When and if the class sports issue finally comes into play for the IHSAA, two area schools will have part of their underclassmen population to thank for their ideal situations when it comes to which class they were put in.

Enrollments for grades 9-11 were presented to the Indiana Department of Education and the IHSAA for the 1996-97 school year. These enrollments will be used to decide the classifications of the 383 schools in the state.

For baseball, basketball and volleyball, the top 95 schools will be in Class 4A, the next 96 in Class 3A, the next 96 in Class 2A, and the final 96 in Class A. If enrollments were equal a tiebreaking system was used. The first tiebreaker was the freshman class, the second the sophomore class, and the third the junior class. The higher the number in each class, the higher the classification.

Wawasee and Triton will benefit from these numbers.

When it was all said and done, Wawasee and Lowell High School were tied at 851 in grades 9-11. After the first tiebreaker, the freshman class, the two schools were tied. But Lowell had a bigger sophomore class and became the final school in Class 4A, the larger class in the state.

That made Wawasee the largest school in Class 3A.

In Triton's case, it took only one tiebreaker, but it was the same result. Triton and Shenandoah finished tied with 285 students in grades 9-11. But Shenandoah's freshman class was bigger, and they were moved into Class 2A.

That made Triton the largest school in Class A.

Certainly number of students won't necessarily reflect success, and the numbers will change when the whole program is re-evaluated in two years, but certainly it gives Wawasee and Triton a fighting chance for some of those additional state championships that were basically the reason behind the switch to multi-classes.

The classes will be used for the 1997-98 and 1998-99 school years. Assignments of schools to classes for football and softball will be released after Jan. 1, 1997.

For other area schools, Warsaw (1439) is in Class 4A, Whitko (543) and Tippecanoe Valley (525) are in Class 3A and Manchester (435) is in Class 2A.

Warsaw Leaving The NLC?

There has been talk about Warsaw leaving the Northern Lakes Conference for a conference of bigger schools. And there is some truth to this.

Because of the class sports situation, Warsaw might leave the conference that it was a charter member of. It could go into a conference that would include Penn, Mishawaka, Elkhart Central, and Elkhart Memorial.

Homestead, Huntington North and Goshen were also mentioned as possibilities of leaving their conferences for this new conference. But those three schools haven't showed much interest in doing so.

The thought is that if a school is playing against only larger schools in the class system, why not do it also in a conference. Whether you agree with that thinking, it could have an effect on other conferences around the state, which could change considerably or fold up all together.

Look for something to happen around next spring.

Ault Starting For Southwest Missouri St.

The former Warsaw boys' basketball standout and last year's Indiana Mr. Basketball has started the last three games for Southwest Missouri State, coached by former Manchester College coach Steve Alford.

Ault, who is basically in a four-guard rotation with the Bears, is averaging 7.2 points per game this season with a high of 12 points against Morehead State.

The Bears (6-0 this year) host St. Louis this Saturday at 3 p.m. The games that are close to Warsaw for the Bears are a Jan. 25 game at Bradley (Peoria, Ill), Jan. 27 at Illinois State (Normal, Ill), and a Feb. 13 game at Indiana State (Terre Haute, Ind.). [[In-content Ad]]