Greencastle set to join Western Indiana Conference

As its three county rivals weigh their options, Greencastle High School is moving forward with a plan to merge with the Western Indiana Conference.

The departure of Monrovia for the Hoosier Crossroads Conference at the end of this school year leaves just five members in the West Central Conference -- Cloverdale, Greencastle, North Putnam, South Putnam and Cascade.

The principals of the seven WIC schools recently voted unanimously to extend membership offers to all five WCC schools, potentially creating a 12-team "super conference."

On Monday, GHS principal Russ Hesler brought the matter before the Greencastle School Board for approval, expressing his excitement at the possibilities of the new league.

Featuring Brown County, Edgewood, Northview, Owen Valley, South Vermillion, Sullivan and West Vigo, many of the WIC schools are already on many Greencastle sports schedules.

The proposed oversized conference would require the member schools to divide into two divisions -- likely north and south or east and west. This alignment would alleviate concerns about travel time in the current WIC that stretches from Clinton in the northwest to Nashville in the southeast.

The two-division format would also allow for an end-of-season championship game between the two division winners in each team sport, along with large conference tournaments in individual sports.

In football, for example, the week nine schedule would not be set until all division play was complete, with the first-place teams from each side playing, then second playing second and on down.

"I think it's a great, exciting way to go before you go into your sectional," Hesler said.

It also seems Hesler went to bat for Greencastle's fellow Putnam County and WCC schools in this process. With the WIC looking for one just more school to make an eight-team league, Hesler requested more.

"They wanted us (Greencastle) to join, but I didn't want to leave the other WCC schools," Hesler said, stressing the importance of maintaining county rivalries.

The board gave the request unanimous approval, with board members and Superintendent Dawn Puckett praising Hesler's hard work in the matter.

Puckett wished for the approval to include "a strong commendation for Mr. Hesler and the role he has played."

With Greencastle and Cascade having accepted the invitation, the new league's roster currently stands at nine teams, pending the decisions of Cloverdale, North Putnam and South Putnam.

The invitation was not discussed at the South Putnam School Board meeting on Monday, but Superintendent Bruce Bernhardt told the Banner Graphic Athletic Director Ken Schnepp is in discussions on the matter.

North Putnam Athletic Director John Danaher said Assistant Principal Jason Chew has presented the issue to the school board via email. It is possible it will be discussed at the Thursday, March 20 school board meeting.

Cloverdale Athletic Director James Wade did not discuss details of the matter, saying it was the understanding of Cloverdale administrators that WIC officials wished there to be no public statements at this points.

Officials from all three remaining schools indicated that a decision would be coming in the next month.

The principals of the 12 schools are set to meet again on April 17.

With no certain conference lineup in place, no divisions have been set. However, Hesler did tell the school board that school size as well as geography might be considered in aligning the divisions so that neither has too many large schools nor small schools.

In the four-class IHSAA format used by all team sports except football, the proposed league would, under current alignment, feature six 2A teams and six 3A teams.

However, in football's six-class system, the teams stretch across four divisions from 1A (South Putnam) to 4A (Owen Valley and Northview).

Enrollments range from South Putnam's 383 students, according to the most recent IHSAA directory, to 1,083 for Northview.

Formed in 1970, the WCC grew to include as many as 10 members at its height. Its classic lineup featured the six current schools along with Danville, Edgewood, Owen Valley and Tri-West.

That iteration was in place from 1978 until 1999, when Danville and Tri-West departed for the Sagamore Conference and Edgewood and Owen Valley left to help form the WIC.

Avon was an early member, while Speedway took part from 1999 through 2010.

The five remaining WCC schools will continue play in the league in 2014-15, with realignment likely in 2015-16.