Cedarcrest ‘happy to be a part of’ Wesco
Published 1:30 am Thursday, July 12, 2018
DUVALL — Cedarcrest High School has joined Archbishop Murphy High School as the newest members of Wesco 3A for non-football sports.
Both schools were searching for new homes after their previous league, the Cascade Conference, voted this past December to dissolve at the end of the school year.
Wesco initially rejected both schools’ applications. After Archbishop Murphy reached an agreement to join the conference following an appeal to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, Wesco reconsidered Cedarcrest’s application and invited the public school from Duvall. Cedarcrest accepted the invitation in early February.
“Cedarcrest is happy to be a part of the Wesco conference,” Red Wolves athletic director Jason Frederick said. “It’s a great group of athletic directors that I’ve met and already started working with. I think still being a part of District 1 — what we’re familiar with — is good for our coaches and kids.”
Wesco 3A now includes 15 schools for non-football sports: Archbishop Murphy, Arlington, Cedarcrest, Edmonds-Woodway, Everett, Lynnwood, Marysville Getchell, Marysville Pilchuck, Meadowdale, Mountlake Terrace, Oak Harbor, Shorecrest, Shorewood, Snohomish and Stanwood.
Cedarcrest, Archbishop Murphy and Mountlake Terrace are the only Class 2A schools in the multi-classification league. Wesco 3A will be a jump in competition level for Cedarcrest and Archbishop Murphy, who were competing against five 1A-sized schools in the multi-classification Cascade Conference.
“It definitely will be a change,” Frederick said. “It’s going to be different than playing Cascade Conference schools, but I believe our kids and coaches will work hard and rise to the occasion to put competitive, positive teams out there.”
Cedarcrest will play football in the Northwest District’s newly formed 2A football league. The district recently created a two-tiered system for its 2A football programs to improve competitive balance and help struggling teams.
Cedarcrest’s football team will compete in the lower “Lake” division with Anacortes, Bellingham, Blaine, Mountlake Terrace and Sehome. The upper “Sky” division will include Archbishop Murphy, Burlington-Edison, Lakewood, Lynden and Sedro-Woolley.
“There’s a lot of teams and schools out there that are struggling,” Frederick said, “and this is the way to kind of keep kids involved in football, keep things positive and give kids an opportunity every Friday night where it can be a competitive, level playing field.”
In addition to Wesco, Frederick said Cedarcrest also considered the Northwest Conference and KingCo 3A/2A league.
Cedarcrest decided not to apply to the Northwest Conference, Frederick said, because of the long distances teams would have to travel for road games in Skagit and Whatcom counties.
One of the biggest drawbacks to joining KingCo, Frederick said, was that the league told Cedarcrest it would have to play a KingCo football schedule instead of competing in the newly formed district-wide 2A league. Frederick said that wouldn’t have been ideal given Cedarcrest’s enrollment.
According to the WIAA’s average enrollment data for the 2016-2020 classification cycle, Cedarcrest has an estimated enrollment of 716 students, less than all seven current KingCo 3A/2A members. Five of the league’s members are 3A schools with enrollments of 1,075 students or more.
Frederick said another drawback to joining KingCo is that the move could’ve resulted in a switch to the Sea-King District, and Cedarcrest preferred to remain in the Northwest District. Joining KingCo also would’ve meant moving boys golf from the spring to the fall, a move which Frederick said could’ve forced golfers to make a choice between sports.
“Between Wesco and KingCo, we looked at options in both,” Frederick said. “We’ve been a part of District 1, worked with a lot of the Wesco athletic directors over the years and felt as a school that Wesco would be a great place for us to join and still be a part of District 1. We felt Wesco was a better fit for us.”
Cedarcrest was a member of the Cascade Conference for the entirety of the league’s existence — from its inception in 2004 through this past school year.
In December, five of the Cascade Conference’s seven schools — Cedar Park Christian, Granite Falls, King’s, South Whidbey and Sultan — announced plans to form a new 1A league called the North Sound Conference that begins play this fall. Coupeville has since joined the new league.
That left the Cascade Conference’s remaining members — 2A schools Cedarcrest and Archbishop Murphy — needing to find a new home.
Archbishop Murphy appealed Wesco’s initial rejection to the Northwest District Board — which upheld Wesco’s decision — and then to the WIAA. After officials from Archbishop Murphy and Wesco spoke in front of the WIAA District Directors Appeals Board, the two sides agreed to conditions of membership for the remaining two years of the state’s four-year classification cycle.
It’s believed Archbishop Murphy is the first private school to join Wesco since Seattle Prep and Bishop Blanchet left the league in the 1970s.
Frederick said the addition of Archbishop Murphy opened the door for Wesco to reconsider Cedarcrest’s application and invite the Red Wolves.
“We just kind of rode it out and waited to see what was going to happen with Archbishop Murphy,” he said.
Frederick said Wesco will re-evaluate Cedarcrest’s membership in two years when the current classification cycle ends.
“As of right now,” he said, “we’re planning on this being our home for the future.”
