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New alignment creates tougher schedule for SRRHS
Written by Staci Gasser   
Wednesday, 08 August 2012 00:00

Arizona high schools are still getting accustomed to the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s changes put in place last year, and they will still feel the effects throughout this year.

Team Members of the 2011 Sedona football team warm up during practice last season (above). Ending the season with four wins and six losses, the football team lost a number of its players to graduation. The changes regrouped Arizona school districts so that the high school athletic teams would play teams closer to home, decreasing the time and cost of travel. They also condensed the previous conferences in order to have fewer state championships which saves money for the state.

“The AIA changes changed our schedule,” said John Parks, the athletic director of Sedona Red Rock High School. “The schools that we got matched up with are bigger schools, and they are good bigger schools.”

Parks, who has been SRRHS’s athletic director for 10 years, explained the new system created a tougher schedule for the athletic teams. SRRHS is now playing teams from schools that are three times its size. That can affect a small school’s chances of making it to state playoffs because other teams have a bigger pool of talent to choose from.

SRRHS was a 2A school in the old system, but now it is playing 4A schools.

“The new system has helped with our transportation costs and has decreased the time the kids are out of class because of traveling to a game,” Parks said.

Yet, even with the new system in place, SRRHS had a pretty good year in sports. The swimming team took eighth in the Arizona State Swimming and Diving Finals, the volleyball team made an appearance in the final four, the girl’s cross-country team took third in the state championship — even though Mykala Seresun finished the race first — the boys track and field finished second in the state championship and girl’s basketball made it to the first round of the state championship tournament.

For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Aug. 8, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.

 

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