A6 — BAKER CITY HERALD
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2021
SPORTS
BAKER VOLLEYBALL
OSAA changes could move
Baker to different league
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Baker senior Lacy Churchfi eld passes the ball during
the Bulldogs’ sweep of Ontario on Monday, Oct. 4 at
the Baker gym. Baker has won 10 straight matches.
Baker girls
sweep Ontario
 Bulldogs extend
winning streak to 10
By COREY KIRK
ckirk@bakercityherald.com
The Baker volleyball team
gave their fans a treat Monday,
Oct. 4 by winning their 10th
straight match, a dominating
sweep of winless Ontario.
The Bulldogs, who im-
proved to 12-2, won the sets
25-6, 25-6 and 25-13.
Baker hasn’t lost in almost
a month, its last defeat coming
Sept. 8 at home against Weiser.
“Honestly it was a great
day for us ... it’s hard to ask for
much more,” Baker coach Ali
Abrego said.
With its winning streak
at stake, Baker now plays
two straight matches against
league rival La Grande, which
has played fewer than half as
many matches but also boasts
a 4-2 record.
Baker plays host to the
Tigers today at 6:30 p.m., then
travels to La Grande on Oct.
14 for a 6:30 p.m. match.
Abrego is excited to see
her players step into this
high-pressure situation, and
be ready.
“I’m excited to see them
compete,” she said. “We have
this long existing rivalry with
La Grande and so that always
adds to the pressure. It will be
(a) great opportunity to get us
ready for postseason if we are
able to make it there.”
Baker and La Grande have
three common opponents, Mac-
Hi, Pendleton and Vale.
Baker went 3-0 against
those teams, sweeping
all three.
La Grande went 1-2
against that trio, sweeping
Mac-Hi, but losing 3-0 to Vale
and 3-1 to Pendleton.
PENDLETON — Travel time and
expense, time lost in the classroom by
student-athletes, and league size are
some of the biggest concerns by local
athletic directors when it comes to the
Oregon School Activities Association’s
classifi cation and districting proposals
currently being considered.
The OSAA classifi cation and dis-
tricting committee began meeting last
month and sent updated drafts of both
proposals to member schools on Sept.
17, as it moves forward in the plan for
the four-year time block that begins in
2022-23.
The committee revised the drafts
after meeting Sept. 13. It will meet
again Oct. 11, Nov. 1 and Nov. 22 before
presenting a fi nal recommendation to
the executive board Dec. 13.
At present, the OSAA has six classifi -
cations, ranging from 6A, which incorpo-
rates the largest schools in the state, to
1A, which has the smaller schools.
Everyone else falls in between, and
that’s where some of the issues lie.
The six-classifi cation proposal would
keep schools from Bend and the Salem
area together in the 6A Mountain Valley
Conference. The Salem-area schools are
no longer in favor of going to Bend.
The fi ve-classifi cation plan would
have the Bend schools in a conference
with those from the Eugene area and
southern Oregon.
Pendleton is a 5A school, playing
most of its sports in the Intermountain
Conference with Hood River Valley,
The Dalles, Ridgeview, Redmond and
Crook County.
The football team plays in Special
District 1 with four of the IMC teams,
with Parkrose, Putnam and La Salle
Prep thrown in.
If the OSAA condensed to fi ve classi-
fi cations, the Bucks would fi nd them-
selves in a league with Crook County, La
Grande, Madras, Redmond, Ridgeview
and The Dalles.
“We are very much in favor of that,”
Pendleton Athletic Director Mike
Somnis said of the fi ve classifi cations.
“That is very much our preference. I
think we have a lot more schools similar
in student numbers. We want to be in
a big league with a lot of schools. The
bigger the league, the better for us. The
smaller the leagues, it’s too hard to get
nonleague games.”
The move would have Pendleton
dropping to a 4A school, but Somnis said
that is not a concern.
“We would still be in the second big-
gest classifi cation,” Somnis said. “Part of
the scenery has Hood River moving, but
it is a good-looking league and we are
in favor of it. Either scenario works, but
we are in favor of the fi ve classifi cations.
There are a lot of decisions to be made
before December.”
The current 5A classifi cation that
Pendleton plays in has schools ranging
from 515 to 999 students. The Bucks are
on the bottom end of that spectrum with
588 students.
In the new proposed 4A classifi cation,
the student numbers would range from
401 to 899 (in grades 9 through 11), still
leaving Pendleton in the bottom half.
“We are still very competitive across
the board,” Somnis said.
While Pendleton is in favor of fi ve
classifi cations, La Grande Athletic Direc-
tor Darren Goodman would like things
to stay as they are.
“There are different trains of
thought,” he said. “The overwhelming
thought is that the travel involved in
the league with Pendleton is extensive.
Our travel budget would increase two
or three times and the kids would miss
so much school. The closest game, other
than Pendleton, is The Dalles, which is
a 6-hour round trip. If you are going to
Madras or Redmond, it’s 5-plus hours
each way. Kids would miss the entire
day of school and they are already out
too much.”
Goodman does like the thought of a
bigger league and better competition,
but those issues don’t outweigh the
others. Currently, the Tigers are in the
Greater Oregon League with Baker,
McLoughlin and Ontario.
“Who doesn’t like good competition?”
he said. “We can schedule games with
those teams for better competition, but
we aren’t forced to do it every week. “It’s
hard to play against schools twice your
size, and that’s what going to fi ve clas-
sifi cations does.”
La Grande has 432 students, which
would make them the second-smallest
school in the 4A classifi cation after
Madras (418).
If La Grande were to be moved, its
GOL counterparts would move to 3A
and be put in a league with Burns,
Nyssa, Riverside, Umatilla and Vale.
Ontario would be the largest school of
the group with 364 students.
“La Grande is not a priority for the
committee,” said Goodman, who also
noted that the winter months can be
hard with extensive travel. “At the end of
the day, we will go where we have to go,
but the class time the student-athletes
will miss will be dramatic.”
Baker Athletic Director Buell Gonza-
les Jr. is on the fence about the changes.
On one hand, he would hate to lose
La Grande out of their league. On the
other hand, a larger league makes it
easier to schedule for football, volleyball,
basketball, baseball and softball.
“The smaller the league, it makes it
more diffi cult to fi nd games later on,”
Gonzales said. “I would prefer to stay
where we are and have the ability to
create our own league for that specifi c
purpose. What makes sense for me is
that your league is not tied to your clas-
sifi cation. It’s silly that La Grande would
not be in our league. If we are going to go
fi ve classifi cations, still put them in our
league.”
Right now, Baker’s longest trip is
Mac-Hi, which is roughly 2 hours. Uma-
tilla and Riverside add a little more time
on the bus, but it’s not unreasonable.
“For a lot of schools, the ultimate
thing comes down to travel and money,”
Gonzales said.
The core of the 2A Blue Mountain
Conference — Heppner, Stanfi eld,
Weston-McEwen and Grant Union —
would stay the same in either proposal.
In the both proposals, Irrigon
and Enterprise would round out the
conference.
Pilot Rock, which already plays
8-man football, would drop from 2A to
1A in either classifi cation proposal.
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