The start of the 2018-2019 school year brings with it conference realignment for some Wyandotte County high schools. New rivalries will be seen across the fields and courts, and there will be four leagues to follow, instead of only two.
As districts on the western edge of the Kansas City area experienced rapid population growth, some schools found themselves in a competitive disadvantage, due to smaller student populations than long-time rivals. The result was negotiations over the past few years that brought about the disbanding of the Kaw Valley League, formation of the new United Kansas Conference, and inter-conference moves for several other schools around the Kansas City area.
Turner High School, in Class 5A, is now in the newly-created United Kansas Conference, a group of six 4A and 5A schools ranging from Leavenworth to the north over to Topeka’s Shawnee Heights in the west. Turner will be joined in the UKC by former Kaw Valley members Lansing and Basehor-Linwood.
Bonner Springs and Piper high schools have joined the expanding Frontier League, a group of nine 4A schools from the southern and western periphery of the Kansas City area, such as Spring Hill and Baldwin. Former KVL member Tonganoxie will also move to the Frontier League.
Bishop Ward High School, in Class 4A, Division II, will move to the Crossroads Conference, composed of smaller religious and public schools with members in both Kansas and Missouri.
The Kansas City – Atchison League with the 5A and 6A schools from the Kansas City, Kansas, school district is unchanged from previous years.
The schools will compete in their new conferences starting with their fall sports over the next few weeks.