ORDER GAME PHOTOS

On Thursday, the Idaho High School Activities Association held their monthly meeting at Vallivue High School in Caldwell.

Ririe Athletic Director Matt Harris was among those in attendance, and provided several updates on the board discussion that took place through his Twitter account.

The two most intriguing items covered two topics that fans have been anxious to see modified: expanding state tournaments and re-classifying Idaho’s schools based on new enrollment parameters.

Two years ago, the IHSAA began seeding state tournaments according to MaxPreps ranking.  And while that solved several problems, the issue of pre-determined representation based upon district size has reared its head several times.

Every classification outside of 5A currently has five districts throughout the state.  Under a proposal put forth, the four highest-ranked district champions would automatically qualify for state.

The remaining four state tournament bids would then be decided by a Play-In Round on the Saturday before the state tournament.  It would feature the fifth district champion, plus the seven highest ranked non-district champs.

This model would be used for soccer, volleyball, basketball and softball only.  No action was taken on the proposal, and it will continue to be discussed during June’s IHSAA meeting.

The board also discussed reconfiguring Idaho’s six classifications based upon enrollment numbers.  Here is what the IHSAA currently uses to determine which classification a school should compete at:

This has created a widening at each end of the spectrum.  Classes 5A and 1A have grown in size, while Classes 3A and 2A have shrunk somewhat.  The new proposal would create a new 6A classification, while eliminating the two divisions in Class 1A.  Here’s what the proposed parameters would look like:

Under the newly proposed guidelines, here’s what each classification would look like:

CLASS 6A

Inland Empire League (District 1-2)

Coeur d’Alene
Lake City
Post Falls

Southern Idaho Conference (District 3)

Boise
Borah
Caldwell
Capital
Centennial
Eagle
Kuna
Meridian
Mountain View
Nampa
Owyhee
Ridgevue
Rocky Mountain
Timberline (Boise)

High Country Conference (District 4-5-6)

Canyon Ridge
Highland (Pocatello)
Madison
Rigby
Thunder Ridge


CLASS 5A

Inland Empire League (District 1-2)

Lakeland
Lewiston
Moscow
Sandpoint

Southern Idaho Conference (District 3)

Bishop Kelly
Columbia
Emmett
Middleton
Skyview
Vallivue

Great Basin Conference (District 4)

Burley
Jerome
Minico
Mountain Home
Twin Falls
Wood River

South East Idaho Conference (District 5)

Century
Pocatello
Preston

High Country Conference (District 6)

Blackfoot
Bonneville
Hillcrest
Idaho Falls
Shelley Skyline


CLASS 4A

Intermountain League (District 1)

Bonners Ferry
Timberlake

Snake River Valley Conference (District 3)

Cole Valley Christian
Fruitland
Homedale
McCall-Donnelly
Payette
Weiser

Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference (District 4)

Buhl
Filer
Gooding
Kimberly

South East Idaho Conference (District 5)

American Falls
Bear Lake
Marsh Valley
Snake River

Mountain Rivers Conference (District 6)

South Fremont
Sugar-Salem
Teton


CLASS 3A

Central Idaho League (District 1-2)

Coeur d’Alene Charter
Grangeville
Kellogg
Orofino
Priest River
St. Maries

Western Idaho Conference (District 3)

Ambrose
Compass Charter
Marsing
Melba
Nampa Christian
New Plymouth
Parma
Vision Charter

Canyon Conference (District 4)

Declo
Sun Valley Community School
Wendell

South East Idaho Conference (District 5)

Aberdeen
Malad
Soda Springs
West Side

Nuclear Conference (District 6)

Firth
North Fremont
Ririe
Salmon
West Jefferson


CLASS 2A

Scenic Idaho Conference (District 1)

Clark Fork
Genesis Prep
Lakeside
Wallace

Whitepine League (District 2)

Clearwater Valley
Kamiah
Kendrick
Lapwai
Logos
Potlatch
Prairie
Troy

Western Idaho Conference (District 3)

Council
Idaho City
Liberty Charter
North Star Charter
Notus
Riverstone
Victory Charter
Wilder

Snake River Conference (District 4)

Glenns Ferry
Hagerman
Hansen
Lighthouse Christian
Murtaugh
Oakley
Raft River
Shoshone
Xavier Charter

High Desert Conference (District 5-6)

Butte County
Challis
Grace


CLASS 1A

North Star League (District 1)

Kootenai
Mullan

Whitepine League (District 2)

Deary
Genesee
Highland (Craigmont)
Nezperce
St. John Bosco
Timberline (Weippe)

Long Pin Conference (District 3)

Cascade
Centennial Baptist
Garden Valley
Gem State
Greenleaf Friends
Horseshoe Bend
Meadows Valley
Rimrock
Salmon River
Tri-Valley

Sawtooth Conference (District 4)

Camas County
Carey
Castleford
Dietrich
Richfield

Rocky Mountain Conference (District 5-6)

Clark County
Grace Lutheran
Leadore
Mackay
North Gem
Rockland
Sho-Ban
Taylor’s Crossing
Watersprings


The big changes would be:

Canyon Ridge moving up to the largest classification at 6A.  That would force the Riverhawks, the lone District 4 team at that level, to travel two hours in either direction for conference play, depending on which league they joined.  Ridgevue and Caldwell would move up as well, although that likely would happen under the current system.

Lewiston and Middleton dropping from 6A to 5A.  Under the current system, both are over the enrollment number and would remain Class 5A schools if no changes were made.

Parma sliding down to 3A from 4A.  If nothing changed, Parma would just barely remain a 3A school, but with this new proposal, they would drop down.  Cole Valley Christian and Bear Lake would move up a classification level regardless of what happens, but Kellogg and Wendell, also slated to move up under the current system, would remain where they are under the new proposal.

North Star Charter barely sliding down a level to 2A.  They are currently at Class 2A (which would be 3A under the new proposal).

And at the lowest levels, it would appear that a lot of teams would be on the move under this new proposal, as Clark Fork, Council, Kendrick and Hagerman would all move up, while Castleford, Carey, Centennial Baptist, Gem State, Greenleaf Friends and Genesee would move down a level.  However, these moves would be made under the current system as well, so the new proposal doesn’t actually change anything there.

Again, no official action was taken on this proposal, and the topic will be re-visited again at the IHSAA's June meeting.


Other items the board covered on Thursday included:

Adding the javelin as a field event starting with the 2024 track and field season.  It will need to be approved on second reading.

Expanding the state volleyball tournament from two days to three days, beginning in 2024.  It will need to be approved on second reading.

And potentially exploring other venues (such as Idaho Central Arena in downtown Boise or the Mountain America Center in Idaho Falls) to host state tournament events, provided it makes fiscal sense.