The CIF Central Section approved the membership request of Santa Ynez, Lompoc and Cabrillo high schools at its Board of Managers meeting on Tuesday night in Tulare.
The three Santa Barbara county schools and current Channel League members will join the Central Section in the fall of the 2022-23 school year.
Diana Nalbandian-Hatton, president of the Central Section Executive Committee, confirmed the decision Wednesday in an email to Noozhawk.
“Yes, Lompoc, Cabrillo and Santa Ynez were approved to be members of the CIF Central Section starting in 2022-23,” she wrote. “The vote was 30-11, with four members not present to vote.”
Nalbandian-Hatton added that the three schools will play in the Central Coast Athletic Association, which presently consists of 13 schools from Northern Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County. The schools are divided into the Ocean and Mountain Leagues.
The move means Santa Ynez, Lompoc and Cabrillo will be rejoining their former Los Padres League members in the Central Section.
For years, those schools played in the Los Padres League, which before disbanding consisted of St. Joseph and Pioneer Valley for football and Nipomo, Morro Bay and Orcutt Academy for all other sports.
In 2017, five Santa Maria area schools (Orcutt Academy, Pioneer Valley, Righetti, Santa Maria and St. Joseph) and Arroyo Grande, Atascadero, Mission Prep, Morro Bay, Nipomo, Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo and Templeton of San Luis Obispo County elected to leave the nearly 600-member CIF-Southern Section for the Central Section, which has around 130 schools.
When the 13 schools seceded from the Southern Section, it basically left Santa Ynez, Lompoc and Cabrillo with no nearby league to join. Geographically, the only alternative was the Channel League, whose schools have much larger enrollments.
The athletic directors and principals at Santa Ynez, Lompoc and Cabrillo felt the move to the Central Section was a better fit competitively overall and geographically.
“This was a good move for us for a couple reasons,” said Cabrillo Athletic Director Gary West after Tuesday’s decision. “Competitive equity is the main reason. We also thinks it will help us with travel.
“We feel we fit much better at this time in the Central Section.”
Said Lompoc AD Claudia Terrones, “When we looked at moving to the Central Section, we looked at three items: geography, population and competitive equity. We feel that the move helps us in all three areas. We are excited about the opportunity to join the Central Coast Athletic Association, which consists of 16 teams that are all north of us.”
The principals and athletic directors in the Northern Area of the CIF-SS expected the move when they went through the re-leaguing process last spring. The plan they put together for the 2022-23 school year has Santa Barbara High, San Marcos and Dos Pueblos joining Oxnard, Rio Mesa, Pacifica, Channel Islands, Ventura and Buena in a revised Channel/Pacific View League for football.
For all other sports, Channel Islands will compete in the Citrus Coast League with Hueneme, Carpinteria, Nordhoff, Santa Paula, Fillmore and Malibu. The remaining eight schools will stay together as members of the Channel League.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.