In an expected move, the NIAA Board on Control accepted the Realignment Focus Committee recommendation of keeping 16 teams in the Division I-A South instead of the 18 that was originally planned at its board meeting last week in Reno.
The biggest move coming out of the discussion was Faith Lutheran moving back to Division I. The Crusaders, with an enrollment of 841, are a private school in Las Vegas. Faith Lutheran won six state championships this past school year and has won 16 Division I-A state titles in the last three years.
As a private school, Faith Lutheran’s enrollment is doubled because of the NIAA’s private school multiplier to determine classification. The school had an enrollment of 841 for the 2014-15 school year, which when doubled, puts it over the Division I-A ceiling of 1,200. The Crusaders also scored 204 points in the rubric, which assigns point values to schools’ finishes in 22 sports.
Even though the realignment cycle runs through the end of the next school year, Faith Lutheran already surpassed the 149-point total, which triggers a move to Division I.
“The focus committee took their time and came away with a recommendation that we liked,” said NIAA Assistant Director Jay Beesemyer. “We felt it was the right decision to move on. You’re not going to make everyone happy.”
Boulder City, Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley are protected in the system because their enrollment is under the 1,201 threshold of Division I school enrollment.
The question left is the school that will be replacing Faith Lutheran in Division I-A. Under the 2.0 multiplier, The Meadows, a Division III school in Las Vegas, would be moved up to Division I-A. The Meadows’ enrollment last year was 261, and when doubled, it exceeds the ceiling for Division III.
However, the school is expected to appeal that move. The Realignment Focus Committee sent out surveys to all of the Division I-A and II schools asking about the move. Thirteen of 17 Division III and 19 of 24 Division I-A schools returned the surveys in favor of The Meadows staying in Division III.
Beesemyer added that The Meadows’ appeal will become for the board along with Adelson School about their move from Division IV to III. Another appeal likely to surface is Laughlin going from Division III to IV.
“We expect to hear about four or five appeals,” Bessemyer said. “We will hear what they have to say. Laughlin might be the tricky one with quite a bit dicussion.”
The schools with the lowest rubric point totals in Division I is Eldorado with two points. Durango has six, Bonanza (11) and Desert Oasis (13). If a school has 15 or less points, they would drop down to Division I-A.
Currently Clark and Sierra Vista are on track to pass the 150-point total after next year and could move up to Division I but are in the same division. Desert Pines has 62 points in the other Division I-A South League.
The board also voted to move from a two-year rubric cycle to a four-year rubric cycle for Southern Nevada’s Division I and I-A schools.
In addition, the board voted to align Division I and I-A leagues in the south geographically in the future. Current Division I schools are placed in leagues based partially on geography and partially on rubric point totals. That made for anomalies such as Desert Oasis, which is one of the valley’s southern-most schools, being placed in the Northwest League.
The Division I and I-A North has said no to using the rubric process and are happy with the how the leagues are structured.
One more issue that has arisen in the number of teams each league gets at state tournaments. Currently, the Division I-A South and North have two representatives at the state tournament in volleyball, basketball, softball and baseball. Schools in the Division I-A South are fighting to make it a 3-1 process, since there are 16 schools in southern Nevada and nine in the north. Currently, Division I uses a system of three south schools and one north when state tournaments are in Las Vegas. It is a 2-2 system when state tournaments are in northern Nevada.
Beesemyer noted that preliminary discussions about tournament formats came up, but the tournament formats will be discussed at the board meeting in the fall. The push is to have the same formats in Division I and I-A.
The southern schools would like to see a 3-3-3 format used for the state wrestling championships, beginning in the 2016-17 school year. The Sunset and Sunrise South would get three wrestlers each and the Division I-A would get three teams. That would force pigtail matches in the first round of the state tournament, the same format Division I uses.
Also beginning in 2016-17, the state of Nevada will go back to to 1A (Division IV), 2A (Division III), 3A (Division I-A) and 4A (Division I).
