There is no question that Pahrump Valley High School being shifted Class 4-A by the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association is the top sports story in 2007. Tonopah, once thought to be headed back to Class 2-A, remained in Class A, along with Nye County's Beatty, Round Mountain and Gabbs.

The decision to assigned Pahrump Valley was based solely on numbers and not the use of any reasonable logic or consideration. Schools with 1,201 or more students will be in Class 4-A, and Pahrump Valley exceeded that total by less than 200 students.

That decision, however, created more problems than it solved and not just for Pahrump Valley student-athletes, who will now be competing against opposing schools which draw athletes from a student pool of more than 2,300 in the Sunset Region Southwest Division.

(Bishop Gorman has around 1,000 students, but because of its religious affiliation, can attract student-athletes world-wide).

There is nothing wrong with the best-and-the-brightest philosophy in education, but mix in athletics and that creates a whole different ball game. As Al Smith would say, "Look at the record." Gorman's record is excellent; to say Gaels teams don't have a distinct advantage in most sports would be denying reality.

What should have been the major concern for the NIAA is the status of the Southern Nevada Class 3-A League.

With the departure of Pahrump Valley in the 2008-2009 school year, only four schools -- Las Vegas Faith Lutheran, Boulder City, Overton Moapa Valley and Mesquite Virgin Valley -- will remain and there will be only 11 schools state-wide in Class 3-A.

Which means, an already impossible scheduling fiasco, will be infinitely worse.

And don't be surprised that sometime in 2008, Faith Lutheran will petition to move into Class 4-A. And if that request is granted, only three 3-A teams will remain in Southern Nevada. Then what happens to Virgin Valley, Moapa Valley and Boulder City? What is known is that there is little enthusiasm at that private school to compete in a four-team league.

Actually, retaining Pahrump Valley into 3-A would not have alleviated scheduling problems facing that classification.

Secondly, the addition of Pahrump Valley to the Sunset Region Southwest Division will not help Bishop Gorman, Sierra Vista, Durango, Spring Valley, Western, Bonanza and Clark in their scheduling in the seven sports Pahrump Valley does not offer.

Those sports are boys volleyball, boys and girls bowling, boys and girls tennis, and boys and girls swimming. In two instances (swimming and tennis), Pahrump Valley does not have access to facilities to incorporate them into its athletics program. There is no access because there are only a couple tennis courts in the valley and there is no indoor swimming pool (no YMCA or community indoors pool).

And those situations will endure until the Nye County School District gets some major financial assistance, and that's not likely to happen, considering the budget cuts Nevada educators now face.

Bowling could be added easily, since the Pahrump Nugget Casino has a 24-lane facility. Boys volleyball is played in the spring in 4-A and each of those 4-A schools has enough enrollment to draw players interested in that sport. Pahrump Valley, on the other hand, will have to consider boys volleyball rather carefully, since the school fields baseball, track, and golf teams in the spring.

It is no secret. Las Vegas schools do not like the idea of having to travel through the Spring Mountains to play at Pahrump Valley High School.

The Nye County School District board has decided to build a second high school in the Pahrump Valley, but that facility will not be ready until the 2011-12 school year at the earliest. Not even a definite site has been chosen and 2008 is just three days away.

The football stadium is to get 1,700 new seats in an ongoing reconstruction project. There then has to be major consideration given to lighting the baseball, fast-pitch softball and soccer fields, each of which should also have artificial turf.)

One thing must be done, sooner than later, and that is to hire a full-time athletics director. Moving into Class 4-A requires extraordinary attention when it comes to hiring coaches (like one in football), scheduling, working on improving and maintaining facilities (for games and practice), and a myriad of other details that keep viable an athletics program.

And when head coaches are hired, they should be aware of how important it will be to add assistants who know the game he or she is to coach.

Class 4-A athletics are big time in Nevada; boys and girls who play at that level receive more attention from college recruiters than do their sisters and brothers who play in Classes 3-A, 2-A and 1-A.

With the budget woes Nevada educators must now contend with, Pahrump Valley's move into Class 4-A will be even more difficult. Athletic administrators and coaches, if they have already worked in a Class 4-A program, will expect top pay for themselves and their assistants, and top-of-the-line facilities where their athletes can train and compete.

If there is not enough money, then what happens?

That's a question that is going to be answered in 2008 -- and that could be the No.1 story when 2009 evolves.