Coupeville Sports

   “At least with the fog, we can’t see that they have 60 players on their sideline!” (Shelli Trumbull photo)

Everything changes? Nothing changes? Who knows?

Every two years the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association reviews the number of students at every high school in the state.

Then, after some huffing and puffing, and some schools being slid around, they’ll re-set the class system that sports are played in and lock it into place for 2014-2016.

The preliminary numbers, released last week, show there may (emphasis on may) be some slight changes in the 1A/2A Cascade Conference.

Coupeville is still firmly (and I do mean firmly) locked in as the smallest school in the eight-team conference, with 225 students in grades 9-11. That puts them well behind King’s (368), Archbishop Thomas Murphy (369) and South Whidbey (398).

With 1A schools ranging from 208-512 students, CHS would have to magically lose close to 20 kids before numbers are firmed up in January to drop down a rung. So, barring a mass exodus, they will remain one of the smaller 1A schools in the state.

At this moment, there are three 1A schools and five 2A schools in the league. That could change. Maybe.

King’s and South Whidbey will remain 1A schools (ATM has 1A numbers but opts up to compete as a 2A school — you can opt up but not down) and Cedarcrest and Lakewood are both well above the 512 mark and will stay as 2A schools.

The question marks are Sultan (428) and Granite Falls (491). They’re currently 2A but the preliminary numbers would knock them down to 1A.

But, Granite Falls officials believe they will go back above the 2A limit when numbers are finalized. And, even if they were to miss out by a handful of students, they could still opt up to remain a 2A school.

Questions abound.

Will the league remain status quo, even if it ends up with more 1A schools than 2A schools?

Is there a (long shot) chance other 1A schools could enter the league, such as maybe Cascade Christian and Bellevue Christian? If the league became more heavily slanted towards 1A schools, would the 2A schools stay put?

How would the changes, if any, affect the playoff system already in place? This year, two of the three 1A schools advance to the postseason.

So, what does all this mean?

No one really knows until January.