Bigfork High School athletics move to Class A

Classification changes aren't unheard of, and there have been several examples around Flathead Lake in recent years.

But with Bigfork moving up from Class B to Class A, it's a shift that will change the look of athletics in the area, considering how successful the Vikings and Valkryies have been during their years in Class B.

Bigfork High School Athletic Director Matt Porrovecchio recently discussed the move to Class A in the Montana High School Association (MHSA). The move came as no surprise and has been seen coming for a couple of years, considering the school's enrollment is steadily growing.

The MHSA uses the following numbers for classifications: AA equaling 801-plus students, Class A ranging from 301 to 800, Class B from 101 to 300, and Class C for schools with 1-100 students.

Porrovecchio noted that Flathead County has also been experiencing growth and expansion in recent years. He added that while there will be some differences in the schools they compete against, he feels that the school has had a great experience in Class B and is excited for the new challenge.

"We've had our foot in both and have been in both Class A and B before," Porrovecchio said. "We competed and developed great relationships with those B schools and created some good rivalries, but I think we will pick those back up in A."

Bigfork will compete in the Northwest A Conference with Polson, Ronan, Browning, Columbia Falls, Whitefish, and Libby. Through the years, the NW A Conference has seen some shrinking and growing, but this latest configuration represents a high-water mark for the conference.

One of the benefits of the move to Class A, according to Porrovecchio, is that the school will no longer have to worry as much about finding sub-varsity games for freshmen and JV matchups. With a larger pool of students in these schools, more opportunities for these types of games should exist.

"When you're playing among smaller schools, you lose many of those sub-varsity games," Porrovecchio said. "You see it more in football, but it happens in volleyball and basketball too. That leaves us scrambling to find freshmen and JV matchups, which are important to develop a program."

The move to Class A reflects the school's enrollment, which currently sits at around 350 students. The swim team has already been competing at the Class A level, and the soccer team has also participated in Class A competitions.

"So it's really not shocking and leaving us in awe to make this change," Porvecchio said.

Bigfork also tends to play Class A teams in their nonleague schedules.

Playing in Class B has marked an extremely successful period for Bigfork athletics, marked by state championships and dominant teams in many sports. Porvecchio said they would probably work to keep their Class B connections by scheduling smaller schools for nonleague play.

Porvecchio expressed excitement about the upcoming fall season and the opportunity to see Bigfork High School's athletes compete at the Class A level. He noted that the school has enjoyed working with Class A schools in the past and is looking forward to forming new relationships and rivalries with other schools in the district.

An old change

In 2008, Bigfork was mulling a classification change in the opposite direction. Due to its small enrollment size and an effort to be more competitive, Bigfork moved from Class A down to Class B.

Bigfork, at the time, was the smallest Class A school in the state.

The school board at the time decided to make the change with a vote of 4-2, with some being concerned about the increase in travel time.

Many parents felt that dropping to Class B would be good for the kids and allow them to play more competitively.

Bigfork was Class A from 1997 until 2008, and during that time won three state championships, all in cross country. Between 1980-81 and 1997-98, Bigfork was in Class B and won 22 state championships.

Area changes

Libby and Ronan dropped to Class B in the past decade but have since moved back up to Class A.

Over a decade ago, Ronan had qualified to drop to Class B after the enrollment showed that the school had dipped below the threshold to stay in Class A. In a survey taken, over 70 percent of students at the time wanted to stay in Class A, but 10 out of 12 coaches wanted to move to Class B. The district ultimately made a move to drop in 2011.

Then in 2014, Libby also dropped to Class B, shrinking the Northwestern A Conference to just four teams. This was when the MHSA considered Class A to range from 340 to 825 students.

In 2017, Ronan and Libby were bumped back to Class A.

Lake County has also seen Arlee move up from Class C to Class B, while Mission has moved its football program to Class C 8-man.

A look at the numbers

The 2022-23 enrollment numbers will be posted this July, but Montana's 2021-2022 numbers show that Columbia Falls is among the largest Class A schools with 671 students, and Whitefish is also near the top with 577 students.

Polson is also at the top end with 512 students, as was Browning's enrollment of 553 students.

Ronan's enrollment was listed at 372, while Bigfork's enrollment was at 343 – but classification changes run on two years, so while their numbers may be in Class A, a change had yet to be initiated by the MHSA.

Libby's enrollment was 340.

In Class B, Arlee had 138 students, and Mission had 136 students - not leaving much room if there was an enrollment change from Class C's enrollment range.

In Class C, Charlo was listed as having 79 kids. Two Eagle's enrollment was not listed.