Here’s how Mid-Columbia high school classifications changed for 2024-28 seasons

Jeff Morrow
·6 min read

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association executive board finalized the enrollment numbers this week, listened to appeals from some schools asking to be dropped to a lower classification, and then released the classifications for the 2024-28 school years.

The bottom line for Mid-Columbia schools is, for the most part, everything stays the same when fall starts resume in the fall of this year.

There are a few minor changes for some leagues.

Here’s a look at our region’s athletic conferences:

4A/3A Mid-Columbia Conference: Everything in the MCC stays the same, with it being a mix of Class 4A schools (Chiawana, Hanford, Kamiakin, Pasco and Richland) and Class 3A schools (Hermiston, Kennewick, Southridge and Walla Walla).

4A Sunnyside: The Grizzlies program will continue to play in the 4A Columbia Basin Big Nine conference. Sunnyside stays as a 4A school, and in fact the entire league returns intact. What is interesting is that four of the seven schools — Davis, Eastmont, Eisenhower and West Valley-Yakima — qualify as 3A schools. But they all opted to play up in 4A. Moses Lake and Wenatchee are the other schools in the conference.

2A Central Washington Athletic Conference: Currently a seven-school conference, the CWAC will become a nine-school conference come fall.

Both Quincy and Toppenish are moving up from 1A, coming back into a league they’ve played in before.

They’ll be joining East Valley-Yakima, Ellensburg, Ephrata, Grandview, Othello, Prosser and Selah.

1A South Central Athletic Conference: The SCAC will drop two teams — Toppenish going up to 2A, La Salle dropping to 2B — and start the 2024-25 school year with eight members.

That will be College Place, Connell, Kiona-Benton, Naches Valley, Royal, Wahluke, Wapato and Zillah.

2B Eastern Washington Athletic Conference: The numbers shake out to 12 schools in the EWAC, so there likely will be an East and West Division.

The East Division will have the local schools: Columbia-Burbank, Mabton, River View, Tri-Cities Prep, Warden — as well as Granger likely joining them.

Walla Walla Valley Academy will drop down to 1B starting in the fall.

The West Division is Cle Elum-Roslyn, Goldendale, Highland, Kittitas, La Salle and White Swan.

The EWAC athletic directors are going to negotiate with the Central Washington 2B schools (among them Brewster, Okanogan and Tonasket) about combining state tournament berths for all sports next year.

1B Southeast League: Not sure the exact makeup for next year, but our area schools that should be involved in the league again are Dayton, DeSales, Prescott, Liberty Christian, Sunnyside Christian, Touchet, Waitsburg — and now Walla Walla Valley Academy.

Largest schools: Chiawana gets the nod as the state’s largest school, with 2,379 students. Tahoma is second with 2,131, while Pasco is No. 3 in the state at 1,912 students.

That Chiawana-Pasco situation will correct itself in a few years when that third high school is built in a couple years.

Prep basketball

Mother Nature took care of most of the Mid-Columbia Conference basketball schedule this past weekend. Ice and snow took out all boys and girls games on Friday, and half of the scheduled contests on Saturday.

This coming week, most of the cancellations will be made up.

Meanwhile, here’s quick recap of the games played this past weekend:

  • Dane Chavez scored 18 points and Adrian Cervantes added 15 as Kennewick’s boys beat Southridge 64-58 on Saturday.

  • Richland’s boys ran past Hermiston 84-55 on Saturday, as Luke Westerfield (19 points, 10 rebounds) and Josh Woodard (18 points, 8 assists) led the Bombers

  • Monday, Ken Higgins scored 16 points to lead visiting Walla Walla’s boys over Hermiston 55-43.

  • In girls’ play, Haylee Johnson scored 23 points and Dylyn Dress added 17 as Kennewick’s girls beat Southridge 70-39 on Saturday.

  • Richland’s girls held off Hermiston 71-66 on Saturday, as Mackenzie Schulz (18 points, 9 rebounds) and Maya Rowe (18 points, 7 rebounds) led the Bombers. Hermiston’s Izzy Simmons led all scorers with 20 points, and she had 13 rebounds.

