Reports of the demise of the Oregon School Activities Association’s six-classification system, it appears, are greatly exaggerated.

In the OSAA’s most recent draft on the reclassification of its 200-plus members, which was released Jan. 31, a six-class plan was the only option presented by the association’s classification and districting committee. Revamping the OSAA’s current classification system from six classes to five seemed to have growing support before the last classification and districting committee meeting on Jan. 28, but enthusiasm for reducing the number of the classes — and number of state championships awarded each year — has waned.

“The overriding job heading into this reclassification (period) was to get bigger leagues and get rid of hybrid leagues,” says Dave Hood, athletic director at Bend’s Mountain View High School. “That was pretty much accomplished with a few minor moves.

“Some districts are saying, ‘Hey, we’re having success (in 5A),’ ” Hood adds. “ ‘We don’t have to play the Jesuits and Sheldons and Lake Oswegos of the world (traditional athletic powers).’ They’re having success and liking it. … The traction has been lost on a five-class system.”

In the OSAA’s most recent six-class proposal, the Intermountain Conference would look almost identical to the IMC of 2002-2005, the last four-year classification time block in which the OSAA used a four-class system. The new-look IMC would be made up of Bend, Mountain View, Summit, Redmond and Ridgeview high schools from Central Oregon; former Eastern Oregon IMC members Pendleton and Hermiston; and always-reluctant Intermountain members from the Columbia River Gorge, Hood River Valley and The Dalles Wahtonka.

“I like this plan because it’s better than the other plan,” Bend High athletic director Craig Walker says about the prospect of playing in a five-team league with just the Bend and Redmond schools.

The Central Oregon and Eastern Oregon schools were opposed to being lumped together the last time the OSAA took up reclassification — bus trips between Central and Eastern Oregon schools are typically five hours each way — but Hood too says he would reluctantly go back to the old IMC. Several years ago, he and other local athletic directors envisioned a seven-team Central Oregon league made up of the three Bend schools, two Redmond schools (including the anticipated opening of Ridgeview High), and Crook County and Madras.

But with the recent economic recession, enrollment numbers at Crook County and Madras, schools that have traditionally been smaller than those in Bend and Redmond, never grew to the 5A levels that Hood and other area school administrators had hoped.

“Given what happened with the economy, I’d be ready to go back,” Hood says about resurrecting the old IMC after 2 1⁄2 years of dealing with the current Intermountain Hybrid league. “I wouldn’t be opposed to that.”

Under the newly released reclassification proposal, Crook County would join Madras — both currently Class 4A schools — in the 4A (and Portland-based) Tri-Valley Conference. Central Oregon’s other two 4A schools, La Pine and Sisters, would in the new plan remain in the Sky-Em League out of the Eugene area. (Ridgeview High in Redmond is currently a 4A school but expects to grow and has been placed in the 5A IMC in the newest OSAA reorganization plan.)

“If this is an option, it’s a no-brainer,” Crook County athletic director Scott Polen says about moving to the TVC. “A lot of those schools in that league are a lot like us. Old, little timber towns. They have the same type of communities we do.”

According to Polen, it was the Tri-Valley that initiated the talks about including Crook County into its league. The Cowboys currently compete in the two-school Class 4A Special District 1 with Ridgeview.

“That’s as important as anything,” Polen says. “We don’t want to go where we’re not wanted. I’d gotten some good feedback from the Sky-Em, but it wasn’t uniform. So we pursued this.”

Culver would see as much change as any Central Oregon school. The Bulldogs currently play in the Salem-based Class 2A Tri-River Conference. Excluding the coastal town of Waldport, most of Culver’s current league opponents are approximately three hours away. In the OSAA’s new proposal, the Bulldogs would be placed in a new Rolling Plains League with northeastern Oregon schools Heppner, Irrigon, Pilot Rock, Stanfield, and Weston-McEwen of Athena.

Central Oregon’s three Class 1A schools would also be in for a bit of a shake-up in the new OSAA plan, but for the better. Gilchrist, Central Christian (Redmond) and Trinity Lutheran (Bend) would all be placed in a 10-team Mountain Valley League together, giving all three schools two opponents within an hour’s drive.

The OSAA’s classification and districting committee meets four more times before the end of the school year, with the next public meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 19, in Wilsonville. A final recommendation to the OSAA executive board will be made in October. Questions, comments or even your own reclassification plan can be emailed to the OSAA’s Peter Weber (peterw@osaa.org) or Kyle Stanfield (kyles@osaa.org).

Looking back

Athlete of the week: Mariah Stacona scored 23 points, dished out seven assists and recorded eight steals to lead Madras to a 52-44 girls basketball road victory over North Marion last Tuesday. Stacona, a sophomore point guard for the White Buffaloes, hit seven 3-pointers in the Tri-Valley Conference win.

Contest of the week: Redmond High won the Class 5A Special District 4 wrestling championship on Saturday as 15 Panthers qualified for the 5A state tournament on Feb. 22 and 23 in Portland. Chance Lindquist (145 pounds), Sarek Shields (152), Gunnar Sigado (182) and Sumner Saulsbury (220) all won individual district titles for Redmond.

Looking ahead

Tuesday

East Linn Christian at Culver girls basketball, 6 p.m.: The Bulldogs host the Eagles in the first round of the Tri-River Conference playoffs. The winner moves on to the tournament’s semifinal round, while the loser’s season is over.

Friday, Saturday

Class 6A, 5A and 4A/3A/2A/1A state swim meets at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham: Summit, Bend, Mountain View, Ridgeview and Madras, all will be represented at this year’s state swim championships. The Storm boys and girls look to defend their state titles from a year ago, while the boys and girls teams from Bend and Madras also hope to be in a trophy hunt.

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