Displeased with the second draft of the North Carolina High Athletic Association’s realignment plan, a group of athletic directors in Iredell County got together to formulate a new alignment for 3A and 4A schools in western North Carolina.
Athletic directors Bobby Morrison, Nick Tomlin, Mark Weycker and Bobby Deal submitted a proposal that would put their high schools in an eight-team, all-3A conference with Hickory, Hickory St. Stephens, Newton Foard and North Lincoln. In their plan, Lake Norman and Mooresville are in a 4A conference with four schools from Mecklenburg County and two more from Cabarrus County.
Athletic directors from high schools across western North Carolina meet Jan. 23 at Maiden to discuss realignment for all the classifications.
Morrison, athletic director at Statesville High, and Weycker, athletic director at West Iredell, both said the push for the all-3A league is based on competition in all sports.
“The main thing is the smaller schools in 3A didn’t feel like they can compete with the 4A schools,” Morrison said.
West Iredell is the smallest high school in Iredell County. It averages 1,017 students per day, according to state athletic association numbers. Lake Norman, the largest in the county, has almost twice that with 1,998 students on a daily basis.
“I think any team would want to compete on equal footing and there are certain sports where numbers tend to dictate success,” Weycker said.
Lake Norman athletic director Steve Rankin said a split league is not a problem for his school while an all-3A conference is a good thing for the smaller schools in the county.
“Us and Mooresville could go either way,” he said. “We don’t have a problem playing the county schools. …Some people don’t want to do it because they look at 4A, and they freak out.”
Rankin said he prefers to be in a 4A conference with high schools in north Charlotte, Huntersville and two high schools in Cabarrus County. He does not want Lake Norman in the same conference as Vance and West Charlotte again.
“(Vance and West Charlotte) can win at football and basketball, but in the non revenue sports we get no competition whatsoever,” Rankin said.
The non-revenue sports he referred to are baseball, soccer, softball, track and field, tennis, cross country and lacrosse.
The state released two proposals, one computer generated and one staff generated, for conference realignment in December. The first draft had the 3A schools in Iredell County with three 3A schools in Catawba County and Lenoir Hibriten. Mooresville was mixed with teams from Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties, and Lake Norman faced a lot of time on the road with schools as far away as Asheville and Boone.
The second draft put the six high schools in Iredell County in a 3A/4A conference with Alexander Central (4A) and North Lincoln (3A).
“If you look at it from (Statesville’s) point of view, logistically and financially it makes sense for us,” Morrison said. “The travel is good, we would have this conference game with Alexander Central and we were glad to be able to start playing them last year.
“Mooresville brings an excellent gate and an excellent following. So gate wise, Mooresville makes a lot of sense. The split league makes sense, but when you look at it from competition, I can see the concerns the other coaches have.”
Conferences proposed by Iredell County
3A conference: Statesville, North Iredell, West Iredell, South Iredell, Hickory, Hickory St. Stephens, Newton Foard and North Lincoln
4A Conference: Lake Norman, Mooresville, Kannapolis Brown, Concord Robinson, Hopewell, Hough, Mallard Creek and North Mecklenburg
NCHSAA timetable for realignment
Jan. 23-24 – Member schools required to attend regional meeting (East and West)
Feb. 15 – Realignment committee to review alternative proposals, second draft by NCHSAA staff is distributed to schools
March 1 – Deadline for schools to respond in writing to second draft
March 15 – Committee meets to finalize conferences
April 1 – Deadline for procedural appeals; must be received in writing in NCHSAA offices by this date
May – NCHSAA board consider appeals. Finalize alignment
August 2013 – new alignment begins
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