  • Monday, Simmons scored 14 points and Aspyn Inners added 12 as Hermiston beat visiting Walla Walla 54-53. Miriam Hutchins and Madison Reibel both led the Blue Devils with 16 points each.

4A-3A MCC BOYS

Through games of Jan. 22

Richland (4A) 9-0 MCC, 10-3 overall

Kamiakin (4A) 9-1, 13-2

Walla Walla (3A) 8-2, 10-5

Southridge (3A) 6-4, 8-7

Kennewick (3A) 6-5, 7-8

Hermiston (3A) 4-8, 5-11

Hanford (4A) 2-8, 3-11

Chiawana (4A) 2-8, 2-13

Pasco (4A) 0-10, 0-14

Jan. 15 — Eastside Catholic 64, Richland 63.

Jan. 16 — Hermiston 68, Kennewick 57; Kamiakin 71, Chiawana 51; Richland 81, Pasco 21; Walla Walla 72, Hanford 60.

Jan. 19 — Kamiakin at Southridge, ppd.; Kennewick at Chiawana, ppd.; Richland at Hanford, ppd.; Walla Walla at Hermiston, ppd.

Jan. 20 — Chiawana at Walla Walla, ppd; Hanford at Pasco, ppd.; Kennewick 64, Southridge 58; Richland 84, Hermiston 55.

Jan. 22 — Walla Walla 55, Hermiston 43

Jan. 23 — Hanford at Pasco, 7:30 p.m.; Kamiakin at Southridge, 7:30 p.m.; Kennewick at Chiawana, 7:30 p.m.; Walla Walla at Richland, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 26 — Kamiakin at Kennewick, 7:30 p.m.; Pasco at Hermiston, 7:30 p.m.; Richland at Chiawana, 7:30 p.m.; Walla Walla at Southridge, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 27 — Chiawana at Pasco, 5 p.m.; Hermiston at Hanford, 5 p.m.; Kamiakin at Walla Walla, 5 p.m.; Southridge at Richland, 5 p.m.

4A-3A MCC GIRLS

Through games of Jan. 22

Kamiakin (4A) 9-1 MCC, 13-1 overall

Kennewick (3A) 8-3, 11-4

Chiawana (4A) 7-3, 10-5

Walla Walla (3A) 7-3, 9-5

Richland (4A) 6-3, 8-5

Hermiston (3A) 5-7, 8-8

Hanford (4A) 3-7, 4-10

Pasco (4A) 1-9, 2-12

Southridge (3A) 0-10, 4-11

Jan. 16 — Hanford 54, Walla Walla 42; Hermiston 53, Kennewick 51; Kamiakin 60, Chiawana 59 (OT); Richland 66, Pasco 37.

Jan. 19 — Kamiakin at Southridge, ppd.; Kennewick at Chiawana, ppd.; Richland at Hanford, ppd.; Walla Walla at Hermiston, ppd.

Jan. 20 — Chiawana at Walla Walla, ppd.; Hanford at Pasco, ppd.; Richland 69, Hermiston 64; Kennewick 70, Southridge 39

Jan. 22 — Hermiston 54, Walla Walla 53

Jan. 23 — Hanford at Pasco, 5:45 p.m.; Kamiakin at Southridge, 5:45 p.m.; Kennewick at Chiawana, 5:45 p.m.; Walla Walla at Richland, 5:45 p.m.

Jan. 26 — Kamiakin at Kennewick, 5:45 p.m.; Pasco at Hermiston, 5:45 p.m.; Richland at Chiawana, 5:45 p.m.; Walla Walla at Southridge, 5:45 p.m.

Jan. 27 — Chiawana at Pasco, 3:15 p.m.; Hermiston at Hanford, 3:15 p.m.; Kamiakin at Walla Walla, 3:15 p.m.; Kennewick at Central Valley, 5 p.m.; Southridge at Richland, 3:15 p.m.

Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.