Member schools in TCAL, MBL could change at CCS meeting
HOLLISTER
The make-up of schools in the Tri-County Athletic League and the Monterey Bay League could be radically altered on Oct. 21 when the Central Coast Section board of managers will discuss an alignment recommendation between the two leagues.
After a three-pronged appeal process concluded earlier this month, Southern Conference schools approved a recommendation that would keep Gilroy High in the TCAL and place Christopher High into the MBL.
The CCS will now either approve or reject the recommendation during its Oct. 21 meeting. If it is rejected, both Gilroy and Christopher would be placed into the MBL beginning with the 2010-11 season.
Whether the recommendation will be passed, though, CCS Commissioner Nancy Lazenby Blaser said the board of managers typically look to see if there was an “overwhelming majority” among the voters.
“If everybody agrees that’s directly involved, they are more inclined to pass it,” she said.
The latest appeal recommendation did pass overwhelmingly by the Southern Conference schools in a 34-3 margin, according to Palma principal David Sullivan, but two of the three votes against the recommendation belonged to Gilroy and Christopher high.
Furthermore, the initial league alignment vote in March passed in favor of placing both Gilroy and Christopher into the MBL, albeit by a narrow 20-16 margin.
“I think they have to be thoughtful of that,” Lazenby Blaser said regarding the March vote, appealed in April by Palma High School.
Darren Yafai, the first-year athletic director at Christopher High School, said he’s unsure what will happen Oct. 21 when the board of managers convene.
“But I could see them approving it because the vote was so lopsided,” he said.
Both Gilroy and Christopher have been seeking to play within the same league since the first alignment vote in March.
The two schools voted in favor of equity, which would have combined the TCAL and the MBL schools into one league. But after the Southern Conference schools rejected the equity league in March, instead voting in favor to move both schools to the MBL, Gilroy and Christopher accepted the vote as it meant the two schools could play within the same league.
The latest recommendation, though, would split the Gilroy schools apart for at least two years.
“We’re bummed about that,” Yafai said. “But this is the will of the majority. We’ve got to abide by it and play ball.”
