Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The Southeast 1B League is in place for 2020-24 as a 12-team league divides into East and West.
The East division will be largely what the league has been the past four years, with the addition of Tekoa/Rosalia dropping back to 1B from 2B. The East will included Oakesdale, Garfield/Palouse, Colton, Pomeroy, Tekoa/Rosalia, Touchet and St. John/Endicott/LaCrosse.
The Southeast 1B West will be DeSales – coming down to play sports at the 1B level after historically going up to play in 2B – Liberty Christian, Prescott, Sunnyside Christian, Touchet and Yakama Tribal.
“As someone said, it’s the wheat division and the grape division,” said Ken Lindgren, WIAA executive and longtime Oakesdale athletic director. “I’m excited. Adding in new teams – and some good teams. I think it’s gonna be fun. Gonna be a lot of travel. Tekoa/Rosalia is about as far away from Yakama Tribal as you can get.”
In sports such as football and volleyball, teams will play mainly within their division until the district playoffs.
In basketball, East and West teams will play three crossover games in the regular season, to be counted as non-league. Eight teams would advance in basketball to the playoffs, opening with two rounds of games at home sites, then the top four teams playing at a neutral site such as the Dietrich Dome in Walla Walla.
From there it is likely two teams will go on to regionals, as has been the case in recent years.
“Since we’ve had two, I’m thinking we should get two,” said Lindgren.
The playoff plan is not yet official. A District Nine meeting of athletic directors will need to be held to make it final.
Changes in classifications and leagues were decided by the WIAA in January.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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