Centre weighs adding schools to league
Staff writer
Wheat State League, which Goessel, Centre, and Peabody-Burns High Schools are a part of, could accept two new members as early as the 2028 school year.
Ell-Saline High School in Brookville and Bennington High School are looking to join the 11-school league of class 1A athletics.
During Centre’s school board meeting Monday, time was allotted to discuss how Ell-Saline and Bennington would fit into the league’s makeup.
“With our size, it’s difficult,” CHS superintendent Daniel Ackland said Tuesday. “They are two larger schools. … We’re quite a bit smaller than some of the other league schools.”
Ackland estimated that Centre’s enrollment was two-to-three times smaller than Ell-Saline’s and Bennington’s.
He said it would be a challenge from a competitive standpoint because — more often than not — larger student bodies produce a greater number of student athletes. Another drawback is that the schools are more than an hour away from Centre, making travel for road games another added cost, he said.
Should Ell-Saline and Bennington be accepted during October’s league meeting, the schools would have to wait a two years before becoming official members.