Western Conference shuffles its lineup
Published 10:10 pm Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Big changes are coming to the Western Conference.
Starting next school year, in fall 2010, the conference will align in three divisions — Class 4A North, Class 4A South and Class 3A — for 10 sports, Wesco athletic directors decided Wednesday at a meeting in Everett.
The new alignments cover football, volleyball, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, wrestling and tennis, said Greg Erickson, Marysville School District athletic director and Wesco president. He added that cross country, golf, swimming and track likely will continue to have mixed-classification (4A/3A) divisions.
“We are at just the very earliest of stages. We are on training wheels at this point,” Erickson said, noting conference athletic directors are still working on game scheduling and new postseason qualification scenarios.
The Class 4A North Division will be comprised of Arlington, Lake Stevens, Marysville-Pilchuck, Monroe, Snohomish and Stanwood.
Making up the 4A South Division will be Cascade, Edmonds-Woodway, Jackson, Kamiak and Mariner.
The 3A Division has Everett, Glacier Peak, Lynnwood, Meadowdale, Mountlake Terrace, Oak Harbor, Shorecrest and Shorewood.
The division alignment changes are linked to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s reclassification process, which happens every two years. Based on enrollment counts, Wesco schools Mountlake Terrace, Oak Harbor and Shorewood will drop to 3A from 4A — the WIAA classification for the state’s biggest schools.
That gives Wesco eight 3A schools, enough that athletic directors — after seeking feedback from coaches — decided to create an all-3A division for every team sport. Currently, the only team sport that has a separate Wesco 3A division is football.
“It pretty much was a consensus to do what we’re doing, from all schools,” said Erickson, who estimated that 90 percent of Wesco athletic directors voted for the changes.
Travel costs, traditional rivalries and out-of-class time were all major factors in the decision, in addition to reclassification results, Erickson said.
The number of 3A schools in Wesco will increase the next few years. Marysville-Getchell, which opens next fall but won’t have varsity teams until 2011-2012, will start as a 3A, Erickson said. And Marysville-Pilchuck could eventually drop from 4A to 3A, he said.
Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.
