The South Iowa Cedar League could have a different look in the coming years, with the possible addition of four schools and splitting the conference into two divisions.
Last week, the Belle Plaine Board of Education learned that Twin Cedars of Bussey has petitioned the SICL for entry and Lone Tree, Highland-Riverside and Pekin could also ask for entry.
Currently Belle Plaine has the second largest enrollment of any of the existing SICL Conference schools. The state athletic associations use the enrollment in grades 9-11 from the previous year in determining school size and classes for competition. Belle Plaine had an enrollment of 169 students. Iowa Valley tops the list with 173 students, followed by Belle Plaine. BGM is next with 164, Sigourney with 157, Lynnville-Sully, 139; English Valleys, 130; North Mahaska, 125; Montezuma, 122; HLV, 107; Keota, 87 and Tri-County, 79.
The enrollment for Twin Cedars was listed at 116 students. Of the other three schools that could be potentially interested in jumping to the SICL, Pekin is by far the largest with 201 students. Highland had 140 and Lone Tree had 86 students.
Each of the four potential entrants would stretch the travel distance for Belle Plaine athletes and fans. Bussey is 87 miles away, Lone Tree, 61; Highland, 59 and Pekin is 58 miles away.
Twin Cedars is a member of the Blue Grass Conference, while Lone Tree, Highland and Pekin are all members of the Southeast Iowa Superconference North Division.
If all four schools were admitted to the SICL, there would be 15 schools in the conference and local officials indicated that the conference would undoubtedly be split into two divisions, with each team playing every other team in its division twice and one time per season from the other division in basketball, for example.
Conference expansion is a lengthy process, involving approval from member schools and formation of new schedules. It could take several years for it to materialize. It would also not affect the football schedule, since teams are assigned to districts every two years by the Iowa High School Athletic Association without regard to conference affiliation.