When the 4A-1 Conference is realigned in the fall of 2014, it will have a new look according to information recently released by the Arkansas Activities Association.
Every two years, the AAA goes through a enrollment counting process which sets the parameters for classification and conference assignments which doesn’t come into play until the end of the current two-year cycle. The current conference alignment was decided upon in 2011 and will expire in the spring of 2014.
The biggest news is that long-time 4A member Farmington will be elevated up into the 5A classification as the steadily growing school district has grown out of 4A.
Their rise in enrollment had a hand in bringing Huntsville back into 4A competition after spending the past two years in 5A.
The move will reduce one of the state’s great rivalries in Farmington and Prairie Grove. Neighbors on the western borders of Fayetteville, athletic contests between the two schools have produced memorable games over the many decades they have shared the same district. Likely to remain on each other’s non-conference-schedules, their common games in the future will have decidedly less at stake.
The other major news is that Shiloh has been re-assigned back into 4A. They could petition to stay in 5A, where they successfully petitioned to be assigned after being lowered into the 3A classification for the current athletic cycle.
Shiloh’s move to 5A two years ago was based upon their desire to avoid playing with 3A schools, along with their equal desire to avoid the 4A-1. The 4A-1 district unanimously voted to exclude Shiloh from membership in the 4A-1 Junior High District due to a number of problems with the Springdale-based private school.
At the time of their successful petition to move into 5A, the Shiloh athletic director remarked in an interview that “we have always been successful, and we will succeed in the 5A.” How well has Shiloh succeeded in 5A?
The Shiloh football and basketball programs finished in the lower half of the conference (the girls’ basketball team was winless in conference games), with the sole award winning team being the volleyball team which lost in the state quarterfinals. The track teams finished third in both boys and girls district competition but they were 100 points behind the second place teams.
With parents and boosters upset with the huge increase of travel time in competing in 5A, along with the drastically reduced success of their athletic teams, it should be no surprise if Shiloh decides to accept their reassignment back into 4A.
With new rules curbing Shiloh’s penchant of recruiting other schools’ best athletes, the private school has little to no chance of ever matching their previous success in the 5A or even the 4A for that matter.
With Huntsville almost certainly coming in to replace Farmington in the 4A-1, Shiloh’s reappearance in the 4A-1 would likely move recent new member Ozark back into the 4A-4 conference. Ozarks’ return to the 4A-4 would then move Maumelle out of that conference and the dominoes would continue to fall.
Should Shiloh seek to stay5A, that move would likely push Morrillton down in 4A.
Morrillton is the smallest 5A school and would have to go down to make room for Shiloh. They would likely join the 4A-4 and Ozark would probably stay in the 4A-1.
In something that could have happened, Gentry was a scant five students away from dropping down into 3A. The Pioneers have the smallest school in 4A at current enrollments. Had Bentonville gone ahead and split their high school as was possible, Gentry would have moved into 3A which would have been a good thing for the west Benton County school.
To the uninitiated, the top 16 schools in enrollment are classed 7A, with the next 16 schools 6A. The next 32 schools are 5A, with the next 48 schools 4A. The 3A, 2A and 1A schools have varying membership numbers. Private schools are assigned the next highest classification per what their enrollment would ordinarily call for.
The current high school enrollment figures for the present 4A-1 schools are as follows: Farmington 501, Gravette 436, Ozark 415, Prairie Grove 415, Berryville 412, Pea Ridge 371, Lincoln 325, and Gentry 303. Possible league member Huntsville has 484.
Pea Ridge has the 83rd largest public high school in Arkansas. They were ranked 103rd in 2008, 95th in 2010, and 93rd in 2012. As they inexorably climb the enrollment rankings, they are still a long way from being a 5A class school. With the new athletic facilities coming online this fall, they would be among the best, if not the best, athletically equipped 5A. They arguably have the best facilities in all of 4A.
Pea Ridge would have to pick up their enrollment by 100 students to get into 5A, about a 25 percent jump.
So the ’Hawks will likely have new foes in conference competition in the next cycle, although none they haven’t played before.
Although a growing school district, it will be a while before the numbers force a change here as far as classification goes.
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Editor’s note: John McGee is an award-winning columnist and sports writer. He is the art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The Times. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports, Pages 8 on 05/08/2013