The proposed move of five Big East and PVC schools is voted down.
By Kevin Mills
Staff Writer

The proposal to shift five Eastern Maine schools to the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference was voted down last week.

The KVAC unanimously voted against full inclusion of schools from Bangor, Nokomis, Brewer, Old Town and Hampden Academy.

A second vote, however, elected to alter the schedule in four sports in an attempt to help those programs. By a vote of 24-1, the KVAC athletic directors approved partial inclusion of the schools on baseball, basketball, soccer and softball schedules, starting with the 2005 season.

“When you do our job, you always have to meet challenges,” said Colin Roy, president of the KVAC and athletic director at Mt. Ararat. “It was a challenge for us to take stock in what we’re here for. We’re here for the kids, but we didn’t want to harm or hurt the ones in our schools or in our conference. We also have to look at how we can help other kids as well. In the long term, I think this will help all of us.”

The five schools, members of the Big East and Penobscot Valley Conferences had approached the KVAC about possible inclusion in the future. Representatives from those schools met with KVAC members last month and have been in communication since.

Trying to accommodate those schools would have been a daunting task, especially adding the numbers of athletes to mass-participation sports like indoor track, swimming and wrestling where they would have been adding as many as 200 or more athletes to conference championship events.

Still, the KVAC membership understood the predicament of those five Class A schools. With fewer non-KVAC teams existing in Class A, it was getting harder for those teams, especially in basketball, soccer, baseball and softball, to maintain full Class A schedules. In basketball this season, those schools played each other three times during the regular season.

“We decided as a group that we could help them without full inclusion,” said Roy. “Our intention would be to help provide a complete schedule where they wouldn’t have to play each other more than twice.”

This basketball season KVAC schools played Big East schools as part of the regular schedule, part of a two-year agreement. Still, the Big East teams had to play three games against each other. In the future, those clubs will play twice, or maybe just once. The rest of the schedule will get filled out by KVAC clubs, allowing them to have a complete Class A schedule without playing each other more than twice.

“This was obviously a challenge,” said Roy. “We understood the dilemma we had. There was a moral question too. To turn your back on them is not right. We were able to help them even if it means we’re going to change some things in the KVAC.”

How the schedules will be revamped is still to be determined.

A number of options could be discussed and may vary with individual sports. KVAC committees, along with officials from the five other schools, will try to develop a plan which could include new divisional alignments based on geography. Results of reclassification for 2005 must also be factored in. While John Bapst is likely to drop from Class A to B, KVAC teams like Waterville and Medomak could drop while Class B programs Camden Hills and Erskine could potentially move up.

“What we have to do now is determine how it is going to occur,” said Roy. “We have to have each committee meet and have them discuss each format.”

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