Anaconda moving to Class B

[John K]

http://www.mhsa.org/Enrollment/2013-14% ... cation.pdf

Isn't 400 the A/B cutoff? It's interesting/surprising that only 12 of the 22 current A schools actually have an enrollment over 400. Class A would be deciimated if they adhered strictly to the guidelines. Belgrade would have to move up to AA, and 10 other A schools would have to move down to B, leaving only 11 schools remaining in A. I agree that with only 21 schools, it would make sense to realign Class A into three divisions.

[John K]

They could also just let schools move up to AA because they kicked ass in A or B and there is much more prestige available at the AA level.

Relegation would be a very interesting concept in high schools, but we have to go back to the trophy issue.

Along those lines:

So class A will be down to 21 teams (personally I feel 22 isn't enough to support 4 divisions). Last year you had two 6-team and two 5-team divisional tournaments.

For about 4 years there has been a group within class A pushing for two "super" divisions of 11 teams each. To accomplish this you would have two 8-team divisional tournaments. These tournaments would be huge and great tourneys. Imagine a divisional tourney at the Metra with Browning, Laurel, Billings Central, Hardin, Havre all at once. The place would be rocking. It keeps getting shot down by many schools in the classification. Among others one of the major reasons is that you would have to have the bottom 6 teams in each division play play-in games to get to divisionals and this isn't fair because not every player would get the chance to experience the tournament atmosphere. To me that is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard (fits in with the everyone gets a trophy thing).What do you guys think?

That would be similar to what they do in Class AA with the top team in each division getting an auto-bid to the state tourney, while the other six teams in each division must win play-in games to advance to state. They've been doing it that way for many years in AA, apparently with no major complaints, so the A schools would probably get used to it farily soon. Most of the Class B conferences have only 5 or 6 teams, and it seems sort of dumb to conduct district tourneys in which 4 of the 5 (or 6) teams advance to divisionals.

[LTown Cat]

http://www.mhsa.org/Enrollment/2013-14% ... cation.pdf

Isn't 400 the A/B cutoff? It's interesting/surprising that only 12 of the 22 current A schools actually have an enrollment over 400. Class A would be deciimated if they adhered strictly to the guidelines. Belgrade would have to move up to AA, and 10 other A schools would have to move down to B, leaving only 11 schools remaining in A. I agree that with only 21 schools, it would make sense to realign Class A into three divisions.

340 is the A/B cutoff...

[John K]

http://www.mhsa.org/Enrollment/2013-14% ... cation.pdf

Isn't 400 the A/B cutoff? It's interesting/surprising that only 12 of the 22 current A schools actually have an enrollment over 400. Class A would be deciimated if they adhered strictly to the guidelines. Belgrade would have to move up to AA, and 10 other A schools would have to move down to B, leaving only 11 schools remaining in A. I agree that with only 21 schools, it would make sense to realign Class A into three divisions.

340 is the A/B cutoff...

OK...thanks for the correction.

[LTown Cat]

Libby is also dropping to B.

It will be interesting to see what changes are made in class A. Right now here are the divisions for the 2015-2016 school year:
NW--4 teams
SW--5 teams
Cent--5 teams
East--6 teams

[John K]

Libby is also dropping to B.

It will be interesting to see what changes are made in class A. Right now here are the divisions for the 2015-2016 school year:
NW--4 teams
SW--5 teams
Cent--5 teams
East--6 teams

How about this alignment?
West - CF, Whitefish, Polson, Frenchtown, Stevi, Hamilton
Central - BC, Dillon, Browning, Lewistown, Havre, Belgrade, Livingston
East - BC, Laurel, Hardin, MC, Glendive, Sidney (unchanged)

This would actually be very similar to what it once was, before Class A went from 3 divisions to 4.

[LTown Cat]

Libby is also dropping to B.

It will be interesting to see what changes are made in class A. Right now here are the divisions for the 2015-2016 school year:
NW--4 teams
SW--5 teams
Cent--5 teams
East--6 teams

How about this alignment?
West - CF, Whitefish, Polson, Frenchtown, Stevi, Hamilton
Central - BC, Dillon, Browning, Lewistown, Havre, Belgrade, Livingston
East - BC, Laurel, Hardin, MC, Glendive, Sidney (unchanged)

It will either be that or they'll keep the 4 divisions and use them as "conferences" but the central and east will combine for a "super divisional", as will the NW and the SW. I like this better because you could then fill your non-conf schedules with teams that you will see at the divisional tourney and get rid of the play-up and play-down games. Under this scenario you would get 4 teams from each "super divisional" tourney at state. I think you would stand a much better chance of truly having the 8 best teams at state.

