Changes coming to WIAA membership

Enumclaw, Bonney Lake and Sumner high schools will still head to Pasco if they make it to the state baseball competition.

October 25, 2018 10:15 am
Image courtesy Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.
Image courtesy Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.

Four schools will be leaving the statewide athletic association, the baseball finale will continue in Pasco and coaches are ordered to trade video in a timely manner. Those items were acted upon when the WIAA executive board met for the first time during the 2018-19 school year.

Leaders of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association gathered on a Sunday in September. Here’s a look at their action items.

• The board gave its formal blessing for four schools to depart the WIAA and join the Oregon School Activities Association, beginning next school year. The four – Bickleton, Glenwood, Lyle-Wishram-Klickitat and Trout Lake – will still need approval from the OSAA.

The four schools, all found in Klickitat County in southern Washington, began the process during the 2017-18 school year and requested the transfer in an effort to cut travel costs as well as to provide for complete scheduling across multiple sports. This follows a move by Hermiston, Oregon, High School, which jumped from the OSAA and joined the WIAA beginning this fall. Hermiston sought a league that cut down on travel and was already scheduling Washington schools on a nonleague basis.

• Board members agreed to use Gesa Stadium in Pasco for baseball championships at both the Class 3A and Class 4A level. The arrangements runs through the 2021-22 school year. The stadium will host the championship games, semifinal rounds and consolation finals.

• With the first-round matchups of the state football championships being determined by the WIAA playoff seeding committee for the first time this year, a video exchange policy was approved by the WIAA Executive Board.

Coaches will be required to provide a copy of their team’s three most recent games to their first-round opponent within 30 minutes of the tournament brackets being announced on Nov. 4. If the timeline is not met, WIAA staff will be notified and athletic directors will be ordered to meet the requirement. If the video is not received by 9 a.m. on Nov. 5, the football coach will be found in violation will be prohibited from coaching the ensuing playoff game.