South Sound Conference will debut for 2016-17 school year

The South Sound Conference will debut as one of two new Class 3A leagues in West Central District 3 for the 2016-17 school year.

It will be an eight-team league, including Capital, Central Kitsap, Gig Harbor, North Thurston, Peninsula, Shelton, Timberline and Yelm.

“Everything’s wrapped up,” Olympia School District athletic director Jeff Carpenter said. “They’ve got commissioners for each sport, and they’re starting to look at schedules. So everything’s going.”

Tuesday was the first official meeting of the SSC, which exists as the product of the WIAA’s new four-year classification cycle. The SSC and the Pierce County League — which is made up of Bethel, Bonney Lake, Lakes, Lincoln, Mt. Tahoma, Spanaway Lake, Stadium and Wilson — will replace the Class 3A Narrows League and the 3A South Puget Sound League next fall.

The name was the final piece for the SSC after it was created Feb. 2. It was one of a handful of names proposed, including the Quad-County League and the Pac 8 among others.

North Thurston School District athletic director Rich Yelenich said the SSC was geographically encompassing of each team in the league, and also leaves room for any future movement.

“We didn’t want to have a league necessarily with the number of schools in it after what we just went through,” Yelenich said. “We know how fluid that can be, so we didn’t want to have to change our logo and letterheads in two or four years because we went from eight to nine or eight to seven schools, or what have you.

“That kind of ruled out a league with a number in it. Same with Quad-County League.”

So generalization won out.

“The simplicity, and also it generalizes the whole area,” North Thurston athletic director Eddie Gentry said. “When you think about it, it’s really spread out.”

Central Kitsap athletic director Bill Baxter will be the league’s president for the first year.

The next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 23, and has scheduling and logo design as two items on the agenda. And that’ll be sourced out to students.

“We’ve got some bright, creative, artistic students out there who might create a logo,” Yelenich said. “So we’re going to bring samples or drafts of possible logos to our next meeting.”

2A SPSL expands

The 2A South Puget Sound League will grow to 16 schools next season, but River Ridge will still be the only member from Thurston County.

The league will be made up of two divisions, and include Clover Park, Eatonville, Evergreen of Seattle, Fife, Foss, Foster, Franklin Pierce, Highline, Lindbergh, Orting, Renton, River Ridge, Steilacoom, Washington, White River and Tyee.

How the divisions are split will be decided Thursday.

This story was originally published February 9, 2016 at 7:20 PM with the headline "South Sound Conference will debut for 2016-17 school year."