Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
All B schools in Whitman County will be in the same sports classification, 1B, for a two-year stint beginning next fall under the new state sports classifications announced last week. Garfield/Palouse and Tekoa/Oakesdale, two schools who were bumped from the long-standing Whitman League lineup to the new 2B division two years ago, will be back in the same division with LaCrosse/Washtucna, St. John/Endicott, Rosalia and Colton.
The league could also pick up Pomeroy and possibly Touchet, two 1B schools who will lack league neighbors under the new classification breakout. Pomeroy, with 92 students, will be the largest 1B school in the state.
Garfield/Palouse and Tekoa/Oakesdale Nighthawks were both moved down to the 1B division after the state organization sliced out the classifications under its policy of balancing the number of schools in each classification. The policy was started to allow athletes at every school in the state an equal shot at playoff action.
Ken Lindgren of Oakesdale, Washington Interscholastic Activities Association district representative said Garfield/Palouse and Tekoa/Oakesdale were right on the 1B-2B dividing line. They landed in the lower 1B class under a WIAA amendment which required schools who wanted to play above their classification to make a declaration by Dec. 15.
Lindgren said at least seven 1B schools around the state opted to play up in the 2B class, and that bumped the cutoff ceiling to 92 students for 1B. The tally for Garfield/Palouse is 90.5 and the count for Tekoa/Oakesdale is 88.
Counts are made off enrollment in the top three grades.
The apportionment formula for WIAA seeks to have 16 percent of the schools at the low end of enrollment, in each of the B classifications. That works out to 62 schools in each B classification.
Pomeroy, with an enrollment of 92, will be the largest school in the 1B class. That points to a conversion to eight-man football for the Pirates.
Viking Athletic Director Tim Coles said GP coaches are enthusiastic about returning to 1B and playing Whitman County neighbors in league competition. The Vikings next year had planned to continue to play eight-man football, and the classification drop means they can now qualify for eight-man playoff action.
Last fall, the Vikes opted to play eight-man ball after sustaining injuries and a low turnout. Because they are currently a 2B school, they would have been ineligible for football playoffs.
Coles, who coaches the Vikings boys hoop team, said one thing he will miss is playing in state tournaments at Spokane. He hopes some day all the B school qualifiers can play in the Spokane Arena. After the split of the 1B and the 2B divisions, the smaller schools finished their hoop campaign at Yakima, and the 2B schools remained in Spokane.
Scheduling sessions for next year are expected to begin next month, and at some point decisions on Pomeroy and Touchet will have to be made. Both schools were assigned to 1B with the balance of the former Blue Mountain League classified at 2B.
Pomeroy and Asotin have been playing in a SE-North alignment with Whitman Schools. Under that format, the 2B schools broke off for their own playoff schedule after the regular schedule. Adding Pomeroy to a Whitman League schedule would not mark that much of a change, Lindgren pointed out.
Touchet, located at the southern end of the SE district, faces a tougher situation.
Tri-Cities Prep and Liberty Christian, both assigned to 2B, have indicated they plan to play eight-man football next year, and they will not be eligible for playoff action. The TCP Jaguars this year won the state eight-man championship.
Lindgren said he expects Tekoa/Oakesdale will again pick up Rosalia for football and baseball and that means they will play in the 2B division. Rosalia’s student count is 52 so any TOR combo would put the population at 140, in the middle ranks for the 2B class.
Coles said he expects Gar/Pal will remain in the 1B class for several years to come with the school population there expected to decline in the coming years. Lindgren said the upcoming counts of students for Tekoa/Oakesdale seem to be stable and the combo could land on either side of the 1B-2B breakout after the 2010-2011 sports season. Counts for other Whitman League schools are St. John/Endicott 72, LaCrosse/Washtucna 52, and Colton 51.
Kahlotus, which has joined forces with LW for football, has a count of 16. Touchet has a count of 86.5.
The classification counts also show Colfax, now playing its second year in the Bi-County 2B league after dropping below the A division cutoff, is no longer the biggest school in the league. The official count for Colfax is 170 which matches Reardan. Northwest Christian, which does not play football, ranks right under the league’s two largest schools with 169.
Other Bi-County counts are Lind/Ritzville 143, Davenport 131, and Liberty 124.5. Panorama League counts are Springdale 134, St. George’s 113 and Republic 103.5.
The 2B bracket is now 93-207, and the 1A bracket is now 208-512, Kettle Falls remains with the 1A division with a 211 count, just four over the 1A minimum.
The new classifications chart a tough assignment for Pullman which has a count of 522, just nine over the minimum for the 2A division. The Greyhounds will be the smallest school in the Great Northern league which is topped by East Valley at 1,054, just 31 students below the maximum for 2A.
Lindgren said the large variation in 2A surfaced because several schools with 2A enrollments opted into the 3A class and that kept bumping the ceiling on the 2A bracket.
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