Valor Christian continues to absorb the ire of other schools.
Less than a month after the proposed football conference alignment revealed how splintered the state’s membership is about Valor Christian, the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Classification and League Organizing Committee (CLOC) meeting this week was more telling.
As a result of that meeting, the vast majority of Valor Christian’s athletic teams will operate as Class 4A independents in the 2012-14 two-year cycle. Only football, boys and girls lacrosse and hockey are not affected, as leagues for those sports are determined through a separate process.
Valor Christian didn’t want to go independent, but the Eagles couldn’t find a home, because some CHSAA members do not want to play against the emerging powerhouse.
To further underscore this point: Upon joining CHSAA, all new schools are placed on a probationary status. Valor was due to come off that status this month and become a full member, but membership voted to keep the school on probation. While that status is more symbolic than anything else, it’s believed to be the first time a school has failed to be granted full membership on its first try.
“I think the more conversations that take place, the more transparent it would be and people would be open about them,” said Overland athletic director Ron Garcia y Ortiz, who was at the Tuesday meeting. “I think Valor’s trying to kind of open those doors.”
While several leagues don’t want to include Valor Christian, CHSAA commissioner Paul Angelico said the school didn’t actively seek out a conference, at least not to the extent that satisfied the CLOC.
“(Valor Christian athletic director) Rod (Sherman) stood up and said: ‘We didn’t because we already knew Continental was going to tell us no, Centennial was going to tell us no, Jeffco already told us no. We went to that Colorado 7 league’ — a new 4A league — ‘and it was very apparent we didn’t fit there. . . . So we didn’t pursue that.’
Angelico added that the committee took exception to the fact that Valor “had accepted the fact that nobody wanted them, and expected the committee to place them in a league. So we said, ‘No, we’re not going to just place you in a league. You haven’t done anything on your own to try to mend those fences to try to get accepted into a league. So you’re going to stay independent.’ “
Staff writer Neil H. Devlin also contributed to this story.
Ryan Casey: 303-954-1983 or rcasey@denverpost.com
