Priest River dropping to 2A for next classification cycle, future league still uncertain

PRIEST RIVER — Priest River Lamanna High School will bid farewell to the 3A Intermountain League next year, but hopefully not for long.

For the next two-year classification cycle (2022-23 and 2023-24), the Spartans’ athletic programs will drop down to the 2A classification.

“It was not an easy decision by any stretch,” said Paul Anselmo, West Bonner County School District superintendent.

Two years ago, Priest River saw the Idaho High School Activities Association approve its petition to remain in 3A for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years with 2A enrollment numbers.

This year, the school decided not to petition up again for a number of reasons, with the most important being their enrollment numbers.

Schools with an enrollment between 320-639 students are designated as 3A under the IHSAA. Priest River’s enrollment was at 261 on June 1, 2020, and 245 on June 1 of this year. Currently, PRLHS sits at 300 students, so numbers have started to come up and Athletic Director Mike Condie is optimistic that by the next classification cycle the Spartans could be right back in 3A.

“That’s kind of our hope,” he said. “... That’s what it looks like is going to happen and that’s what we’re kind of planning for.”

Matt George, who is currently the PRLHS principal, was the athletic director in 2019 when the school petitioned to remain in 3A. Priest River had 270 students at the time and 292 the year prior. George said he had preliminary discussions with Anselmo and others back then about the possibility of the school dropping down to 2A the next classification cycle, which is for schools with an enrollment between 310-160.

“We kind of felt like at the time enrollment was going to rebound and come up,” he said about the petition to stay in 3A.

Condie was hired as the athletic director in late August this year and, in his first few weeks on the job, started having conversations with George and Anselmo about what the school would do for the upcoming classification cycle.

Condie said they took a close look at the enrollment numbers and weighed the pros and cons and ultimately felt dropping down was the best option.

Anselmo said it was hard to justify petitioning to remain in 3A for a second time with enrollment falling significantly short of 320. While not ideal, Anselmo said the drop down has several benefits for Priest River, including the opportunity to compete against schools of a similar size.

Timberlake, one of Priest River’s foes in the 3A IML, currently has over 200 more students than PRLHS.

“I believe it provides our kids with that opportunity to perhaps secure more state berths in individual events as well as team events,” Anselmo said.

George said the move to 2A will allow Priest River to rebuild and develop some of its athletic programs that have struggled in recent years.

“The best thing for our kids is to be able to play some games that they can be competitive,” he said, “and find some success, and success isn’t defined by the scoreboard, but by at least being competitive.”

But the move down won’t come without its fair share of challenges, including what Priest River’s new league will look like. Currently, there is only one other 2A school in District 1 — St. Maries. There are two other 2A schools in District 2 — Orofino and Grangeville — and it's certainly possible that a league could be formed with those four schools, but that scenario would present some serious travel issues.

St. Maries is only two hours away from Priest River and the school is accustomed to making trips to play the Lumberjacks, but trips to Grangeville and Orofino are a different story. Orofino is roughly four hours away and Grangeville is even further.

Priest River has made trips to both places in the past, including every season in soccer, but doing it in every sport — particularly during the winter — just isn’t feasible, George said.

“There’s ways we can work around all this stuff and we can make it work,” he said, “but the reality is we can not go down Orofino and Grangeville and play a girls and boys varsity and JV basketball game in one night … That’s a brutal trip.”

“If we’re in the same league,” Condie added, “and having to make that trip multiple times, that’s going to put quite a kink in our plans as far as transportation and funding.”

One option that will be considered if a combined 2A District 1-2 league does come to fruition is playing neutral site games in a place like Moscow. That would help reduce the strain of travel on everyone, Condie said.

And there’s still the possibility that Priest River won’t have to play Grangeville or Orofino in league. Anselmo said the 3A and 2A schools in District 1 could do something similar to the combined 5A and 4A Inland Empire League.

In 2020, 5A schools Coeur d'Alene, Lake City, Post Falls and Lewiston, and 4A schools Sandpoint, Lakeland and Moscow agreed to combine in seven sports — boys soccer, girls soccer, volleyball, boys basketball, girls basketball, baseball and softball — for league games.

Only time will tell what Priest River’s league will look like in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years because right now nothing is set in stone.

“I think there’s a lot of stuff still on the table,” Condie said, “so it’s not a slam dunk that it’s going to be a combined District 1 and 2 2A league.”

Priest River and the other schools in the IML are also waiting for another potential domino to fall next month. At the IHSAA Board of Directors meeting in September, 3A IML opponent Kellogg petitioned to remain in 3A with 2A enrollment numbers for the next classification cycle. The IHSAA approved the petition, but now Kellogg is appealing that decision, according to Anselmo.

The IHSAA board will consider Kellogg’s appeal at their December meeting. Anselmo, who is also the president of the IHSAA Board of Directors, said he hasn’t spoken with other members of the board about the appeal, but he believes Kellogg could win it.

“It makes sense that it could go through, but that’s just my personal opinion,” he said. “Personally, I don’t see a reason why they shouldn’t be allowed to go down based on just the numbers.”

If Kellogg wins its appeal, they would drop down to 2A and join Priest River and St. Maries in District 1. That would allow those three schools to form a league, but would leave just Bonners Ferry, Timberlake and Coeur d’Alene Charter in the 3A IML, and Cd’A Charter only field teams in a handful of sports.

Clearly, there are still a lot of things up in the air, but regardless of how it all unfolds, Condie said Priest River will be ready for the move down to 2A.

“We’re up for the challenge whatever it may be,” he said, “and whatever ends up happening we’ll take it as an opportunity to grow as a program and we’ll still schedule in such a way that we’re able to do that.”