Teams changing leagues, classifications… but not Summit or Bend

Here is a recap of all the teams that’ll be making classification changes next year.

The biggest change is the IMC expanding in football to basically the old IMC and to what some sports, like tennis, currently have as their league.

Summit and Bend will not! Lots of people have been asking me about this. Summit, Bend and Mountain are all part of the 5A Classification (Oregon has a 6 classification system). Both Summit and Bend have higher enrollment than the 5A limit but are playing 5A because of a geographical exception. Basically, there is no league for them to play in Class 6A. With the three Bend schools joining the two Redmond schools, Central Oregon has a five-team 5A Central Oregon league, the Intermountain Conference. If Bend and Summit moved up, they’d have to play in likely a league with Salem schools. That would be a lot of trips over the pass, which no one wants, especially the Salem teams! Both Summit and Bend were willing to move up to the highest classification in the past, but no leagues wanted them… understandably!