If things go as planned, the venerable Narrows League will be shrinking next school year while the South Puget Sound League will enjoy a five-team growth spurt.
After a meeting of Narrows League administrators earlier this week, Class 4A high schools Bellarmine Prep, Central Kitsap, Gig Harbor, Olympia and South Kitsap will apply for admission into the South Puget Sound League.
The schools will submit applications by Monday, according to David Beil, director of community relations for the Central Kitsap School District.
If accepted, the schools would begin play in the 2012-13 school year.
“We haven’t been accepted yet, but I’m excited about the possibility,” Olympia football coach Bill Beattie said. “The SPSL has some great schools, a strong tradition and a lot of great teams.”
The SPSL’s deadline to apply for membership is Jan. 1, and principals at SPSL schools would then vote to approve or deny admission. No schools have yet submitted applications to join the league, said Rick Wells, president of SPSL athletic directors.
Already the largest league in the state, the move would push the SPSL to 23 Class 4A schools. That’s not ideal, but some athletic directors don’t see other options.
“Best-case scenario is the conference stays as is,” Auburn School District athletic director Rob Swaim said of the SPSL. “But if some things happen, we’ve got to help out our brethren.”
League realignment is happening now because this is the final year of a two-year enrollment cycle. Enrollment counts for the 2012-14 cycle will be released by the WIAA next week, and those figures will determine in which classification schools will compete.
Should the five 4A schools apply and become members, the SPSL would have to decide how to break the 23 schools into divisions. Currently, the SPSL has two nine-team divisions – SPSL North and SPSL South – for most sports. There are three six-team divisions for tennis, swimming, golf and track and field.
Swaim said one idea floated by administrators features three divisions, with Kentwood, Kentlake, Kentridge, Kent-Meridian, Auburn, Auburn Riverside, Mount Rainier and Tahoma in the North Division; Puyallup, Rogers, Emerald Ridge, Bethel, Spanaway Lake, Graham-Kapowsin and Curtis in the South Division; and Federal Way, Beamer, Jefferson, Bellarmine Prep, Central Kitsap, Gig Harbor, South Kitsap and Olympia in the Bridge Division.
Wells said it’s also possible that the league could break into four divisions, but stressed nothing has been finalized.
He said he expects realignment to be a topic at the league’s monthly athletic directors meeting, scheduled for Dec. 8.
“Bigger is not always better, and that’s the viewpoint some of our ADs have,” Wells said, citing potential travel costs and larger postseason tournaments.
“The other side of that, Olympia, South Kitsap, Bellarmine, Central Kitsap and Gig Harbor, they bring some tough competition and that’s good for our teams.”
The Narrows League would have just one 4A school – Stadium – should the five leave for the SPSL. Mount Tahoma is expected to be reclassified as a 3A school when the enrollment counts are released next week.
Jennifer Kubista, Tacoma School District athletic director, said the district is committed to keeping its schools – Stadium, Mount Tahoma, Wilson, Foss and Lincoln – in the same league.
“We have a positive tradition with our five schools,” she said. “We started in the city league and were five of the founding members of the Narrows League.”
Kubista said she wants to see the Narrows League evolve into a 4A/3A/2A conference, providing a home for Tacoma’s five public high schools. Foss will be classified as a 2A school and will opt up to 3A for the 2012-14 cycle. She said Lincoln, Mount Tahoma and Wilson have enrollments that are shrinking and also could become 2A schools. It’s also possible that Stadium’s enrollment could fall enough to make it a 3A school.
“What we really want is a multi-classification league that includes 2A, 3A and 4A,” Kubista said. “Our enrollments could look very different (in the future).”
If no other Narrows League members leave, beginning with the 2012-13 school year, it will be a multi-classification 4A/3A league that includes Tacoma schools Foss, Lincoln, Mount Tahoma, Wilson and Stadium, plus Timberline, Yelm and Shelton.
Shelton athletic director Jim Judson confirmed that the Highclimbers’ enrollment counts projects them to be a 3A school.
Capital, which currently competes in Narrows League 3A, is expected to be reclassified as a 2A school and will ask for admission into the Evergreen Conference at its league meeting Tuesday.
Capital, which has an enrollment in grades 10-12 of fewer than 1,000 students, has applied to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) to leave District III and become a member of District IV.
Capital athletic director Steve Bellande said he will attend the 2A Evergreen Conference athletic directors’ meeting Tuesday and ask for admittance into the EvCo. Should Capital be accepted, the EvCo will again be an eight-team conference.
“Most of them are (excited) about having us,” Bellande said. “It’s a great fit for them.”
In other realignment news:
• Bonney Lake has not decided if it will again opt up to 3A or play at 2A, where it expects to be classified.
Two years ago, the Panthers were about 100 students under the cutoff for 3A, but opted up.
Bonney Lake athletic director Brian Scheerer said the school expects to be in a similar spot – about 95-100 students from being a 3A school – and will determine next week what classification it will play in. The SPSL 3A has imposed a deadline of Dec. 9 for Bonney Lake’s decision.
If Bonney Lake, part of the Sumner School District, joins Sumner High in the SPSL 2A, the SPSL 3A would be left with only five schools, a number most think is too small to support a league.
• The Nisqually League could grow to 10 schools. Bellevue Christian, Cedar Park Christian and Port Townsend have expressed interest in joining the league for all sports.
Currently, CPC and Port Townsend are football-only members. Eatonville will be reclassified as a 1A school and will join the Nisqually League.
• Orting’s enrollment numbers will make it a 2A school, athletic director Marty Parkhurst said, and the Cardinals will apply for membership into the SPSL 2A.
Staff writer Meg Wochnick contributed to this report.
Doug Pacey: 253-597-8271 doug.pacey@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/preps Twitter: @DougPaceyTNT
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