Division alignments finalized for next two years

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association Board of Control voted last week on rubric thresholds for the next two-year realignment cycle and reaffirmed that smaller schools in Division I-A such as Boulder City will remain protected.

Because of smaller enrollments, Boulder City, Virgin Valley, Moapa Valley and Faith Lutheran will not have to move up to Division I even if they earn more than 150 points during competition in the next two high school years, 2014-2015 and 2015-2016.

“Like we have said all along, it is not fair for our athletes to have to compete with schools with much larger student enrollments,” Athletic Director Regina Quintero said. “We are happy that we are staying in Division I-A along with our old traditional Class 3A rivals Moapa Valley, Faith Lutheran and Virgin Valley.”

The board voted June 18 at its meeting at the Peppermill Resort in Reno.

The new alignment begins this fall with three Division I teams — Spring Valley, Sierra Vista and Del Sol — dropping down to I-A. Del Sol will play with Boulder City in the Sunrise League. The other two move into the Sunset League and are possible playoff opponents for the Eagles.

Boulder City and Faith Lutheran were the only two Division I-A schools to reach the 150-point plateau at the end of this past school year when the rubric was assessed, but both schools declined to move up to Division I.

The board also voted that Division I schools scoring less than 30 points in the next two years will move down to Division I-A for 2016-2017. Any larger schools currently competing in Division I-A that exceed the 150 points will be required to return to Division I.

The board voted not to double football points for the upcoming two-year realignment cycle, instead treating football the same as the other top tier sports: girls volleyball, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls basketball, baseball and softball.

ENJOY THE HOLIDAY

In order to avoid playing on Memorial Day weekend, the NIAA board voted to compress the spring sports season by one week for the next school year.

The board granted a one-year exception to the master calendar, shortening the spring season by one week so that state tournaments won’t fall on the holiday weekend as it did this past school year. Sports affected will be baseball, softball, boys and girls track, boys and girls swimming and boys golf.

NIAA Assistant Director Donnie Nelson said some schools ran into trouble finding lodging for spring state tournaments and that the costs of the lodging were excessively high.

Because the sites alternate between north and south, the majority of spring championships next year would fall in the Las Vegas area where accommodations would be costly during the holiday peak pricing period.