Grand Rapids area teams..


Hastings' recent announcement that it will be moving from the OK Gold Conference to the Interstate-8 Athletic Conference has sent Jenison and Wyoming packing.

OK Conference commissioner Jim Haskins said Friday afternoon that the realignment plan that was passed this past April has been tweaked, ensuring that the Gold will have seven schools.

Jenison, which was headed for the OK Red under the new realignment plan, will instead compete in the OK Black. Wyoming, which was scheduled for the Black, will head to the Gold.

“The realignment committee met over a week-and-a-half ago and came up with a proposal that will make all divisions seven,” Haskins said. “The proposal was to move Jenison from the Red to the Black, and from the Black, Wyoming will be moving to the Gold. This allows for the least amount of movements.

“The final vote was due (Friday) at noon, and the final vote came out 41-6 in favor of that move. We will now have seven divisions of seven. The Red will be dropping down from eight to seven.”

The realignment plan will be implemented beginning with the 2016-2017 school year. The Hastings school board approved its move Monday by a vote of 6-1.

Haskins said the realignment committee considered a number of options, but moving Jenison and Wyoming made the most sense. It was based on enrollment, programs and geography.

“The big thing with Jenison was enrollment,” Haskins said. “They are the smallest in the Red. So they are moving down. The thing about geography, with any school going that way, gets pretty hard. That was the hard part.

“We didn’t plan for this, it kind of hit us by surprise. But everybody got down to work. Everyone knew we had to get this done because this is the time when we have to schedule everything for next year. We have to get this done no later than the end of this month. The members all got together and were able handle it.”

Check out the new conferences below, including each school’s enrollment is in parenthesis.

New teams to the ok conference are Fruitport, and Spring Lake. Hastings leaves the OK conference without giving a 2 year notice LOL.

OK RED

East Kentwood (2,581)
Rockford (2,561)
West Ottawa (2,299)
Grand Haven (2,050)
Grandville (1,825)
Hudsonville (1,763)
Caledonia (1,476)

OK WHITE
Forest Hills Central (1,304)
Ottawa Hills (1,290)
Northview (1,183)
Lowell (1,168)
Greenville (1,128)
Forest Hills Northern (1,124)
Cedar Springs (943)

OK BLACK

Union (1,837)
Jenison (1,418)
Mona Shores (1,239)
Reeths-Puffer (1,222)
Muskegon (1,113)
Kenowa Hills (1,030)
Fruitport (865)

OK GREEN

Holland (1,081)
Byron Center (1,070)
Zeeland East (1,040)
Zeeland West (840)
Hamilton (815)
Holland Christian (759)
Unity Christian (665)

OK GOLD

Wyoming (1,211)
East Grand Rapids (975)
Grand Rapids Christian (905)
Middleville (883)
Wayland (852)
Forest Hills Eastern (828)
South Christian (625)

OK BLUE

Sparta (832)
Coopersville (797)
Spring Lake (794)
Allendale (720)
Comstock Park (682)
Catholic Central (652)
West Catholic (442)

OK SILVER

Kelloggsville (640)
Belding (623)
Godwin Heights (602)
Hopkins (503)
Lee (491)
Calvin Christian (360)
NorthPointe Christian (345)