Pahrump Valley Times Nye County's Largest Circulation Newspaper
CURRENT WEATHER: Clear, 47°



News
News
Opinion
Sports
Obituaries
Archives

Classifieds
All Classifieds
Employment
Real Estate
Autos
Merchandise

Our Newspaper
Archive
Columnists
Contact Us
How To Advertise
Subscriptions


 
Sports

Dec. 12, 2008

Do we need more reasons to distrust Class 4-A?


DON McDERMOTT
MORE COLUMNS


Advertisement

Las Vegas Vo-Tech, citing scheduling conflicts, withdrew Wednesday from the Pahrump Valley Times Trojans Cage Classic.

Vo-Tech thus became the second Las Vegas Class 4-A team to drop out of the tournament. Del Sol's boys were entered, but quit a couple weeks ago.

Which left Silverado's boys as the only remaining Las Vegas 4-A team to compete in the sixth annual tournament sponsored by the Times. Silverado was to play Pahrump Valley and Spring Mountain Thursday, with Amargosa Valley Horizon Academy on the schedule today.

So, a tournament that once had 12 teams entered is now down to 10. Pahrump Valley's JV girls were dropped from the tournament so that a four-team round-robin and single-elimination tournament bracket could be formed.

We should be pleased that 10 teams -- Beatty's boys and girls, Horizon Academy's boys, Faith Lutheran's girls, Bishop (Calif.) girls, Fremont (Calif.) American boys, Spring Mountain boys and the two Pahrump Valley varsity boys and girls -- are entered.

Canceled for a lack of entries was the Cactus Classic, a long-running tournament at Virgin Valley; it is usually played this weekend. Last weekend, the Rural Electric Classic at Wells had to fill out its brackets with several Class A junior varsity teams.

So, it is illogical to be frustrated by the withdrawal of Vo-Tech and Del Sol. But the question to ask is: All of the teams had plenty of notice concerning the Times tournament pairings; if there was any problem, a telephone call to the PVHS athletics department could have solved it.

For instance, Pahrump Valley was to have played Henderson Coronado in a girls and boys varsity doubleheader Thursday night. Because of the potential conflict with the Times tournament, Dan Lindgren, the PVHS athletics director, contacted the AD at Coronado and worked out a shift of that twin bill to last Monday. That change was achieved in a matter of a couple days.

Vo-Tech had the tournament schedule Nov. 25. Yet, the Roadrunner athletic department -- either the coach or the administrator -- waited until Wednesday to inform Lindgren. That is wrong.

But we could list any number of schedule snafus which have adversely affected the PVHS athletics department since the Trojans were moved to Class 4-A.

Schedules are particularly distressing this winter.

Only one home match is slated with Sunset Region Southwest Division opponents. That is Jan. 7, when Western and Bishop Gorman are supposed to visit.

Pahrump Valley will play eight division doubleheaders at home, but only one is on a Friday night. The date is Feb. 13 and guess what is going on that weekend? The state wrestling championships at the Events Center in Winnemucca.

Class 4-A officials are treating Pahrump Valley with little regard for fairness. But why am I not surprised? Because more than a year ago, I warned that PVHS would be treated with little regard -- along with the warning that Class 3-A athletics would be adversely affected.

I hesitate to use the word "discrimination," but find me another description of the disregard displayed by certain elements in the Las Vegas Class 4-A hierarchy.










For comment or questions, please e-mail webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com
Copyright © Pahrump Valley Times, 1997 -
| Privacy Policy