It's status quo with new WIAA enrollment numbers

For the time being the every four-year cycle of reclassification for high school athletics in the state of Washington will not feature any major upheaval.

But if trends continue, in four years the landscape could look significantly different, especially for Cheney High School. Since the 2008-10 shuffling of schools Cheney has watched enrollment slowly increase from 823 to 905 in the most recent count.

“We knew we were going to be close to 2A, but after four years I easily see us at a 3A. We were the fifth or sixth highest 2A school,” new Cheney athletics director Gregg Hare said.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association released the 2016-2020 enrollment figures Jan. 14. The classifications will not be finalized until the WIAA Executive Board approves the list of 384 schools during its January 24-25 meeting. The classifications and figures may be found at wiaa.com.

In the most recent shuffling the WIAA still has six classifications led by 4A schools with enrollment of 1,252.4 or more. Next, the 3A schools range in numbers of students in 10-12 grade from 990.9 to 1,252.3. The top two classifications each have 65 schools.

In 2A where Cheney currently resides the numbers are between 472-990.8 and has 64 schools. Medical Lake’s enrolment puts it in the top third of the 1A class’s 225-471.9 and is one of 64 schools in the group. The 2B schools, 59 of them, range between 92-224.9 while 1B is 89.9 and lower with 63 schools.

At this point in the classification process, 22 schools are opting up to 4A, 13 to 3A, one to 2A, eight to 1A and four to 2B according to a news release from WIAA. When a school decides to opt up a classification it must do so in all athletics and activities. 

Enrollment figures were initially released to the member schools in November. Each had a little over a month to review its figures and decide if it would opt up by the January 13 deadline.

Schools had until January 19 to file a classification appeal petition with the WIAA. All appeals will be heard by the Executive Board. If a school’s appeal is granted, the classification will change for that specific school and no other changes will be made to the remaining schools in relevant classifications. 

Unlike Cheney, Medical Lake has followed the trend of decreasing enrollment since 2008-10 when the district used figures and petitioned to drop from 2A to 1A. Their appeal was denied and they had to stay at the bottom of the food chain in 2A for another cycle. The school chose to play an independent football schedule until the next round of reclassification.

Medical lake, which showed enrollment of 524 in the 2008-10 cycle dropped to within 1A numbers by the 2010-12 count and now sits at 400. And they will likely stay there.

“It looks like we are holding real steady all the way down to fourth grade,” Medical Lake athletics director Chris Spring said. “We’re somewhere 120 to 140ish per class, it just seems like it’s holding pretty steady.”

Spring added, “If anything we’re growing a little bit, kinda’ thankfully not too much.”

The Northeast A League, of which Medical Lake is a member, was rumored to possibly be adding Northwest Christian but when numbers were revealed the Crusaders sat at 181 and will stay at 2B. It’s a longshot, but the NEA could still lose Chewelah, league secretary Art Bickler said.

Chewelah will appeal their enrollment number, currently at 244. “So there still an outside chance Chewelah go 2B, but seems unlikely,” Bickler said.  “They will know at the end of January.”

Peering into the future, Hare sees some interesting scenarios. “It will be interesting, not knowing what the others will do. If we go to 3A, East Valley and West Valley will likely join us.”

That could mean a return to the Greater Spokane League of which Cheney was a member from 2002—2005.

Or if schools like Pullman and Clarkston get enough numbers, the GNL could bump up to a 3A league. Pullman listed enrollment of 534 in the 2008-10 cycle and currently is at 516. Clarkston, however, which was at 703 has dropped to 557 in the most recent count.

“It will be interesting to see where we are at,” Hare said.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.