The leagues, they are a changin’

It’s looking more and more like a brand new Class 2A conference will shake up the local small schools landscape starting next fall.

Athletic directors are discussing the possibility of forming a new, seven-team league comprised of schools that currently belong to three separate conferences.

An official decision could come any day.

Class 1A private schools Archbishop Thomas Murphy of Everett and Shoreline-based King’s are leaning towards opting up next year and joining the new 2A league, which reportedly will either be known as the Cascade Conference or the Cascade League.

Rounding out the league would be North Cascades Conference 2A schools Granite Falls, Lakewood, South Whidbey and Sultan, along with Kingco 3A member Cedarcrest.

For King’s, the change will revive some old rivalries and allow a budding relationship with Archbishop Murphy to sprout.

King’s competed in the North Cascades Conference for several years when it was a mix of 1A and 2A schools, until joining the Chinook League in 1999.

But with the apparent crumbling of the Chinook League — league powers Bellevue Christian and Seattle Christian are supposedly headed to the Emerald City 1A League in 2004-05 — King’s was going to be searching for a new home.

The school’s options were to remain 1A and seek membership with the Northwest 1A League, or bump up a classification. A recent in-house vote amongst coaches of whether or not to stay 1A was almost a 50-50 split, according to King’s football coach Jim Shapiro.

“We’ll be one of the smaller 2A schools,” Shapiro said. “We can handle that in some sports, but it’s going to have more of an impact on others.”

Travel costs are one of the main drivers behind the formation of the new league. Shapiro said if King’s were to join the Northwest 1A League, their current travel expenses would triple.

The addition of a few sports programs will likely accompany King’s jump to the 2A level. The school currently does not offer soccer, swimming, tennis, baseball or softball.

“We’d have to look at our facilities and see what sports we could add,” said Shapiro, who oversees fund-raising for CRISTA, a family of 10 ministries that includes King’s Schools.

Archbishop Murphy athletic director/football coach Terry Ennis also sees significant benefits to the new league, especially in cutting down on time away from school and in travel costs.

“We haven’t really put a dollar amount on it,” he said. “It will be substantial.”

Another benefit of the new league is that parents will have better opportunities to attend their children’s events since they will be held closer to home.

“I think everyone likes the idea,” Ennis said. “It just will be easier on a lot of people.”

With an enrollment of 237 students in grades 10-12, Archbishop Murphy won’t have anywhere the numbers of the other 2A schools, which range from 301-600 students.

But Ennis nevertheless feels his teams will be able to adapt.

“I think everyone knows that the competition is going to be a little greater week in and week out,” Ennis said. “Everyone thinks the teams will benefit. The coaches were unanimous … they thought it would be in our best interests.”

In recent years, ATM’s boys and girls soccer teams have dominated their Northwest 1A League counterparts to such a point where the Wildcats “weren’t necessarily growing as a team,” Ennis said.

Other sports that aren’t emphasized by the Northwest 1A League, such as track and cross country, also figure to profit in the new league.

A few of the proposed teams are familiar to Archbishop Murphy.

“We’ve competed with Sultan, Granite Falls and Lakewood,” Ennis said. “I think there will be good rivalries established.”

Charlie Laughtland and David Pan cover sports for The Enterprise Newspapers. Questions and comments may be sent by e-mail to entsports@heraldnet.com, by fax to 425-774-8622 or by mail to Sports editor, The Enterprise, 4303 198th St. SW., Lynnwood, WA 98036.