This would actually be very similar to what it once was, before Class A went from 3 divisions to 4.

[Bobcat80]

Libby is also dropping to B.

It will be interesting to see what changes are made in class A. Right now here are the divisions for the 2015-2016 school year:
NW--4 teams
SW--5 teams
Cent--5 teams
East--6 teams

How about this alignment?
West - CF, Whitefish, Polson, Frenchtown, Stevi, Hamilton
Central - BC, Dillon, Browning, Lewistown, Havre, Belgrade, Livingston
East - BC, Laurel, Hardin, MC, Glendive, Sidney (unchanged)

I like this layout. I might put Browning in the west. I always thought it was a better fit for them. Poor Havre is just up there by themselves. No way to help out their travel woes. Ouch

You look at Anaconda. It's the largest city in Montana besides the Big 7 with the AA schools. Is it an aging community? What's going on there?

[LTown Cat]

Libby is also dropping to B.

It will be interesting to see what changes are made in class A. Right now here are the divisions for the 2015-2016 school year:
NW--4 teams
SW--5 teams
Cent--5 teams
East--6 teams

How about this alignment?
West - CF, Whitefish, Polson, Frenchtown, Stevi, Hamilton
Central - BC, Dillon, Browning, Lewistown, Havre, Belgrade, Livingston
East - BC, Laurel, Hardin, MC, Glendive, Sidney (unchanged)

I like this layout. I might put Browning in the west. I always thought it was a better fit for them. Poor Havre is just up there by themselves. No way to help out their travel woes. Ouch

You look at Anaconda. It's the largest city in Montana besides the Big 7 with the AA schools. Is it an aging community? What's going on there?

You forgot Corvallis.

I was told the other day that there most likely wouldn't be a "central" in the true sense if they go to 3. It would prob be something like this:

NW--CF, Whitefish, Polson, Browning, Havre, Frenchtown
SW--Stevi, Hamilton, BC, Dillon, Belgrade, Livingston, Corvallis
East--Lewistown, BC, Laurel, Hardin, MC, Sidney, Glendive

Of course this could have been just speculation but the source was good.

[LTown Cat]

Also keep in mind the MHSA recommended that Glendive drop to B but they chose not to.

And Belgrade will be AA within 4 years unless something changes drastically.

[KittieKop]

Libby is also dropping to B.

It will be interesting to see what changes are made in class A. Right now here are the divisions for the 2015-2016 school year:
NW--4 teams
SW--5 teams
Cent--5 teams
East--6 teams

How about this alignment?
West - CF, Whitefish, Polson, Frenchtown, Stevi, Hamilton
Central - BC, Dillon, Browning, Lewistown, Havre, Belgrade, Livingston
East - BC, Laurel, Hardin, MC, Glendive, Sidney (unchanged)

I like this layout. I might put Browning in the west. I always thought it was a better fit for them. Poor Havre is just up there by themselves. No way to help out their travel woes. Ouch

You look at Anaconda. It's the largest city in Montana besides the Big 7 with the AA schools. Is it an aging community? What's going on there?

Havre's actually the biggest - not the school, but the community. Anaconda is probably second, but they're another consolidated government like Butte-Silverbow (Anaconda-Deer Lodge) and they're still smaller than Havre. Everyone else is pretty much in that 6,000-7,000 population area.

[LTown Cat]

Interesting read:

http://missoulapreps.com/montana-school ... ification/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Air Force Cat]

And Belgrade will be AA within 4 years unless something changes drastically.

I'm almost willing to put money down that says Bozeman will have another high school before Belgrade goes to AA

[LTown Cat]

And Belgrade will be AA within 4 years unless something changes drastically.

I'm almost willing to put money down that says Bozeman will have another high school before Belgrade goes to AA

You could be right--that would be the drastic change.

