The new look for District 6 leagues

The the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has finalized the classification numbers, and new league alignments have emerged in District 6. For Lake Roosevelt, the changes are minor, but the choices of the other schools in certain sports will increase the effect of the changes.

The division of the Blue Mountain League during the classification process was the impetus to the big changes in the Central Washington 2B League. Asotin left for the Bi-County, which will be split into two divisions, North and South. That left Dayton, DeSales, Walla Walla Valley Academy, Tri-Cities Prep, and Liberty Christian with the tough decision of staying on as a five-team league or joining the Central Washington South. They chose to join the South.

As such, the League will now look more like the old North and South Central “B” Leagues for most sports. LR is in the North Central with Oroville, Tonasket, Brewster, Bridgeport, Liberty Bell, Manson, Waterville-Mansfield, and Soap Lake. The South Central will consist of Kittitas, White Swan, Mabton, Tri-Cities Prep, Liberty Christian, DeSales, Walla Walla Valley Academy, Dayton, and Lyle-Wishram. Under the umbrella of the Central Washington 2B name, the league will have 18 members for some sports.

Okanogan ended up half a student too big for 2B and will return to the Caribou Trail League. Warden increased from 225 to 242 students and will be returning to the South Central Athletic Conference for the 2016-2020 cycle. The South Central 2B League will include some of the small 2B school in the state: Lyle-Wishram (89 students), Liberty Christian (84.5), and DeSales (72).

Raider Football for the next four years will not have regular season trips to Mabton for a game, only for the crossovers at the end of the season. LR now only has one non-league game to schedule with eight league games and the crossover filling out the 10-game schedule. That could change if league members opt to play 8-man, rather than 11-man ,football. That is what Liberty Bell and Waterville-Mansfield did, forcing the other league members to find extra non-league games. Bridgeport did not play football last year, leaving all schools who had scheduled them in the lurch to find another game. The Raiders will have to wait and see if all members will respect their position as 11-man schools or if some will opt down to 8-man.

For volleyball, the new league alignment will mean no non-league matches. WIAA limits the season to 16 matches. Therefore, with the nine school league, the Lady Raiders will have 16 league matches. The athletic directors may decide to adjust league play to allow non-league action; again, we will have to wait and see.

All sports that allow 20 games, such as football, will benefit from the new North Central League schedule. With 16 of the 20 games being league matchups, the schools will only need to fill out the schedule with four non-league games. Likely for the Raiders and others in the North Central League, two of the non-league games will be with Pateros and Entiat, who will continue to struggle to fill their schedules with the small number of 1B schools in Central Washington.

Individual sports and tennis will see little change in their schedules due to the league alignment. Where the most change will occur is in the postseason, with berths to state and who comes to the district events. LR could have increased chances to gain a postseason berth in multiple sports.

League members by size (biggest to smallest)

North Central 2B South Central 2B Caribou Trail League

Tonasket Mabton Cashmere

Brewster White Swan Omak

Bridgeport Kittitas Chelan

Manson Walla Walla Valley Academy Cascade

LR Tri-Cities Prep Okanogan