by ClassBEast » Fri Aug 08, 2008 7:51 am
NDHSAA OKs new alignment
Associated Press
Published Friday, August 08, 2008
VALLEY CITY, N.D. – The North Dakota High School Activities Association board has changed the high school sports alignment so Valley City can move from the current Class A to a division of smaller schools.
Thursday’s vote was 8-0 to set Division A for schools with a high school enrollment of 400 or more in girls and boys basketball, volleyball, baseball, cross country, golf, track, wrestling, drama, music and speech, said board member Jack Maus of Grafton. High schools with enrollments of less than 400 in those activities would be in Division B.
The alignment replaces the current Class A and Class B system, which puts schools with high school enrollments of 325 or more in Class A. The change starts in the 2009-2010 school year, Maus said.
Valley City is the only school affected, he said. Without the change, it would have had to remain in Class A for about seven more years and would have struggled to compete, he said.
“The gap between Valley City and bigger schools was getting bigger and bigger,” he said.
Valley City originally asked for a switch to a three-class system. As an alternative, school officials asked that the enrollment for Division A be raised so Valley City could move to Division B, Maus said. A committee studied the issue and chose the second option, he said.
Dean Koppelman, Valley City schools superintendent, said the school’s win-loss records in the last decade support the change.
In the last 11 years, the girls basketball team has won 19 percent of its games and is 1-7 against Class B teams. Its boys basketball team has won 36 percent of its games in the last seven years, and is 4-4 against Class B competition. Volleyball has won 22 percent of its games in that span and is 6-10 against Class B.
“There could be the feeling that Valley City is going to be the big school and take state championships at this level,” Koppelman said. “We’re looking at keeping our students on a level playing field.”
Koppelman said the change could create momentum for a switch to three classes.
“I think we’ll create a good amount of discussion with the membership schools in our state,” he said.
The change does not affect football, which already has four divisions.
Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press.