Warriors have discussed moving into Northwestern Foothills 2A
WEST CALDWELL’S CLASSIFICATION HISTORY
A look at West Caldwell High athletics and conferences since the school opened in 1977:
Class League Yrs
3A N’western 77-84
3A Big Six 85-92
2A S. Dist. 7 93-00
2A Mtn. Valley 01-04
2A CVAC 2A-3A 05-08 2A CVAC 2A 09-12
2A SD7 Athletic 13-16
3A N’wstrn 3A-4A 17-18
SOURCE: HobbsDailyReport.com research and files.
By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
LENOIR – West Caldwell High’s request to move from Class 3A back to Class 2A for athletics has been granted, a tweet by the school said Wednesday.
“West Caldwell Athletics is proud to announce that our appeal to the NCHSAA was granted and we will be placed back into 2A beginning next school year,” the tweet said. “Thanks to Coach McMasters, Mr. Styron, and Dr. Phipps for the efforts in the appeal process. More information to come soon.”
West Caldwell was moved from 2A to 3A in a statewide realignment two years ago and placed in the eight-team Northwestern 3A-4A with Alexander Central, Freedom, Hickory, St. Stephens, Watauga and two 4A schools, South Caldwell and Watauga.
The average daily membership (ADMs) for West Caldwell in that last realignment was 1,054 with only Hickory (1,031) smaller in enrollment and South Caldwell having the largest enrollment in the conference (1,839).
In ADMs recently released and used to in the process of setting pairings for the state football playoffs, West Caldwell’s enrollment was 912, a drop of 142 students.
The previous gap between largest and smallest, South Caldwell and West Caldwell, was 785 students but it has increased to 839 (McDowell and West Caldwell) since the realignment.
West Caldwell has made inquiries about moving into the Northwestern Foothills 2A next season with current members Bunker Hill, Draughn, East Burke, Fred T. Foard, Hibriten, Patton and West Iredell.