I know the letter ‘A’ has been on many students minds the past couple weeks as well as your teachers with finals now complete. A’s have been on my mind since last June. The ones that decide what happens to the future of Terrace’s athletics the next four years.

Since the end of June, Mr. Schwab and I have spoken with Terrace athletes, parents, alumni and coaches, and AD’s from other districts regarding the pros and cons of being 2A or 3A. What happens is that every two years high schools in the state must turn in their current student population counts – sophomore through senior class. That determines what classification athletically your teams compete in the next two years.

What makes things interesting this time around is it is for four years not two years. There are six classifications in the state: 1B, 2B, 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A, with 4A being the largest and 1B the smallest. If you take a moment to look at the plaques in the gym we go from 2A to 3A to 4A back to 3A and now… We found out last week we fall into the 2A classification this time around. So what does that mean exactly?

There have been a lot of changes going on this time around. Schools have an option to opt up to a high classification if they want. Some are allowed, for some reason I cannot understand, to opt up two classifications. One of our big time rivalries the past few years has been Glacier Peak. They have ended up in 4A and Snohomish has moved down into 3A. We had the chance to move up if we wanted to, but in our case Mr. Schwab and I agreed wholeheartedly that Terrace would play wherever we land.

That being said Terrace will be a 2A school the next four years. There have been a few different plans put forth that would have our football team playing in a 2A-only football league. It sounded good on paper, but would have us playing in Blaine, Bellingham and Lynden every other year. Not real fair to our students, parents and alumni trying to get to these places on a Friday night.

When the dust settled, here are the only facts everyone needs to know: Terrace will be a 2A school athletically the next four years, Terrace will compete in the WesCo South 3A/2A League for the next four years, when post-season arrives for all sports we will compete in the NW District 2A Playoffs, who we play will be determined by a formula on wins and losses for each of our sports. Our district playoffs will most likely be at Mount Vernon High School for volleyball and basketball, softball at Sedro Wooley and baseball at Skagit CC.

Whatever lies ahead we have a great coaching staff with great kids ready to compete at any level anywhere anytime. Even if it means the Sun Dome in Yakima!