HJ Sports Blog

By Aaron Schultz
Sports Editor
It’s been talked about for a few years now, but this past week the talk is over.
Hutchinson, which was leaving the Missota Conference, has been attempting to get into the Wright County Conference for the past several years.
Those attempts have finally succeeded as the Wright County Conference administrative committee voted unanimously at its meeting Wednesday to admit Hutchinson into the Wright County Conference beginning in the fall of 2010.
Hutchinson initially made its presentation to the WCC in March 2008, but the vote officially took place this past week.
Their presentation focused on similar activities, location, natural rivalries, and competitiveness as reasons for wanting to join the conference.
The merits of the application, and other factors impacting conference schools, were carefully considered by conference activities directors, high school principals, and superintendents prior to Wednesday’s vote.
The addition of Hutchinson makes the WCC a 10-school conference. Schools that Hutchinson will join in the WCC are Annandale, Dassel-Cokato, Delano, Glencoe-Silver Lake, Litchfield, Mound-Westonka, Orono, Waconia, and Watertown-Mayer.
Besides making the WCC a 10-team conference, which could make scheduling easier with an even number of teams, Hutchinson is also in close proximity to a number of schools, which is good for transportation costs.
“With the way transportation costs have been, it is nice that they are just 15-20 miles down the road,” Dassel-Cokato activities director Perry Thinesen said in an article in the Dec. 1 issue of the Enterprise Dispatch. “I think we will be able to build some really good conference rivalries with Hutchinson, and the distance is a nice factor, too.”
One area of concern that dissuaded the WCC from adding Hutchinson in prior years was its size.
“I think the big issue with Hutchinson coming in was their size. We are adding another big school to the conference; how would this affect the smaller schools?” Delano AD Josef Haas said. “The vote was unanimous, so as a conference, we recognize that adding Hutchinson will help maintain the strength of the WCC.”
Hutchinson will now be the largest school in the WCC, with an enrollment of 875.
However, many of the WCC schools have been growing, and the disparity between the Tigers and some of the other schools in the conference won’t be nearly as big as it may have been several years ago.
Currently, Waconia has the largest enrollment of all the WCC schools, at 859.
The smallest school in the conference is Watertown-Mayer, with an enrollment of 491.
The sport that appears to be the toughest for some of the smaller schools to compete with Hutch in would be football.
However, the WCC, with the addition of Hutchinson, will have five Class 4A schools, along with five Class 3A schools.
This would make a possible division break-up (one division for the 4A schools and one for the 3A schools) a real possibility.
The 4A football schools in the conference, starting in 2010, would be Hutchinson, Waconia, Orono, Delano, and Mound-Westonka.
The 3A football schools are Annandale, Dassel-Cokato, Glencoe-Silver Lake, Litchfield, and Watertown-Mayer.
(Note: The Minnesota State High School League will be reviewing schools’ class placement this spring, so changes could occur at that time.)
Moving away from football, Hutchinson should fit right in with most WCC schools for pretty much every other sport, and makes a lot of sense. There may also be a different look for scheduling come 2010 in the WCC.
The addition of those games would mean the loss of non-conference games – games against section rivals, or area rivals that schools may not want to lose.
How, in the end, will the addition of Hutchinson affect the WCC?
Only time will tell, but it looks like a good move on both sides’ part, right now.
WCC changes its constitution
The WCC’s constitution did state that in order for a new school to get added to the conference, an unanimous vote of all the schools in the conference had to take place.
So, previously, like when Orono and Mound-Westonka were added, every single school in the conference had to approve of them entering.
The WCC voted to change its bylaws regarding accepting new teams to the conference.
The new amendment in the constitution, which passed by unanimous vote, changes the criteria to a three-fourths vote, which basically means that six of the nine schools would need to approve a new school to the WCC.
WCC school enrollment (10-12)
• Hutchinson: 875
• Waconia: 859
• Orono: 828
• Mound-Westonka: 737
• Delano: 670
• Dassel-Cokato: 621
• Annandale: 596
• Litchfield: 572
• Glencoe-Silver Lake: 515
• Watertown-Mayer: 491