Say goodbye to Hermiston and Pendleton.

The Intermountain Conference will be no more if a recommendation to the executive board of Oregon’s governing body for high school athletics is approved later this month.

In the Oregon School Activities Association classification and districting committee’s 10th and final reorganization proposal for the state’s high school athletic leagues for the next four-year time block, Redmond, Bend, Mountain View, Summit and Crook County high schools would compete in a five-team Central Oregon Hybrid league. And they would do so without Hermiston and Pendleton, the two Eastern Oregon schools that have long been grouped with Central Oregon schools in the Intermountain Conference.

In the hybrid league format, Redmond would remain a Class 6A school, the three Bend schools would remain at 5A, and Crook County would move from 5A to 4A.

Hermiston and Pendleton would be part of a four-team Columbia Gorge League, joining The Dalles-Wahtonka and Hood River Valley. Madras, also a member of the current IMC, would move to the Class 4A Tri-Valley League under the OSAA’s final proposal.

Since the 2006-07 school year, the IMC has been made up of Bend, Mountain View, Summit, Crook County, Madras, The Dalles-Wahtonka, Hermiston and Pendleton.

Redmond, a longtime member of the IMC before the OSAA’s reclassification following the 2005-06 school year, is currently a member of the Salem-based Central Valley Conference.

While the classification and districting committee’s final recommendation is not the final step in the reclassification process — the OSAA executive board is scheduled to vote on the recommendation on Oct. 26 — only minor modifications, if any, are expected to be made before the final proposal is put into action following the current school year.

“We’re looking at (the final recommendation), and it’s kind of cool,” said Mountain View athletic director Dave Hood. “We achieved our objective, in a sense, with a Central Oregon league.”

In a statement released with its final recommendation, the classification and redistricting committee said its members felt that “the proposed league alignments were the best option to satisfy the first level criteria (set by the OSAA), including the repeatedly expressed concerns of the affected schools regarding safety, minimizing loss of student instructional time and minimizing expenditures.”

Hermiston, Pendleton, The Dalles-Wahtonka and Hood River Valley all sent representatives to Monday’s final public reclassification meeting in Wilsonville, pleading with the OSAA to not be placed in a league with the Central Oregon schools. The OSAA’s final recommendation would virtually eliminate league travel on mostly two-lane Highway 97 for all schools in the proposed Central Oregon Hybrid and Columbia Gorge leagues.

“There’s some good possibilities to save money and class time,” Hood said. “But we (the Central Oregon schools) are going to be seeing a lot of each other.”

A reduction in league size from eight teams to five no doubt will mean more frequent meetings between Central Oregon teams, whether in league or nonleague play.

“The next big question is playoffs,” Hood said, referring to how teams from a league with schools from three different classifications would qualify for the postseason.

“With Redmond being 6A and Crook County being 4A,” Hood added, “(the three 5A Bend schools) will be lucky to get one playoff spot.”

The OSAA’s state championship committee, which begins meeting next week, will determine guidelines for how teams from hybrid leagues will earn spots in the state postseason.

Central Oregon’s largest schools are expected to be the most affected by the OSAA’s final reclassification recommendation. Sisters and La Pine would remain in a modified version of the Class 4A Sky-Em League, and Culver would remain in the Class 2A Tri-River Conference. At the Class 1A level, Gilchrist would continue to compete in the Mountain Valley League, and Central Christian of Redmond would stay in the Big Sky League.

The new leagues for Central Oregon schools

The final reorganization proposal for Oregon’s high school athletic leagues breaks up the old Intermountain Conference and means big changes for the largest Central Oregon high schools. A final vote on the proposal will take place later this month:

Central Oregon hybrid (Class 6A-5A-4A)

School Enrollment*

Redmond Panthers 1,824

Bend Lava Bears 1,395

Mountain View Cougars 1,400

Summit Storm 1,265

Crook County Cowboys 858

Tri-Valley Conference (Class 4A)

School Enrollment*

Estacada Rangers 739

Gladstone Gladiators 729

La Salle Falcons 625

Madras White Buffaloes 801

Molalla Indians 825

North Marion Huskies 576

Sky-Em League (Class 4A)

School Enrollment*

Cottage Grove Lions 782

Elmira Falcons 427

Junction City Tigers 540

La Pine Hawks 530

Sisters Outlaws 521

Sweet Home Huskies 730

*Enrollment is average daily membership during the 2008-2009 school year.