Major change ahead for Narrows League?
Everything old about the Narrows League could become new again.
Forty-eight high school principals, athletic directors and superintendents from school districts in Pierce, Thurston and Kitsap counties crammed into a meeting room at Bellarmine Prep on Thursday night to discuss possible changes to the league.
Discussed modifications include becoming a mixed-classification 3A/4A league with the addition of schools, many of which are former members of the Narrows League.
No final decisions were made at the meeting, but it appears imminent that the Narrows League will become a 3A/4A league.
“There is a high probability that it will be a multi-classification league,” said South Kitsap athletic director Ed Santos, head of the league’s realignment committee.
Tacoma School District superintendent Art Jarvis indicated that city schools would leave the league if it did not include multiple classifications.
“If the Narrows League decided they wanted to be 4A, we could very gracefully do something different in Tacoma,” he said. “What that would look like, who knows?”
Of the 11 schools in the Narrows League, four – Bellarmine Prep, Gig Harbor, Lincoln and Wilson – currently “opt up” to 4A, though that figure is expected to be larger when schools are reclassified in December.
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association reclassifies schools every two years based on their enrollment of students in grades 10 through 12.
Santos said the objective of the meeting was to begin discussing options so the league is prepared before the two-year enrollment cycle ends in December. When the last cycle hit in December 2007, schools were left scrambling to find a league to play in.
“The purpose of this meeting was to have an open and frank dialogue about what the Narrows League might possibly look like after the next enrollment cycle,” Santos said.
Among those in attendance were representatives from each of the Narrows League schools and their districts, plus officials from the Bethel, Clover Park, Franklin Pierce, North Kitsap, North Thurston and Yelm school districts. Some Olympic League schools were also invited.
There was no discussion regarding putting a cap on the number of Narrows League schools or what possible division alignments would be, Bellarmine Prep athletic director Ed Ploof said.
“The only detail we got into was, would we align teams based on classification or geographic region?” he said. “And we didn’t even get into that much. This was a very preliminary meeting.”
A multi-classification league offers a few immediate benefits. The first is that competition will be more equitable for Narrows League schools as they pursue postseason play – they will play against schools with similar enrollment totals – and schools will not have to find a new league if they bump between 4A and 3A every two years, allowing them to maintain traditional rivalries. That consistency and the likelihood of reduced travel expenses are viable selling points for Jarvis.
“What we’ve been seeing the last few years is that more and more schools are changing classifications,” he said. “One of the ways to create stability is a multi-classification league. We also have to look at the economies and efficiencies of excess travel.”
Santos stressed that the Narrows League was not looking to poach schools from other leagues. In fact, many South Puget Sound League schools were invited to sit in on the meeting.
“We are looking out for the West Central District schools,” he said. “We want everybody to have enough time to do what’s best for them.”
Doug Pacey: 253-597-8271
blogs.thenewstribune.com/preps
