Lake Washington moving to Class 2A next year
Seattle Times staff reporter
That's the philosophy administrators at Lake Washington High School believe in, and the reason the Kangaroos will compete as a Class 2A school starting next fall, when a new two-year classification cycle kicks in across the state.
As recently as 2009-10, Lake Washington played as a 4A school despite 3A enrollment numbers. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) gives member schools the opportunity to "opt up" (but not down) to any classification, and that's the direction LW took in the mid-2000s.
The Kirkland school landed in 3A again during the last reclassification cycle, which began in 2010-11, and played there. But with average enrollment down about 100 students to slightly under 1,065 in grades 10-12, the school falls just under the 3A cutoff of 1,086.
Sammamish of Bellevue, which opted up from 2A to 3A in the last cycle, is also making the drop to 2A with an enrollment just under 903. But Liberty, smaller still at just under 870, will remain 3A (enrollment figures are averaged over eight months, with November figures counted twice).
Interlake, meanwhile, is forced by size (nearly 1,207) to move back up from 2A to 3A. All will continue to compete in the KingCo 3A/2A Conference with the other 3A schools — Bellevue, Mercer Island, Mount Si and Juanita, which for the second cycle in a row sits right above the cutoff line at just over 1,096.
But for postseason purposes, LW and Sammamish will be 2A.
Interlake enjoyed success playing where it landed the past two years. The Saints won the 2A state girls soccer title last month, reached the quarterfinals in football and qualified for the state volleyball tournament.
"It changed everything for their sports," said George Crowder, a longtime coach now in his third year as the Lake Washington athletic director. "What I talk about is competitive equity ... What you want to do is give kids the greatest opportunity to compete competitively at their level."
There are few changes elsewhere around the Greater Seattle area. It's status quo in the Metro League, where Franklin and Bainbridge are the only "true" 3A schools in terms of numbers but the other 12 will continue to opt up.
In WesCo, Marysville-Pilchuck and Stanwood are dropping to 3A, while Lynnwood moves up with 4A numbers. Mount Vernon will climb from 3A to 4A and will leave the Northwest Conference for WesCo, which will have 4A and 3A divisions again.
There are no changes in either South Puget Sound League 4A or 3A, but in SPSL 2A Eatonville leaves (joining the Nisqually League as a 1A school) and is replaced by Orting (currently 1A).
The WIAA officially gave schools until Dec. 20 to declare intentions to opt up, but does make exceptions. The classification numbers are not official until approved by the WIAA Executive Board next month.
Mike Colbrese, WIAA executive director, said the Executive Board is forming a committee to look into possible changes in the reclassification process regarding the length of the cycles (going to every four years instead of two, for instance) and how to count alternative school students, among other issues.
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