Houlton making move to Class C

When the 2003-2004 school year rolls around Houlton High School’s athletic teams will be making the move to Class C.

The SAD 29 school board, which covers the Houlton school district, voted to make the move Monday night.

Wayne Quint, the athletic director at the school, said the board had been considering the move for some time.

“We’ve had a meeting with coaches, the student body and parents. There was no resistance,” Quint said.

The school’s enrollment was the primary reason behind making the change.

“Our enrollment is down to 385 and it’s going to stay there. We’re not going to apply [to play] up,” Quint said.

The Class C enrollment cutoff is 399 for baseball, basketball, cheerleading, golf, soccer, softball and tennis.

“That’s where we belong at 385. We’ve been at 415 for quite a while,” Quint said.

The move will take the Shiretowners out of the Big East Conference Class B for basketball. Houlton will lose Mount Desert Island, Orono and Ellsworth from its schedule but will likely retain Class B schools Presque Isle and Caribou.

“We still play the [Penobscot Valley Conference] C schools. The league guarantees us games so we’ll replace those teams at the C level and we play in the [Aroostook] County league,” Quint said.

Quint said the spring and fall schedules would change little.

“We will lose Hampden and Hermon in tennis. We will lose Hermon in soccer and replace them with Calais,” he said.