Plateau athletes to find new home; SPSL favoring a new 3A division
Published 12:25 pm Thursday, December 11, 2008
By Kevin Hanson
The Courier-Herald
Enumclaw's athletic future was all but assured last week when South Puget Sound League officials agreed to a radical shift in the way the SPSL does business.
The league has operated strictly as a Class 4A league, meaning it consists of the largest class of schools in the state. Enumclaw has held SPSL membership on an "opt up" basis, competing recently as a 4A school despite declining enrollment that fits the state's Class 3A guidelines.
However, league officials agreed April 20 that the SPSL should add a 3A division, to go with the traditional North and South divisions (both 4A). The decision was overwhelmingly positive, supported 24-0 in a vote of athletic directors and 20-0 (with two absentees) by the league's Realignment Committee.
The changes will come with the start of the 2006-07 school year. Everything will remain as is for the next academic year.
The decision isn't finalized, as it is slated to go before SPSL principals for consideration in early May. But, according to Enumclaw High Athletic Director Tim Tubbs, "it's a done deal."
The move was prompted by a coming change is the way schools are classified by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. Instead of setting enrollment standards, it's assumed WIAA leadership will soon shift to a percentage-based formula. The most likely scenario has the top 17 percent of the state's schools classified as 4A, 17 percent as 3A, 17 percent as 2A and 17 percent as 1A. The final 32 percent, the state's smallest schools, will be split into B groupings or, possibly, a B and C classification.
With the new formula, Enumclaw and other current South Puget Sound League schools will fall clearly within the 3A guidelines, creating an obvious need for a 3A division in the SPSL. Without such a move, those schools would have forced to continue "opting up" and participating against much larger schools, or looking for membership in an existing 3A league.
It appears as many as eight schools could slide into the new SPSL 3A division. Along with Enumclaw, that list includes current SPSL members Sumner, Federal Way, Decatur and Beamer, plus the newest area school, Bonney Lake High, due to open in the fall of 2005. Other potential members are Auburn Riverside and the soon-to-open Auburn Mountainview; administrators in the Auburn district have not decided whether they will opt up or go the 3A route.
Changes impact White River
The coming change in the way the state classifies its schools could have a huge impact on White River High School, which is firmly entrenched in the 3A ranks with a healthy, and stable, student population.
That cannot be said for the rest of the Seamount League, however. At least two current Seamount teams, Fife and Washington, will fall into the 2A classification when the new guidelines go into effect. Aside from that, there are indications Peninsula High is thinking about leaping to a combined 3A/4A Olympic League, which might be a better fit geographically.
Given that scenario, the existing Seamount League Pierce Division would be down to four schools.
It's likely, Tubbs said, that SPSL officials will extend a membership offer to White River.
Both Tubbs and White River Athletic Director Mark Brandmire point to a rosy scenario that could have four neighboring schools - Enumclaw, White River, Bonney Lake and Sumner - playing in the sa†me league. Aside from creating some regional rivalries, the move would make sense from an economic standpoint; school officials like the idea of reduced travel costs.
Brandmire assumes the Buckley-based district will get an SPSL invitation and "we'd be interested in taking a look at that," he said. "They have similar programs and common philosophies," that fit with White River's way of doing things, he added.
Kevin Hanson can be reached at khanson@cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/courierherald.
