New system a strong proponent of competitive equity
The most comprehensive league realignment in North Bay League history has been a model of competitive equity, or so says a consensus of school coaches and administrators at the two-year mark.
The system, implemented in 2018, merged former NBL schools with the Sonoma County League, forming a combined league with two divisions. The configuration features a highly competitive Oak Division, and less competitive Redwood Division.
The NBL includes Windsor, Analy, El Molino, Cardinal Newman, Elsie Allen, Healdsburg, Maria Carrillo, Montgomery, Piner, Rancho Cotate, Santa Rosa and Ukiah. St. Vincent of Petaluma was added to the fray this year, with all of its teams being placed in the Redwood Division.
League officials and school athletic directors met during the summer to reevaluate each sport, moving teams across divisions as needed.
Following the first two years of implementation, only a few teams changed divisions. Windsor, one of the most competitive schools in the NBL, has had the vast majority of its teams placed in the Oak Division since the new configuration was implemented two years ago.
The new configuration for the 2020-21 school year calls for the Windsor boys basketball and swim teams to move from the Oak to the Redwood Division, while the cross country and baseball teams move to the Oak Division.
Other WHS teams placed in the Oak Division are girls soccer, boys soccer, volleyball, girls basketball, girls tennis, softball, girls golf, boys tennis, boys golf, boys and girls wrestling and badminton. The track team joins boys basketball and swimming as the only other Windsor sports programs placed in the Redwood Division.
“I want to echo what we hear Jan (Smith Billings, the NBL commissioner) say all too often, Redwood is not a lower division, it is a development division and in some cases allows for teams to rebuild as well as find competition,” WHS Athletic Director Jamie Williams said. “The truth of the matter is our North Bay League is one of the more competitive leagues in the NCS and therefore I believe even in Redwood, our schools play at a high level with great outcomes of student skill development and program growth.”
As for the reigning league champion WHS baseball team, its placement in the Oak Division was both well deserved and possibly came two years later than expected.
“I’ve spoken to (baseball coach) Dave Avila many times about this and the high standards and expectations he has stayed consistent with on and off the field have resulted in more wins than losses over the past few years,” Williams said. “We all hope for a full spring ball season to see what our Jaguars can bring to the Oak Division this year.”
Under head coach Brandon Bronzan, the WHS cross country team is in the midst of a golden age of running the past two years and has more than proven itself worthy of the move over to Oak.
“Our cross country team has had not only some individual standouts making it to state over the past few years but also earned the Redwood title in both 2018 and 2019,” Williams noted. “There was no resistance at the NBL AD meeting as they moved to Oak this year.”
