Shorewood teams to drop to 3A classification

By Evan Smith

Shorewood High School sports teams will drop from the 4A classification to 3A beginning in the coming school year and join Shorecrest in a new Wesco 3A division.

Shorewood will drop from the 4A classification because it is no longer among the largest 17 percent of Washington’s high schools. That’s because of the growth of schools in other parts of the state. 
 
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association reclassifies schools every two years based on average grade 9-12 enrollment on three dates the previous fall.

The maximum for the 3A classification is now 1,304 students, compared to 1,280 two years ago. Shorewood’s average enrollment was listed at 1,285, Shorecrest’s at 1,168.

Shorewood and Shorecrest have been playing in a mixed Western Conference 3A-4A South Division, but with Shorewood, Mountlake Terrace and Oak Harbor dropping from 4A to 3A, they will join Everett, Glacier Peak, Lynnwood and Meadowdale in a new Wesco 3A division. The new Marysville-Getchell High School will become the ninth 3A division team in the 2011-12 school year.

The 11 remaining 4A schools will play in a six-team Wesco 4A North Division and a five-team Wesco 4A South Division.

When the WIAA created the 4A division in 1997, the 3A limit was 1,200, 2A was for schools with fewer than 600 students in grades 9-12, 1A for schools with fewer than 300 and Class B under 150.

Both Shorewood and Shorecrest were 3A schools from 1997 to 1999 and moved to 4A in 1999. Shorecrest dropped to 3A in a 2002.

In 2006, the WIAA adopted a six-division scheme, with the largest 17 percent of schools in 4A, the next 17 percent in 3A, with 17 percent in 2A, 17 percent in 1A and 16 percent each in the 2B and 1B divisions.