By MIKE KESSINGER

mkessinger@gctelegram.com

When Ulysses Athletic Director Lee Gillen met with seven other athletic directors and one principal in late May in Scott City, he had one goal: find out who might be interested in looking at possible league realignments.

"All I was trying to do was see if there's interest," Gillen said.

Meeting with athletic directors from Cimarron, Colby, Goodland, Holcomb, Hugoton, Lakin and Scott City, Gillen wanted to look into the possibilities.

And if there was interest, maybe there was reason to push on with a proposal. To everyone at the meeting, the question was viable.

As some school districts have decreased in enrollment in western Kansas, one thing that has stood out has been trouble with schools filling junior varsity or C-teams to compete with those who do have enough athletes to fill those squads. The Hi-Plains League, which is made up of 11 schools in southwest Kansas, has found it to be a concern for schools like Hugoton, the only 4A school in the league, as well as 3A members Cimarron, Holcomb and Lakin.

The league proposed will be the eight schools involved in the talks.

"The (Hi-Plains League) is a wonderful league," Lakin athletic director Kim Lohman said. "It's not just in sports, but in arts, forensics, debate and other activities. All we are looking at is what a new league would want to do. More of this has to do with the lack of size in schools. Some teams may not be able to play JV or C-team."

Colby and Goodland are in the Northwest Kansas League, which also consists of Atwood, Hoxie, Oberlin and Quinter. The only 4A schools in the league, Colby and Goodland have some of the same problems as the larger HPL schools. In football this season, for example, Quinter will drop to 8-man.

Such a scenario is also a concern in the HPL.

"Two schools in our league may be going to 1A and 8-man football," Lohman said. "What we want to do is just to take care of our schools."

Ulysses and Scott City were the only schools involved in the meeting that come from a league with just 4A and 3A schools. The Mid-State Activities Association consists of Larned, Pratt and Thomas More Prep-Marian, along with Ulysses and Scott City.

"One of the primary questions is with scheduling," Gillen said. "There are issues with it, and when it comes to scheduling, needs are different sometimes. Schools get in a pinch sometimes when they need those games. We're in the very preliminary talks. It's something we want to be methodical with. No one wants to upset league members. All we're asking 'is there something that needs to be done?'"

At the meeting of athletic directors, all agreed they would take it to their school board to tell them what they had discussed and to get a feeling of what board members thought.

Holcomb athletic director Chad Krug took the question to the USD 363 school board June 10. Krug received a positive response from board members on a potential change in leagues.

Lohman took the idea to the Lakin school board Monday.

"I kind of knew that several years ago when there were discussions of league changes (the board) was open for changes and ideas," Lohman said. "And they were this time."

The athletic directors will meet again Tuesday in Scott City for more talks, but at this time all of them would rather keep the idea in the preliminary stage.

"It's one of those things we want to look at the options," Cimarron athletic director David Ediger said. "We want to see how schools can help each other. I think everybody is wanting to look. It's not necessarily people aren't happy with where they're at."