Another 5A, 4A reshuffle is on the way. Here’s where the early battle lines are drawn
Enrollment numbers released last week set the stage for the latest reshuffling in Idaho’s high school sports classifications.
The initial figures show as many as 19 schools, including nine in the Treasure Valley, could play in a new classification starting in the fall of 2022. I write “could” because these matters are no longer cut and dried.
Instead of using only enrollment numbers, the IHSAA now allows its board to weigh wins and losses when schools ask to change classifications. It will rule on those petitions in September.
Further complicating predictions is a possible football-only classification structure. The IHSAA formed a committee to create a proposal earlier this month. No details are public yet, and that committee won’t report back to the board at its June 9 meeting.
But the dividing lines are set for every other sport. And until then, the current system and its enrollment boundaries are the law of the land for football, too.
Let’s delve into the numbers to find out what’s next.
MORE CHANGES IN THE 5A, 4A SIC
The Boise area’s two largest classifications will trade teams once again. Growth pushes two Canyon County schools — Ridgevue (1,411.5 students) and Middleton (1,285.5) — to 5A enrollment levels for the first time. Meanwhile, Skyview (1,150) would fall back to 4A
Schools with an average of 1,280 students or more during two enrollment counts need IHSAA approval to play in the 4A classification.
The addition of Ridgevue and Middleton would create a 13-team 5A Southern Idaho Conference. They would play alongside Kuna, four teams from the Boise School District (Boise, Borah, Capital and Timberline) and six from West Ada (Centennial, Eagle, Meridian, Mountain View, Rocky Mountain and Owyhee).
Owyhee opens this fall along the border of Ada and Canyon counties.
Ridgevue will fight to remain in 4A, Warhawks Athletic Director Ted Reynolds said during the April 7 IHSAA board meeting. Reynolds, who is also an IHSAA board member, noted that the school can’t field a junior varsity football team even as it approaches 1,500 students.
But Middleton will accept the move to 5A, Vikings AD Andy Ankeny told the Idaho Statesman.
“We’re rolling with it,” Ankeny said. “We have success. That, and it’s the combination of we’re just growing here like crazy. I think those (enrollment) numbers will continue to increase dramatically for us.”
MOVING DOWN A CLASS NOT A GIVEN
Schools planning to petition down a level could face a chilly reception from the IHSAA, its board signaled on April 7.
The IHSAA first allowed schools to use on-field struggles as a reason to play in a lower classification starting in the 2018-19 school year. It denied only two requests that year before denying five more for the current classification cycle. But during its April meeting, three IHSAA board members voted to abolish using competitive history at all.
The vote failed, with five board members opting to keep the system. Three more abstained, claiming they were caught off-guard and needed time to consider.
But the message was clear: Any new requests will undergo heavy scrutiny.
That puts Nampa (1,463 students) and Caldwell (1,425) in the cross hairs. Both plan to appeal to remain in 4A with 5A-size student bodies. The IHSAA board twice voted overwhelmingly to allow them to stay in 4A. In fact, it rebuilt its classification process with long-struggling athletic programs like Nampa and Caldwell in mind.
But any success those two have — like Caldwell winning back-to-back state titles in boys soccer and Nampa reaching the state football semifinals in 2018 and ‘19 — create immediate howls of unfairness across the state.
Caldwell Athletic Director Jon Hallock said those complaints don’t take into account a school’s entire athletic program. He points out that his football team, which hasn’t had a winning season since 2005, forfeited its final three games because it couldn’t field enough players. The Cougars’ volleyball team hasn’t won a match in two years. And Caldwell can’t field a junior varsity team in five sports: football, girls soccer, boys basketball, baseball and softball.
Hallock said Caldwell meets the IHSAA’s standards to petition down to 3A, but he will only ask to remain in 4A.
“If you look at our (competitive history and participation) numbers two years ago and if you look at them now, it’s worse than it was before,” Hallock said. “The purpose of the process is rehabilitation and progress, and we’re struggling.”
Meanwhile, Nampa has qualified just one team sport for a state tournament outside of football. Its volleyball team went two-and-out at state last fall.
“Enrollment, by itself, is not a true reflection of competitive equity,” Nampa AD Greg Carpenter wrote in an email.
If the IHSAA rejected Caldwell’s and Nampa’s requests, it would create a 15-team 5A Southern Idaho Conference and leave just five in the 4A SIC (Bishop Kelly, Columbia, Emmett, Vallivue and Skyview).
TIMBERLINE NOT REALLY THE STATE’S LARGEST
A quirk to this pandemic school year put Timberline atop the state enrollment leaderboard with 2,533.5 students. But that’s misleading, Wolves AD Director Tol Gropp said.
Timberline houses the Boise Online School, the district’s remote-learning option created during the COVID-19 pandemic. So the State Department of Education counted students who normally would attend Boise, Borah and Capital as Timberline students.
Gropp said all four Boise schools are comfortably in the 5A ranks, so they didn’t fight the enrollment numbers because they wouldn’t change anyone’s classification.
Rocky Mountain (2,428.5) remains the state’s largest single school, but it will lose students when Owyhee opens. Mountain View (2,228), Boise (2,102) and Eagle (2,096) were close behind.
A GROWING 2A WIC?
The accuracy of Idaho’s enrollment numbers also creates concerns in smaller schools.
The 2A Western Idaho Conference would swell from eight to 12 teams based on the raw numbers. That would include the return of Parma (310.5 students) and the addition of Liberty Charter (185.5), North Star Charter (175) and Victory Charter (168).
But three of those schools cast doubt on the enrollment numbers.
Parma Superintendent Stoney Wilson said the Panthers will appeal to stay at 3A. And Liberty Charter and Victory Charter are only pushed into 2A after huge increases in the March enrollment count.
Victory Charter went from 116 students in November to 220 in March, according to the enrollment numbers. Liberty Charter went from 139 to 232.
The IHSAA uses the average enrollment on two dates to set its classifications.
“We definitely don’t have that many kids in our school,” Liberty Charter Athletic Director Mark Wachsmith wrote in an email.
North Star Charter did not see that enrollment spike, losing eight students between November and March, which is common. It’s still weighing its options, AD Eric Dickelman said.
MORE POTENTIAL CHANGES
Here are a few more key schools to watch around the state:
Idaho Falls (1,201.5 students) can drop from 5A to 4A. The IHSAA previously allowed it to play in 4A with 5A enrollment numbers, but its success in many sports led the IHSAA to force the school up to 5A last fall.
Canyon Ridge (1,349) in Twin Falls will need IHSAA approval again to remain at the 4A level.
Perennial small-school power Carey (87) now exceeds the 1A Division II maximum (84), pushing it up to 1A Division I.
This story was originally published April 27, 2021 at 12:00 PM.
