New Northern 4A leagues approved

The Northern 4A leagues will have a new look, beginning in the 2008-2009 school year.

A vote of all the principals of Northern 4A high schools was completed on Monday and they approved the realignment of the division's leagues. Beginning next school year McQueen, North Valleys, Reno High, Hug, Elko, Spanish Springs and Reed will make up one league while Carson, Douglas, Galena, Manogue, Fallon, Wooster, Damonte Ranch and South Tahoe will make up the other league.

The athletic directors of all the schools recently voted 11-4 for the realignment. The realignment was made official when the school's principals approved it. Douglas athletic director Jeff Evans said he didn't know the final tally, but that the realignment was overwhelmingly approved by the principals.

"I think change is good," Evans said. "It will be nice to see some new faces and to get some new rivalries going."

The new leagues will cut down on travel time and the amount of time that students will have to spend out of class, which was a selling point, especially for Washoe County's schools, Evans said.

Evans said he's more than willing to trade trips to schools in Reno in traffic for the trip to Fallon. And the trip to North Valleys for Douglas is just as far as the trip to Fallon.

"Our farthest trip will be Fallon," Evans said. "I've always enjoyed going to Fallon. We won't have to go through the Spaghetti Bowl during rush hour any more. That will be better."

It's likely that the names of the leagues will be changed from High Desert and Sierra to names that are more in line with the North-South realignment of the new leagues, Evans said.

"We haven't done that yet," Evans said. "We'll probably go with some kind of geographical renaming."