Change of plan

Back in December, the Virginia High School League introduced an initial realignment  plan that would alter several Central Virginia districts. On Monday, the VHSL released a new plan that would completely change the landscape of high school athletics in the state.  

The new VHSL proposal would eliminate AAA/AA/A alignments and divide the schools into six different divisions based on size. Schools would be re-assigned into districts based on geography. For example, Franklin County would be a “division six” school, but they would join the Seminole District that consists of local rivals who are division three and four schools.   

“I think its really creative,” Albemarle athletic director Deb Tyson said. “I think the executive committee is really trying to meet the needs of all the members and trying to be as transparent as possible. This classification works in other states, so I’m glad that they have given these task forces the opportunity to look at it in detail.”  

Of all the area schools that the new plan would affect, Albemarle would see the biggest change. The new proposal would make Albemarle a “division five” school, but would place them in the Jefferson District. The Patriots would be in the same district as county rivals Western Albemarle and Monticello for the first time ever.  

“I think one of the goals of the whole plan was to maintain local rivalries while decreasing travel when possible,” Tyson said. “They’re looking at geography rather than enrollment numbers.”  

Joining the Jefferson District will substantially cut down on the amount of travel that the Albemarle athletic teams will have to do. With exception of Orange County, all of Albemarle’s Commonwealth rivals are at least one hour and half away. Often times, Albemarle student athletes will not get home from away games until after midnight on school nights. Albemarle’s farthest road trip in the Jefferson District would be to Powhatan High School, which is almost the exact same distance from its closest Commonwealth school in Riverbend High School.  

“I think its great for our kids,” Tyson said. “In terms of regular season play, decreasing travel, and increasing instruction time, those are all great things.”  

Albemarle has been locked into the same schedule in all sports (with the exception of CHS in football in 2011) for years now. The Patriots always played local rivals and their district slate only. Now with Western, Charlottesville, and Monticello part of Albemarle’s proposed new district schedule, the Patriots will have more flexibility in terms of who they schedule to position themselves better for postseason play. 

“We’ll be able to pick up some non-district schools that will help us in the point system,” Tyson said. “Our goal would be schedule division five or division six schools in those non-district games.”  

Albemarle has been a member of the Commonwealth District since 1997. The school has won 99 district championships including 12 in golf and 12 in boys lacrosse. The Patriots have won four Commonwealth District boys basketball titles and one football championship in 1997.  

After the 2012-13 school year, Orange County High School will join Albemarle and return to the Jefferson District. Orange was a member of the Jefferson District for six years, prior to joining the Commonwealth District last fall.  

“This is something that we were wanting,” Orange County athletic director Mark Cole said. “We tried to push in this direction because we were anxious to have neighborhood play.”  

OCHS is home to over 1,500 students. The school was larger than the second-biggest school, Louisa County, by almost 130 students. However, Orange was the smallest school in the Commonwealth District by far. Under the old model, Orange would have been stuck in the middle of being a very large AA school, or a very small AAA school.  

“You never want to be one of those schools that bounces around,” Cole said. “You would really like to have some stability one way or the other, but the population just comes and goes.”  

The Fighting Hornets made their presence felt in their short time in the Jefferson District,  The boys soccer team took home three Jefferson District titles. The baseball team went 20-0 in the regular season several years ago. In addition, the softball, field hockey, and boys basketball teams found success in the JD. The football team won at least seven games five times during their time in the Jefferson. The Hornets often competed with Monticello, Western and Louisa for the district championship, and Cole is excited to see a renewal of the old rivalries. 

“There were good rivalries there,” he said. "We enjoyed playing teams like Louisa, Western, and Fluvanna, and we’re excited to get back..”  

Like Albemarle, Orange would be competing in group five for postseason play.  

From teams leaving to teams staying put; William Monroe High School will remain in the Bull Run District in the latest proposal. Monroe left the Jefferson District this past fall to join rival Madison County in the Bull Run District. Under the new plan, the Greene Dragons will remain in the district for the foreseeable future.  

“I wasn’t surprised,” William Monroe athletic director Katie Brunelle said. “We asked to leave the Jefferson District. I can’t say the Bull Run hasn’t been good to us.”  

The Greene Dragons have turned heads since arriving in the Bull Run. Monroe's football team finished 7-4 overall and 5-2 in the district. The golf team took home the district title in the fall. The girls basketball team will finish second in the District, and the boys would finish first with a win over Clarke County on Wednesday night  

“We have been competitive in the activities that we have participated in,” Brunelle said. “That was part of our reason for wanting to leave was to be with schools similar in size.”

Monroe will be classified as a “group three” school, and will compete in the postseason with former Jefferson District rivals Western Albemarle and Monticello. Warren County will be added to the Bull Run district and compete in group three alongside Monroe. Madison will remain in the Bull Run and compete as a division two school.  

The James River District will grow by three with Park View, Prince Edward, and Chesterfield joining the district. Buckingham County will compete as a division two school.

A look at the entire proposal can be found here: http://www.vhsl.org/files/rr-2013-15-proposed-alignment-plan-model.pdf