New State High School classifications will have a few changes for Wesco

By Evan Smith

Contributing Writer

Shorecrest and Shorewood sports teams probably will be playing in a slightly changed Western Conference 3A division next year.

Don Dalziel, director of athletics for the Shoreline School District, said Tuesday that unofficial reclassification numbers show Shorecrest and Shorewood continuing to play in the 3A classification.

Dalziel said that preliminary numbers indicated that Shorecrest might drop to the 2A classification but current draft numbers show Shorecrest staying in 3A.

That means that Shorecrest and Shorewood would continue to play in the Wesco 3A division with Everett, Glacier Peak, Marysville-Getchell, Meadowdale, Mountlake Terrace and Oak Harbor along with Marysville-Pilchuck and Stanwood, both of which would drop from 4A and without Lynnwood, which would advance to 4A.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association reclassifies schools every two years based on enrollment in the fall.

The largest 17 percent of State high schools are classified as 4A, the next 17 percent as 3A, the next 17 percent as 2A, then 17 percent in 1A, 16 percent in 2B and 16 percent in 1B.

Lynnwood would leave the Wesco 3A for the Wesco 4A, where it would join Arlington, Cascade, Edmonds-Woodway, Jackson, Kamiak, Lake Stevens, Mariner, Monroe, Snohomish and another new 4A school, Mount Vernon, which would leave the Northwest Conference.

Dalziel emphasized that nothing will be official until the WIAA executive board approves the new classification numbers in late January.

Dalziel said that once the numbers are official, the Conference would make a decision on league format.

“It is looking like north and south 3A and north and south 4A divisions,” he said. “Who is in what division is not determined.”