Next vote will come Sept. 10, when Southern Conference schools
will weigh in on league issue
HOLLISTER
Gilroy High School may not be moving to the Monterey Bay League just yet.
A recent Board of Managers meeting among the 15 principals from the MBL and the Tri-County Athletic League voted in favor of recommending Gilroy High to remain in the TCAL, while having Christopher High play in the MBL until the next league alignment vote takes place in 2012.
The split option, which would keep seven schools in both the TCAL and MBL beginning in the 2010-11 season, will now go in front of the 36 Southern Conference schools for a vote on Sept. 10.
The vote among the 15 principals was 12-3, according to GHS athletic director Jack Daley, with Gilroy, Christopher and North Salinas rejecting the split option.
Other schools, Daley said, were seeking to keep seven schools in the TCAL and seven schools in the MBL for playoff implications. If Christopher moved to the MBL and Gilroy followed suit, which was the outcome of the original vote among the 36 Southern Conference schools back in March, the switch would reduce the TCAL to just six teams.
Under Central Coast Section rules, leagues must have at least five teams in order to receive automatic qualifiers to the postseason. A reduction to six teams, as would be the TCAL’s case, would be cutting it close to the CCS minimum, according to several athletic directors.
Next week’s vote could very well be the deciding factor in a league alignment discussion that began back in March. If the split option is the end result, Gilroy would remain in the TCAL and Christopher in the MBL until 2012.
“We’ll probably try to speed that up and get it going faster,” Daley said.
With Christopher High having officially opened its doors to students last month, many area school officials were seeking an equity league – including both GHS and CHS – which would have combined both the MBL and the TCAL into a two-division “super” league, the same format as the Blossom Valley Athletic League.
In a March vote among the 36 Southern Conference schools, however, the equity league was rejected, 20-16. In its place was a move some school administrators said was “shocking,” as both GHS and Christopher were approved to move to the MBL. Although the two Gilroy high schools were eyeing a move to equity, the move to the MBL met the two schools’ other criteria of playing within the same league.
Palma High School officially appealed the 20-16 vote in April, though, allowing more time for discussion.
Staff writer Josh Koehn contributed to this story.
