Schools
Robbinsdale Cooper Among Seven Schools to Form Metro West Conference
The new alignment would begin play in the fall of 2014 with a complete slate of high school sanctioned activities.
Robbinsdale Cooper and six other schools are embarking on a new venture, launching a new conference with some traditional first-ring suburban rivals and some new, southwest metro competitors.
The Metro West Conference will align mid-size high schools from the Twin Cities west and south metro beginning in 2014. The conference currently includes seven high schools: Chaska and Chanhassen High Schools, Bloomington Jefferson and Bloomington Kennedy High Schools, Richfield High School, Robbinsdale Cooper High School and St. Louis Park High School.
Applications are being accepted for high schools that wish to join. The conference will offer a full complement of Minnesota State High School League-sponsored activities and athletics.
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“Chanhassen High School opened in 2009 and we doubled the opportunities for the students who live in our school district,” said Dick Ungar, Athletic Director of Chanhassen High School. “Chaska and Chanhassen are like Goldilocks, not too big and not too small. This is a chance to unite with other high schools very similar to us.”
Eastern Carver County Schools first explored creation of a new athletic conference during the 2011-12 school year. The district sought to create a conference based on several factors: enrollment size, athletic and activity programming and philosophy, level of competition and proximity. The district sought out high schools, including the current members, that would best match these criteria.
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“Getting the right mix of schools is important,” said Chaska High School Athletic Director Troy Stein. “Some of the best competitive experiences come from knowing you’re evenly matched with your opponent.” High schools in the new conference offer similar athletics along with activities like one-act play, speech, debate and choral competitions.
Students in the schools will be able to participate in a logo contest. Members of the mid-size conference and their current 2012-2013 enrollments are (in order of size):
Robbinsdale Cooper (1,916)
Bloomington Jefferson (1,723)
Bloomington Kennedy (1,559)
Chanhassen (1,515)
St. Louis Park (1,370)
Chaska (1,210)
Richfield (1,155)
The conference also seeks applications for an executive secretary. Applications and documents are available at Eastern Carver County Schools’ website, www.district112.org.
Information for this story was provided by the Minnesota State High School League.
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