[NWCat]

[/quote]I was told the other day that there most likely wouldn't be a "central" in the true sense if they go to 3. It would prob be something like this:

NW--CF, Whitefish, Polson, Browning, Havre, Frenchtown
SW--Stevi, Hamilton, BC, Dillon, Belgrade, Livingston, Corvallis
East--Lewistown, BC, Laurel, Hardin, MC, Sidney, Glendive

Of course this could have been just speculation but the source was good.[/quote]

This puts teams driving over Marias Pass in the winter, which is (since the WF wrestling bus) a BIG point of contention up in this neck of the woods.

[LTown Cat]

I was told the other day that there most likely wouldn't be a "central" in the true sense if they go to 3. It would prob be something like this:

NW--CF, Whitefish, Polson, Browning, Havre, Frenchtown
SW--Stevi, Hamilton, BC, Dillon, Belgrade, Livingston, Corvallis
East--Lewistown, BC, Laurel, Hardin, MC, Sidney, Glendive

Of course this could have been just speculation but the source was good.[/quote]

This puts teams driving over Marias Pass in the winter, which is (since the WF wrestling bus) a BIG point of contention up in this neck of the woods.[/quote]

I know--I thought the same thing.

[kmax]

Libby is also dropping to B.

It will be interesting to see what changes are made in class A. Right now here are the divisions for the 2015-2016 school year:
NW--4 teams
SW--5 teams
Cent--5 teams
East--6 teams

How about this alignment?
West - CF, Whitefish, Polson, Frenchtown, Stevi, Hamilton
Central - BC, Dillon, Browning, Lewistown, Havre, Belgrade, Livingston
East - BC, Laurel, Hardin, MC, Glendive, Sidney (unchanged)

I like this layout. I might put Browning in the west. I always thought it was a better fit for them. Poor Havre is just up there by themselves. No way to help out their travel woes. Ouch

You look at Anaconda. It's the largest city in Montana besides the Big 7 with the AA schools. Is it an aging community? What's going on there?

Havre's actually the biggest - not the school, but the community. Anaconda is probably second, but they're another consolidated government like Butte-Silverbow (Anaconda-Deer Lodge) and they're still smaller than Havre. Everyone else is pretty much in that 6,000-7,000 population area.

While the actual population of Belgrade is smaller, I'd be willing to bet if you looked at the population of the school district as opposed to the town Belgrade would rival those. So much of Belgrade's growth has occurred in subdivisions that are not technically within Belgrade yet they are a part of the district. One of the elementary schools is even outside the city limits technically. I'm sure other towns have some of the same, but I think the tremendous growth in the gallatin valley the last 15 years has made this much bigger in Belgrade.

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

[SACCAT]

And Belgrade will be AA within 4 years unless something changes drastically.

I'm almost willing to put money down that says Bozeman will have another high school before Belgrade goes to AA

You could be right--that would be the drastic change.

Bozeman will only get another High school if it is also AA. To many Bozeman parents won't put there kid in an "A" school. Stupid, but it is that way here.

[KittieKop]

Libby is also dropping to B.

It will be interesting to see what changes are made in class A. Right now here are the divisions for the 2015-2016 school year:
NW--4 teams
SW--5 teams
Cent--5 teams
East--6 teams

How about this alignment?
West - CF, Whitefish, Polson, Frenchtown, Stevi, Hamilton
Central - BC, Dillon, Browning, Lewistown, Havre, Belgrade, Livingston
East - BC, Laurel, Hardin, MC, Glendive, Sidney (unchanged)

I like this layout. I might put Browning in the west. I always thought it was a better fit for them. Poor Havre is just up there by themselves. No way to help out their travel woes. Ouch

You look at Anaconda. It's the largest city in Montana besides the Big 7 with the AA schools. Is it an aging community? What's going on there?

Havre's actually the biggest - not the school, but the community. Anaconda is probably second, but they're another consolidated government like Butte-Silverbow (Anaconda-Deer Lodge) and they're still smaller than Havre. Everyone else is pretty much in that 6,000-7,000 population area.

While the actual population of Belgrade is smaller, I'd be willing to bet if you looked at the population of the school district as opposed to the town Belgrade would rival those. So much of Belgrade's growth has occurred in subdivisions that are not technically within Belgrade yet they are a part of the district. One of the elementary schools is even outside the city limits technically. I'm sure other towns have some of the same, but I think the tremendous growth in the gallatin valley the last 15 years has made this much bigger in Belgrade.

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

I think you're absolutely correct.

[catamaran]

done deal
http://www.belgrade-news.com/sports/art ... f887a.html