The Realigning of Minnesota State High School Conferences

This past Wednesday, John Millea from the Star Tribune wrote an article about the realigning of conferences in the Minnesota State High School League. There was an entry on Millea’s Strib blog posted the following day.

The bottom line on all this is:

The five-school Classic Lake Conference announced it will disband after the 2009-10 school year. Those schools (Armstrong, Edina, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Wayzata) are in the process of applying to existing conferences, with no luck so far.

–Armstrong applied to the Northwest Suburban but was turned down. Armstrong may turn to the North Suburban and apply there, but Armstrong officials don’t feel the North Suburban is a great fit for them.

–Hopkins and Wayzata have applied to the Northwest Suburban and are waiting to hear if that conference will accept their applications.

–Edina, Minnetonka and Wayzata have applied to the Lake Conference. Lake superintendents and principals will meet next week to consider those applications. If they are turned down by the Lake, expect them to apply next to the Northwest Suburban.

The bottom line is that it’s to everyone’s advantage to find a solution, because if the schools and conferences can’t figure it out themselves, then MSHSL will step in and place the schools in conferences, which may not work out to either the school or the conference’s best interest. There is even talk about numerous realignments in the state that are not related to the Classic Lake Conference and talk of a new conference as well.

As much as I understand that this will affect MN State High School soccer play, I am not really familiar enough with the issues except to bring your attention to it. However, I consulted Ryan Meulemans, girls varsity soccer coach of Chaska High School. Meulemans seems to have a very good handle on the situation. Chaska High School is in the Lake Conference. He told Inside Minnesota Soccer, “I think what we are seeing right now is the trickle down effect of the disbanding of the Classic Lake. In my opinion, many schools are taking this opportunity to weigh all their options to come up with what meets the needs of each individual school. Athletic/Activity directors, superintendents, and school boards are probably trying to match competitive placements, offerings of activities, and transportation costs to which group of schools best match these needs.”

In regards to the Lake Conference, Meulemans explained, “Besides offering most sports, the Lake Conference offers lots of academic activities such as science teams, quiz bowls, speech and drama, that schools may compete in at the conference level. Comparing these types of offerings across conferences is important to ensure that schools with these programs don’t lose them.”

Meulemans also stressed that travel and transportation, as well as enrollment will play a role in the discussion of how a school fits into a conference. On the issue of Travel and geography, he referenced the Star Tribune blog post and commented, “The article discusses the drive between current Missota member schools Red Wing and Hutchinson. Driving 2, to 2 1/2-hours one way can be taxing on the student athlete. In the Lake, we have similar issues between our western most schools, our eastern most schools, and southern most schools as well. Driving between Chaska-Chanhassen-Eden Prairie to Rosemount or Lakeville South can be awful anytime during the week between 3:00-6:00 (rush hour). The options to get from west to east are I-494, hwy. 13, or County Road 42. Now throw in snow, and forget it!”, he exclaimed. “The drive can easily be over an hour and a half. Now consider a 7:00 game that goes to over-time –these athletes that left their school at 4:00 p.m., aren’t getting home until maybe 11:00 p.m.”

The Chaska varsity girls coach also said that enrollment is a “key point,” stating that schools have to also consider, “enrollment projections and the ability to be competitive. There are a few different types of districts in the Lake Conference. There are districts like Lakeville, Chaska, or schools of Eastern Carver County, and to some extent ISD 196 (Eagan-AV-Rosemount) which have committed to multiple high schools with in their districts. There are the districts like Eden Prairie (Wayzata, Minnetonka) that are committed to only having one high school. Then there are districts like Bloomington and Burnsville-Savage that were once large districts, and are now somewhere in-between with lower growth in the communities. Trying to match similar district goals and visions for high school enrollments will be a big factor in which schools go where.”

Meulemans concluded by saying, “I’m not in a position to guess as to where we may end up in a few years, nor am I comfortable speaking for our district, but I think this is a fair assessment of what’s going on in the state right now.”

It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out, but be assured, by the fall high school soccer season of 2010, you will see a number of new conference alignments and possibly even a brand new conference. A big thanks to Ryan Meulemans for helping me sort all of this out.