BOULDER — Some shuffling and adding of athletic programs is on the horizon for the Boulder Valley School District.
Beginning with the upcoming 2019 spring season, the district’s girls lacrosse program, which has previously been housed at Centaurus, will move to a new home at Fairview. For the upcoming 2018-19 winter season, Centaurus will add a junior varsity hockey team.
Both moves were announced Thursday.
“A lot of our schools are reaching their capacity and we haven’t had that in a while,” Fairview athletic director Terrin Kelly said. “One thing that’s unique to BVSD is the large number of kids that are participating in athletics. I’m not surprised to see the need for more programs in those specialty sports like lacrosse and hockey.”
Since it is the district’s only program for the sport, student-athletes from any BVSD school can compete for the girls lacrosse team. Moving the BVSD girls lacrosse team was done, in part, because participation numbers were highest at Fairview and in the Boulder area.
Fairview also does not currently host a district program.
“The Boulder Valley School district looked at all the program monitoring and surveyed parents and students, and there was an overwhelming interest to have the district program housed at Fairview,” Centaurus athletic director Emerald Murphy said. “It’s just another opportunity to showcase and expand the sport of girls lacrosse.”
Finishing as the state runner-up in 2013, the Centaurus lacrosse team went 8-8 last season and will have a new coaching staff this spring.
In a coinciding move, Centaurus will replace one district program with another in the form of an ice hockey team. The Centaurus program will join the highly-successful Monarch program, which reached five straight title games from 2013-17 and won the 2017 championship, as the district’s second team.
“I’m very excited to offer another program to the students of our community,” Murphy said. “I think hockey is going to be a good fit for Centaurus. BVSD has been collecting data and there has been a lot of interest in adding a second team.”
The availability of ice time at the YMCA of Boulder in nearby Lafayette was among the primary reasons for selecting Centaurus as the home school for the BVSD’s newest hockey team.
The program will play a junior varsity schedule for two years and will hopefully play at the varsity level beginning with the 2020-22 cycle. Closer to that point, the BVSD will decide which school’s student-athletes will play for Centaurus and which will play for Monarch.
Brad Cochi: cochib@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/BradCochi
