NIAA adds 3 schools to DI-A

It’s official, the Division I-A will house three more schools starting in this fall.

Las Vegas schools Del Sol, Spring Valley and Sierra Vista will transition to the league after being approved for realignment by the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association Board of Control at last week’s meeting in Reno.

Del Sol will join the Sunrise League, while Spring Valley and Sierra Vista move to the Sunset League. The Southern DI-A increases to 16 schools in the two leagues.

Del Sol did not record a point over the past two years, while Sierra Vista had seven and Spring Valley 11. The rubric assigns point totals for league championships, playoff wins and appearances and regional and state championships to name a few.

The NIAA also approved a modification to the Southern Nevada Rubric for the next two-year cycle.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the threshold for schools to move from the DI to the DI-A has been altered. DI schools with 30 or fewer points will be realigned, which is up from the 15 points used in the last two-year cycle.

DI schools with 15 or more points were not eligible to transition in the 2012-14 period.

Faith Lutheran and Boulder City were the only Southern DI-A schools to reach the 150-point benchmark over the two-year period but exercised their options to remain in the DI-A this year.

In addition, the board also approved to allow Southern DI-A schools Faith Lutheran, Boulder City, Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley to keep their option to remain in the DI-A even if they meet the required 150 points to move to the DI.

In other NIAA news —

A bid by Hug High School to have independent status granted to its girls soccer and volleyball programs was denied by the board.

Hug’s petition to change its status for those two sports in 2014-15 was discussed, however, no vote was taken since a motion to approve was not seconded by any board member. Hug will continue to participate in the Northern Division I Northern Region’s High Desert League in all sports.

The spring of 2015 will be a more condensed season.

The board voted to accept a one-year exception to shorten the season by one week to avoid state tournaments falling on Memorial Day weekend, according to media reports.

The reasoning was due to raised lodging rates and less availability at many of this year’s tournaments in the North. The board is concerned it would be even harder and more expensive with most of next year’s spring state tournaments in Las Vegas.

The first day of spring practice remains Feb. 28, 2015.

Rancho, a DI school in North Las Vegas, was granted independent status in football for the next two seasons, according to the Review-Journal.

The Rams have been outscored 1,004-82 the past two years and have not scored more than 15 points in a game since 2011.

White Pine will compete in the DIII Southern League in all sports except soccer starting in the fall.

Board members also discussed introduction of a proposed change for the alignment of Northern boys and girls soccer leagues to create a relegation type format for Divisions I and I-A.

The Board will bring back an item at its next meeting regarding a minimum participation rule student athletes must meet to be eligible for the postseason in swimming and diving, track and field, cross country, golf, tennis, wrestling and bowling.

The next Board of Control meeting will be Oct. 1-2 in Reno.

Record Courier reporter Dave Price contributed to this report.