Two divisions planned for Class A

Whitefish High School will likely see some major changes to its sports schedules starting with the 2015-16 season.

Class A athletic directors from across Montana recently met and decided to split the state into two divisions — east and west — but keep the conferences as they are.

The Western A division would include Columbia Falls, Whitefish, Polson, Frenchtown, Stevensville, Corvallis, Hamilton, Dillon and Butte Central. The east would include Browning, Havre, Lewistown, Livingston, Belgrade, Laurel, Billings Central, Miles City, Glendive, Hardin, Sidney.

In football, the Northwest A division would send the top three schools to the playoffs, but sports like basketball and volleyball would have large divisional tournaments to determine state playoff berths.

The changes come after three schools in recent years dropped to Class B. Ronan moved to Class B three years ago, while Libby and Anaconda plan to drop down in the fall of 2015.

The moves will eventually leave just four schools in the Northwest A conference — Columbia Falls, Whitefish, Polson and Frenchtown.

Whitefish Athletic Director Aric Harris said he’s excited about the changes.

“It’s something that needs to be done,” he said. “It’s almost embarrasing we have a five team divisional tournament. It could be better to add the competition.”

He said scheduling will be a little different, with more trips to the Bitterroot and less trips across the divide.

“We’ll have to get cretive with double headers and tournaments,” he said.

The annual Tip-Off Tournament will now likely be held at the Adams Center in Missoula, Harris said.

Wrestling has already decided to combine this upcoming year and will have a divisional tournament in Corvallis.

The real work will be with scheduling the tournaments and games in the upcoming seasons and determining a rotation schedule for hosting.

Athletic directors will meet again in October to go over details.

“We still have a ton of work to do,” Harris said.