling.

And, remember, most of what the CHSAA does is comprised of boards consisting of school members. If something occurs, more than likely it was handled by a panel of school representatives.

Neil, I saw your column about Missy Franklin, and how it should be her choice to swim for Regis. Why would anyone not want her to swim for her high school?
— Sarah, Aurora

Yo, Sarah: I'm with you, but, unfortunately, we have jealous, envious, petty folks out there. For some reason, they worry that Missy is too good; she'll be taking a spot away from someone else; the good kids have no chance aganst her; she's an Olympian, so why is she swimming againster highschoolers? and so on. However, I believe she should have the right to say if she wants to swim. And I think she does and she will.

A year ago, her family took some crap for her swimming with Regis and they've become understandably sensitive. All I was saying in the column was that she has worked hard to remain a young lady despite winning five Olympic Medals and she genuinely enjoys the school experience, as evidenced by her choosing to not go pro and attend Cal-Berkely.

If she wants to swim and enjoy her final year of high school swimming with her friends — many of whom swim with her and against her, and have no problem with her participating in preps — then she should be allowed to do just that. Other girls can say that they were able to swim with and against a big-time Olympian. And I stand firmly that Missy swimming with Regis is wonderful for our level.