Realignment does not affect Class 4A, 3A schools

RENO -- Major realignment for Southern Nevada's high school sports teams will wait for at least two more years.

After 10 months of proposals, discussions and committee meetings, the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association on Wednesday approved an emergency realignment plan that doesn't involve moving any Class 4A or 3A schools.

Small changes were made in Class 1A and 2A with Lake Mead voluntarily moving up a class, Laughlin sliding from the independent ranks into 2A, and White Pine and West Wendover moving into a northern league of Class 2A and 3A teams. White Pine will remain in the Southern 2A for football.

But for the next two years, it's business as usual for most of the southern part of the state.

"I'm hoping by the next realignment (in 2012) that we can convince some 4A schools that they aren't 4A-caliber," said Ray Mathis, Clark County School District's executive athletic director and the chair of the NIAA's Board of Control.

"We'll try a different approach and try to convince people, give them some input as opposed to just realigning them. Hopefully they'll decide to do what's best for the kids."

The realignment debate started last spring, as the NIAA began to look at ways to reduce costs associated with travel and find in-state games for the three-team Class 3A Southern League.

In some small-school southern leagues and in the north, rivals can be hundreds of miles apart.

Lake Mead's move is significant, taking one of the most dominant teams out of Class 1A.

The Eagles, state title contenders in most sports, probably would have had to move to 2A in the next scheduled realignment cycle when a multiplier for private school enrollment is scheduled to go into effect.

"Competitively, it's the right thing to do now," said Lake Mead boys basketball coach Jeff Newton, the board's Class 1A liaison. "It's going to be a difficult jump for us. We're going to have to continue to develop our programs."

Shifting White Pine and West Wendover, two of the northernmost Southern League teams, will be a huge travel benefit for the remaining 2A teams.

"We're cutting our travel, and it also helps save programs," Needles (Calif.) athletic director Bill Darrow said. "If it would have stayed the same, junior varsity programs wouldn't be traveling. We'd lose JV programs. It's huge for us."

The rest of the Class 1A Southern League will be untouched, pending approval by the state's superintendents, which should come today.

The exception is Henderson International, which announced two weeks ago it would close its high school at the end of the school year.

"It was unanimous that everybody wanted to keep it as it has been for years," Newton said.

Contact reporter Bartt Davis at bdavis@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5230.