New classification pits Crimson Bears against Fairbanks, Mat-Su

Juneau-Douglas High School's basketball and volleyball teams will play in a new, larger-school division in the 2004-05 season. But the Crimson Bears aren't sure what to think about their new classification.

• Photos

Related Item:

New School Classifications

The Alaska School Activities Association passed a resolution at its fall meeting in Anchorage last weekend that creates a fifth classification for the state's high schools, and Juneau is the only Southeast school to move up to Class 5A. The proposal also revamped the sizes for Class 4A and Class 3A schools.

"It's a little bit early to know the full extent of the ramifications," said Gary Bader, superintendent for the Juneau School District. "There are a lot of unanswered questions."

The change will pit Juneau against Fairbanks and Mat-Su schools instead of Sitka and Ketchikan.

Juneau boys basketball coach George Houston said he's not sure yet how league games will be scheduled in the new conference. Juneau might have to play home and away games against each team each year, or the Crimson Bears might be able to spread the games over a two-year cycle to cut travel costs. He also doesn't know how Juneau will fund the extra travel, especially since going to Fairbanks costs more than Anchorage.

Houston also is not sure what will happen to Juneau's traditional rivalries with Ketchikan and Sitka, since those schools will remain in Class 4A. Games against smaller schools can hurt the Crimson Bears in the state's Winning Percentage Index, which is used to seed the state tournament.

"There are a lot of unknowns, and we're waiting to see what happens," Houston said.

The new Class 5A, for schools with 851 or more students, takes effect in the sports of basketball and volleyball for the 2004-05 school year. According to John Andrews, the director of special events for ASAA, the change will not affect any other sports.

Juneau will move into the Great Alaska Conference, which includes three schools from Fairbanks and three schools from the Matanuska-Susitna area. The six Anchorage schools will form the Cook Inlet Conference and will be joined by a new Anchorage school scheduled to open in 2004-05. Both Class 5A conferences will have three state berths each in volleyball and basketball.

No longer the largest size classification, Class 4A now will be for schools with enrollments of 301 to 850 students. Class 4A will feature the Peninsula Conference, with five teams from the Kenai Peninsula plus Kodiak; the Southern Conference with Mount Edgecumbe, Ketchikan and Sitka; and the Northern Conference with five schools from Houston to Fairbanks and Barrow. The Peninsula Conference will have three state berths in basketball and volleyball, with one state berth for the Southern Conference and two berths for the Northern Conference.

Class 3A will feature schools with enrollments between 101-300. The Aurora Conference will have five schools from the Interior Region of the state, the Coastal Conference will have five teams from Western Alaska, the Central Conference will have three Christian schools from Anchorage and Seward, and the Southeast Conference will have Craig, Haines, Metlakatla, Petersburg and Wrangell. Each conference will get two state berths in basketball and volleyball, but the Coastal Conference still will drop down in volleyball to play in the Class 1A-2A-3A (Western) state tournament.

Two of the state's regions wanted more discussion on the proposal before a vote was taken, said Doug Rhodes, the activities director at Craig High School who is the Region V (Southeast) representative on the ASAA Board of Directors. But Rhodes said the proposal passed 6-2 with Region V and Region III (non-Anchorage Southcentral) voting against it.

Rhodes said Region V and Region III weren't opposed the reclassifications themselves, but they wanted to see more details about travel costs and cost equity worked out before a vote was taken.

"The Fairbanks schools will now have to come to Juneau for league games, but we wanted to see something in writing," Rhodes said about how things work out. "There's a lot of extra cost."

The biggest impact will be on the Southeast basketball tournament, which combines the current Region V-Class 3A and Region V-Class 4A tournaments into one weekend extravaganza. After the Region V-Class 3A and Region V-Class 4A champions have been crowned, they've traditionally played each other for the overall Southeast championship.

"It's going to change the face of Southeast basketball, and we'll lose 50 years of tradition," JDHS' Houston said. "It's going to be strange."

Charles Bingham can be reached at cbingham@juneauempire.com.