Editor’s note: Due to space constraints, this article has been shortened. For the full article, go to courierherald.com.
You may have read in the recent fall sports previews about how Enumclaw and White River High have moved from the South Puget Sound League 2A classification to the North Puget Sound League 3A.
The shift to a larger-school classification is the result of continued student growth on the Plateau.
Making the leap to the 3A world means a huge change to the athletic landscape when the coming days bring football, girls soccer, cross country, golf, volleyball, boys tennis and girls swim and dive.
The local schools have departed the SPSL 2A, a nine-school affiliation they called home during the 2020-2024 enrollment cycle.
Here are a few details about the reclassification process, how the local schools were impacted and who their new league rivals are.
THE WIAA PROCESS
The WIAA operates on a four-year enrollment cycle, placing all of the state’s 400-plus high schools into one of six classifications: from largest to smallest those are the 4A, 3A, 2A, 1A, 2B and, finally, the tiny 1B schools.
Schools are grouped by size to (in theory) provide a sense of competitive balance. Another part of the classification process is to set enrollment parameters that keep classifications roughly the same size.
The WIAA changed its numbers for the coming cycle largely because the 3A classification had grown notably larger than the 4A.
To address the issue, the WIAA’s representative assembly voted to change the classification ranges. During the four-year cycle that expired with the close of the spring 2024 season, the Class 3A parameters were between 900 and 1,299 students; Class 4A took in all schools with an enrollment exceeding 1,300.
During the four-year cycle that effectively begins this week the 3A range will be from 900 to 1,200 and the 4A will be 1,201 and larger. Moving the enrollment numbers has achieved the desired effect: the number of 4A schools has increased from 51 to 60; the number of 3A schools has dropped from 79 to 73.
A NEW HOME FOR HORNETS
Enumclaw and White River are now a part of the 3A division of the North Puget Sound League. It will be a nine-team affair that also includes Auburn Mountainview, Kent-Meridian, Kentlake and the four Federal Way schools (Decatur, Todd Beamer, Thomas Jefferson and Federal Way High).
The 4A side of the league will consist of Auburn, Auburn Riverside, Kennedy Catholic, Mount Rainier, Tahoma, Kentwood, Kentridge and Stadium.
The change in leagues and classification – where Enumclaw and White River are concerned – is striking for a couple of reasons.
First is the size of the Plateau schools in relation to their league peers. For four years, Enumclaw and White River have been among the bigger fish in a smaller pond, near the top of the Class 2A range. For the 2020-2024 cycle, Enumclaw was the fifth-largest school in the 2A ranks while White River was No. 9.
Now, the situation is reversed (smaller fish in a larger pond). For this new four-year cycle, Enumclaw submitted an enrollment figure of 975 and White River’s tally was slightly larger at 977. The position among the state’s 3A schools is noticeable, as both will be among the smallest one-third in the classification. Of the 73 schools in the newly-designed Class 3A, White River will No. 53 in terms of enrollment and Enumclaw is one notch behind at No. 54.
In the NPSL 3A, five schools are larger than the Plateau pair. Only Todd Beamer and Decatur are smaller.
