Carson High, Douglas High assigned to largest class for winter sports

Thursday’s NIAA realignment meeting ushered in the expected changes for the next winter sports season. Similar to the fall realignment meeting, the NIAA is adding a new classification to the state’s prep sports scene. With the addition of class 5A — now serving as the classification for the biggest schools in the state — league/region play in the North gets altered significantly as programs are forced into the 5A realm in the north or fall into 3A. There will be no schools in the 4A classification in Northern Nevada.

Carson, Douglas pulled up into Class 5A

Carson and Douglas will both be headed to Class 5A across the spectrum of the winter sports landscape.

The Northern Nevada rivals will join Class 5A in boys basketball, girls basketball and wrestling.

Class 5A in Northern Nevada will shift to one combined region as opposed to its previous two league format.

The bottom teams from Northern Nevada Class 4A will drop into Class 3A based on the realignment rubric used across by the NIAA.

Class 5A will now contain nine programs from the north in one region where all teams will be vying for postseason spots.

The number of postseason slots available will be determined at the NIAA’s next meeting after commissioner Bart Thompson encouraged committee members to gather input before a final recommendation at the next meeting.

The programs in each 5A region are as follows:

Boys basketball — Carson, Douglas, Bishop Manogue, Damonte Ranch, Galena, McQueen, Reed, Reno and Spanish Springs

Girls basketball — Carson, Douglas, Bishop Manogue, Damonte Ranch, Galena, McQueen, Reed, Reno and Spanish Springs. 

Wrestling — Carson, Douglas, Bishop Manogue, Damonte Ranch, Galena, McQueen, Reed, Reno and Spanish Springs. 

In boys basketball, Northern Nevada Class 5A will compete with 11 Southern Nevada programs for a state title. For girls basketball, 12 teams will represent the Southern Region and wrestling in Southern Nevada 5A will have 11 programs.

Changes for Class 3A

With the addition of new teams into Class 3A in the Northern Region, the region has been split into two leagues (East and West) divided into groups of six.

Dayton will remain in Class 3A for all winter sports, but will have some new competition in its region.

For winter sports, the Class 3A regions will break down as follows:

Boys basketball – East: Dayton, Churchill County, Elko, Fernley, Lowry and Spring Creek.

West: Hug, North Valleys, South Tahoe, Sparks, Truckee and Wooster.

Girls basketball – East: Dayton, Churchill County, Elko, Fernley, Lowry and Spring Creek.

West: Hug, North Valleys, South Tahoe, Sparks, Truckee and Wooster.

Wrestling – East: Dayton, Churchill County, Elko, Fernley, Lowry and Spring Creek.

West: Hug, North Valleys, South Tahoe, Sparks, Truckee and Wooster.

Additionally, Class 1A also saw league changes that were approved in a previous NIAA Board of Control meeting.

Sierra Lutheran basketball will still have its same five opponents in the Class 1A West League, but the league will welcome new programs of Oasis Academy, Coleville, Smith Valley and Sierra Sage.

Starting next winter, the Class 1A West League will have the most teams (10) of any other 1A League in the state.