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OSAA approves hybrid leagues for sports
By John Gunther, Sports Editor
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 | No comments posted.
Cross-classification hybrids became a reality Monday when the Oregon School Activities Association Executive Board approved the classification and district assignments for the next four-year time block.
The Executive Board did not make any changes to the final recommendation of OSAA’s Classification and Districting Committee, meaning the creation of six hybrid leagues in the state starting in September 2010.
Within the hybrids, teams will face each other for league games, and then be separated into their respective classifications for the playoffs.
Two of the hybrid leagues impact the South Coast.
Marshfield will be in the new Class 6A-5A Midwestern Hybrid, with Class 6A schools Sheldon, South Eugene and Thurston and Class 5A schools North Eugene, Churchill, Springfield, Willamette and Marist.
The coastal teams from the current Sunset Conference will be in the Class 3A-2A Sunset Hybrid. Reedsport and Gold Beach drop to Class 2A and will be joined by Class 3A schools Bandon, Coquille, Myrtle Point and Glide.
The other Sunset Conference members will be in the Class 3A-2A Southern Hybrid, which includes Class 3A Cascade Christian, Rogue River, St. Mary’s, Lakeview and Illinois Valley and Class 2A St. Mary’s, Bonanza, Chiloquin and Lost River.
Other hybrids are the Class 6A-5A-4A Portland Interscholastic League Hybrid, the Class 6A-5A-4A Central Oregon Hybrid and the Class 6A-5A Southern Oregon Hybrid.
What hasn’t yet been decided is what the hybrid leagues mean in terms of playoffs. That will be determined by the OSAA Championship Committee, which has just started its work and does not need to come up with a final proposal until next spring.
That committee includes Marshfield principal Greg Mulkey and will hold its next meeting next week.
Mulkey has come up with a proposal for how to manage championships with the new hybrid leagues, but did not want to discuss it before next week’s meeting. At least one other proposal has been created that the committee will consider, he said.
Coquille athletic director Dan Cumberland said most of the athletic directors from the Sunset and Southern Oregon hybrids will meet in Grants Pass on Wednesday to come up with a recommendation of what they would like to see to forward to the committee.
Mulkey was pleased that Marshfield was in the Midwestern Hybrid, and not in the Southern Oregon hybrid with Roseburg, Grants Pass, South Medford, North Medford, Crater, Ashland and Eagle Point, as had been proposed early in the reclassification process.
“I feel really good about that,” Mulkey said. “We’re pleased. We’ve been in this league and played these schools for a long time.”
The redistricting decision includes no changes for the Far West League, which will include current members North Bend, Siuslaw, Brookings-Harbor, South Umpqua, Sutherlin and Douglas.
Other Class 4A leagues were shaken up by schools shifting up or down, with the result being seven total leagues, six with the same six-school set-up as the Far West League.
That should lead to better opportunities for scheduling than in the current set-up, with two leagues with seven teams, two with six and two with five. The Greater Oregon League in the eastern part of the state will continue to have just four schools.
“It helps us a bunch in getting nonleague games,” said North Bend athletic director Boyd Bjorkquist. “It will make scheduling go a lot better for us.”
A statewide scheduling meeting on Nov. 12 should help shape how the leagues work together for nonleague matchups in all sports, Bjorkquist said.
The proposal alters several of the Class 4A leagues. The Sky-Em League lost Marist to Class 5A and Pleasant Hill to Class 3A, but added Sweet Home.
The Skyline League in Southern Oregon loses Illinois Valley to Class 3A, but gets Klamath Falls schools Klamath Union and Mazama from Class 5A.
The Val-Co League loses Sweet Home to the Sky-Em League, but gains Stayton and Cascade from the Capital Conference and becomes the Capital Coast League.
The old Capital Conference becomes the Tri-Valley League, with Eastacada, Gladstone, La Salle Prep, Madras (which drops from Class 5A), Molalla and North Marion.
Among the smallest schools, Powers and Pacific stay in the Skyline League, which loses Days Creek to Class 2A. Oak Hill School and Lifegate Christian, a pair of private schools in Eugene that offer limited sports, will become part of the league.
