Committee OKs adding schools to Division I-A for next season

As many as four Clark County School District schools could have new homes for their sports teams next year in the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association.

The NIAA’s Southern Nevada Realignment Committee on Thursday approved having as many as two teams from each of the Division I Sunset and Sunrise Regions move to Division I-A for the start of the 2014-15 school year. The committee will forward their recommendation to the NIAA’s Board of Control in late March for approval.

“It gives us some options,” said Chaparral principal Dave Wilson, the committee chairman and one of the authors of the original rubric. “Things have gone very well to this point. Participation numbers are up at our school and others.”

The realignment, first applied before the 2012-13 season, was based on the Nevada Rubric, which awards schools points based on their finish in each sport.

Beginning with 2012-13, every two years schools could shift divisions within their region or could move from Division I to Division I-A or vice versa based on points. Teams will be realigned for the beginning of next year.

Under the rubric’s original language, Division I-A schools with 150 or more points in the two-year span of 2012-13 and 2013-14 would move to Division I. Original Class 3A members Boulder City, Moapa Valley, Virgin Valley and Faith Lutheran had the option to stay in Division I-A based on their lower enrollment. Division I schools with fewer than 15 points would move to Division I-A.

Officials from Faith Lutheran, which has already more than doubled the 150-point count, and Boulder City, which could break the threshold this weekend, said their schools will remain in Division I-A for the next two seasons.

No other Division I-A school is on pace to reach 150 points, but five Division I schools have fewer than 15 points.

Desert Oasis has 11 points, Spring Valley nine and Sierra Vista six through the first five semesters. Rancho has 11 and Del Sol none in the Sunrise Region.

“We’ve got some Division I schools that are suffering,” CCSD executive athletic director Ray Mathis said. “They’re going to end up losing programs. I don’t see them surviving unless we throw them a lifeline.”

NIAA Southern Nevada Coordinator Bob Northridge recommended that the two Division I schools in each region with the fewest points, provided that number is fewer than 15, move to Division I-A for next season.

Northridge argued that taking two teams from each region would leave a balanced number of teams in Division I and would give the committee more time to evaluate the entire rubric process while still helping programs.

If a total of four teams are moved, it would leave 10 teams in both the Sunset and Sunrise Regions in Division I, likely creating two five-team leagues in each region. The Division I-A schools would number eight in the Sunset League and nine in the Sunrise League, opening the possibility for each Division I-A league to split into two.

It’s possible, though, three teams could fall below the 15-point total in the Sunset Region. Though under the committee’s proposal and the current point totals, Desert Oasis would remain in Division I.

“If we’re doing what’s best for kids and what’s best for schools, it’s not about the number of teams,” Desert Oasis athletic administrator Ron Isaacs said. “It’s about the competitiveness. Anybody below that 15-point number should move.”

The committee will meet again in April to further iron out point thresholds in future years.