League Change to Provide Competitive Equity for Lightning Athletics
League Change to Provide Competitive Equity for Lightning Athletics
Sage Hill School is always looking for ways to enhance the student experience -- and the Athletics program is a big part of that experience.
This year will mark the fourth and final year that Sage Hill School will compete in the Western Athletic Conference - San Joaquin League. In Fall of 2022, Sage Hill Athletics will be placed in the Orange County area for CIF- Southern Section - specifically within the Pacific Coast League as the eighth member of the league.
This is a strategic move aimed at continuing to develop competitive equity for Sage Hill student-athletes.
“We are always looking to grow and we really had to look into the future and determine where we wanted to be athletically here,” said Sage Hill School Athletic Director Megan Cid. “Our time in the Western Athletic Conference - San Joaquin League has been valuable, but I think one of the things we are looking for in this move is to continue to challenge our athletes.”
Sage Hill has had great success in Athletics over the years, including playoff runs in football, a CIF-SS championship in girls’ basketball, and a slew of other major league victories. With this conference move, teams will have the opportunity to keep reaching new heights with competitive matchups that continue to challenge them.
The conference change will also bring about some geographical reprieve as well -- our teams’ furthest league opponent will now only be 16 miles away from campus. In the current conference, games spanned across Southern California and often included an annual trip to Avalon High School that required a boat ride to Catalina Island.
“As an academics-first institution, this is huge because it allows for our student-athletes to be in the classroom as much as possible and lessens the amount of time that they are on a bus and missing class. This is also helpful to our faculty coaches as well,” Cid said.
As an added bonus, the short travel to games will allow for student and parent fans to have easier access to away games in order to support our Lightning Athletics teams.
“League opponents like University High School, Northwood and Beckman will be bringing bigger crowds to games than what we have seen in previous years,” says Cid. “My hope is that it will create these new local rivalries that will really encourage fan engagement.”
This will be a new and rewarding transition for Sage Hill athletics -- one that head girls’ basketball coach Kerwin Walters only sees as an opportunity.
“This is an exciting moment for Sage Hill athletics and the girls’ basketball program,” says Walters. “We will have the opportunity to compete regularly against local schools which will add an additional layer of excitement and competition.”
As the School prepares to switch leagues and enter the Pacific Coast League next year, Athletics and Admissions have decided to come together and host a special Athletic Information Night on December 9 for prospective students and parents. For more information and to register to attend, please visit www.sagehillschool.org/athletic-information-night.
Sage Hill School
Sage Hill School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. The School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship programs, and athletic and other School administered programs.