The entire new classification plan is available on-line at www.osaa.org.
The Executive Board did not make any changes to the final recommendation of OSAA’s Classification and Districting Committee, meaning the creation of six hybrid leagues in the state starting in September 2010.
Within the hybrids, teams will face each other for league games, and then be separated into their respective classifications for the playoffs.
Two of the hybrid leagues impact the South Coast.
Marshfield will be in the new Class 6A-5A Midwestern Hybrid, with Class 6A schools Sheldon, South Eugene and Thurston and Class 5A schools North Eugene, Churchill, Springfield, Willamette and Marist.
The coastal teams from the current Sunset Conference will be in the Class 3A-2A Sunset Hybrid. Reedsport and Gold Beach drop to Class 2A and will be joined by Class 3A schools Bandon, Coquille, Myrtle Point and Glide.
The other Sunset Conference members will be in the Class 3A-2A Southern Hybrid, which includes Class 3A Cascade Christian, Rogue River, St. Mary’s, Lakeview and Illinois Valley and Class 2A St. Mary’s, Bonanza, Chiloquin and Lost River.
Other hybrids are the Class 6A-5A-4A Portland Interscholastic League Hybrid, the Class 6A-5A-4A Central Oregon Hybrid and the Class 6A-5A Southern Oregon Hybrid.
What hasn’t yet been decided is what the hybrid leagues mean in terms of playoffs. That will be determined by the OSAA Championship Committee, which has just started its work and does not need to come up with a final proposal until next spring.
That committee includes Marshfield principal Greg Mulkey and will hold its next meeting next week.
Mulkey has come up with a proposal for how to manage championships with the new hybrid leagues, but did not want to discuss it before next week’s meeting. At least one other proposal has been created that the committee will consider, he said.
Coquille athletic director Dan Cumberland said most of the athletic directors from the Sunset and Southern Oregon hybrids will meet in Grants Pass on Wednesday to come up with a recommendation of what they would like to see to forward to the committee.
Mulkey was pleased that Marshfield was in the Midwestern Hybrid, and not in the Southern Oregon hybrid with Roseburg, Grants Pass, South Medford, North Medford, Crater, Ashland and Eagle Point, as had been proposed early in the reclassification process.
“I feel really good about that,” Mulkey said. “We’re pleased. We’ve been in this league and played these schools for a long time.”
The redistricting decision includes no changes for the Far West League, which will include current members North Bend, Siuslaw, Brookings-Harbor, South Umpqua, Sutherlin and Douglas.
Other Class 4A leagues were shaken up by schools shifting up or down, with the result being seven total leagues, six with the same six-school set-up as the Far West League.
That should lead to better opportunities for scheduling than in the current set-up, with two leagues with seven teams, two with six and two with five. The Greater Oregon League in the eastern part of the state will continue to have just four schools.
“It helps us a bunch in getting nonleague games,” said North Bend athletic director Boyd Bjorkquist. “It will make scheduling go a lot better for us.”
A statewide scheduling meeting on Nov. 12 should help shape how the leagues work together for nonleague matchups in all sports, Bjorkquist said.
The proposal alters several of the Class 4A leagues. The Sky-Em League lost Marist to Class 5A and Pleasant Hill to Class 3A, but added Sweet Home.
The Skyline League in Southern Oregon loses Illinois Valley to Class 3A, but gets Klamath Falls schools Klamath Union and Mazama from Class 5A.
The Val-Co League loses Sweet Home to the Sky-Em League, but gains Stayton and Cascade from the Capital Conference and becomes the Capital Coast League.
The old Capital Conference becomes the Tri-Valley League, with Eastacada, Gladstone, La Salle Prep, Madras (which drops from Class 5A), Molalla and North Marion.
Among the smallest schools, Powers and Pacific stay in the Skyline League, which loses Days Creek to Class 2A. Oak Hill School and Lifegate Christian, a pair of private schools in Eugene that offer limited sports, will become part of the league.
The entire new classification plan is available on-line at www.osaa.org.
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