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WIAA gives final approval to several conference realignment proposals, including moving West Salem to MVC for football

10/23/2013, 3:15pm CDT
By Travis Wilson

From the WIAA:

The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Control voted to support four separate conference realignment proposals at its hearing today.

The plan receiving the most attention involved the Coulee, Mississippi Valley and Southwest Wisconsin Conferences. The decision moves West Salem from the Coulee to the Mississippi Valley for football only and requires mandatory crossover games between the Coulee and Southwest Wisconsin Conference in weeks three and four of the season beginning in the fall of 2014. Failure by any school in the three conferences to honor the plan will result in its removal from the football playoffs for four years.

An original plan, later amended by the Board last April, would have moved West Salem to the Mississippi Valley Conference for all sports. However, the plan was eventually voted down by the Board, and other proposals presented by the schools and conferences failed to produce support.  

In other realignment action, the Board approved final consideration of a plan that moves Augusta from the East Division of the Cloverbelt Conference to the Dairyland Conference for all sports beginning in the fall of 2014. Final approval of a plan to move Hortonville from the Bay Conference to the Fox Valley Association and place Menasha in the Bay from the FVA for all sports was also supported for 2014-15. 

In addition, the Board finalized the moving of Saint Francis from the Woodland Conference to the Midwest Classic and Wayland Academy from the Midwest Classic to the Trailways Conference for all sports effective in 2014-15. In related news, the Messmer/Shorewood cooperative football program requested and received approval from both conferences to move from the Midwest Classic and compete in the Woodland in the fall of 2014.

Membership rules required a 40-day window for schools involved in realignment plans to appeal the first consideration of the Board before it takes final action. Thus, schools had until today to file an appeal of the Board’s initial vote on Sept. 13. 

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