Class B athletics don't mean second class school

In today's paper you will see a comprehensive story about Bigfork High School's likely switch to Class B for most athletics. It is not likely to be the last time we write about it and it's sure to be a hotly debated topic in town.

It is, however, important to note that dropping a tier in athletics (to BHS's former classification, in fact) in no way translates to lowering academic standards at the school. If anything, the drop could mean some victories in sports that have been shut out of the win column for too long, and some pride along with it.

It's no secret that BHS's football program resides somewhere between terrible and abysmal on the field. Though credit is due to the coaching staff and players for drumming up interest in the school and the community this year, the team has posted only one win in four seasons and is clearly and consistently outmatched even by other schools known for getting perennially drubbed in the conference.

When I argued to a school official recently that many other teams — notably girls' teams — are often in the thick of the battle for supremacy in our very strong conference, he noted that being fourth-place in the Class A state tournament would pale in comparison to being state champions in a lower classification.

He's right. Bigfork will almost always get pummeled by schools like Columbia Falls and Whitefish, the first of which has two-and-a-half times as many students as Bigfork. It doesn't take a mathematician to see that any victories for the Vikes and Vals are statistical anomalies; we simply don't have enough kids to keep up.

The change makes even more sense if BHS is permitted to continue competing in Class A soccer (there is no soccer in Class B). Getting put in the proper classification for our enrollment and being permitted to keep playing one of our best sports is a win-win situation.

BHS regularly outperforms other schools of all sizes all over the Valley — and the state — in the classroom, with huge numbers of scholarships per student and consistently high test scores. On the field, however, it's been another story for a long time now. Hopefully a change to Class B will re-energize the school and the community and give these hard-working kids a chance to compete on a level playing field.

— Alex Strickland