Grayslake North Moved Up To IHSA Class 4A In Certain Sports

Here's an official welcome to Grayslake North varsity girls basketball coach Nate Flannery. A schedule was handed to him showing all those games with Fox Valley Conference foes. And of course that schedule includes tentative dates in the regional and sectional.

But by now Flannery has received the memo. The IHSA made a change in the classification of the Knights. Gone are the days when Flannery's club will play for a regional championship with rival Central. North has added enough students that it is now a Class 4A squad in sports. Football won't be affected but girls basketball will.

That means his new club could open playoffs at Stevenson or Warren or even Fremd.

"Being relatively new to the head coaching ranks and my first year on the
girls side I don't have a full assessment of the talent levels of 3A to 4A
with the girls, but based on size alone it's fair to say that it is going to
be more challenging,'' Flannery said.

Of course the best thing for a new coach is to show no panic.

"My approach with my team though is to not get overwhelmed by it,'' Flannery said. "Whether we are 3A or 4A, we are going to face outstanding opponents at some point during the postseason. Our responsibility is just to prepare ourselves the best we can and put ourselves in the best position possible going into the postseason by having quality regular seasons which will give us the best shot at a good seed."

Girls volleyball coach Nikki Kirchway has battled the serious competition in the Fox Valley Conference for several years.

"It was a surprise being bumped up in class,'' Kirchway said. "It's more challenging. Size does make a difference but we'll be ready."

What happened here anyway? After both Central and North split, it didn't seem possible that these schools would grow so big that they would have to match up with the big schools in the state.

"Yes, it is shocking,'' Kirchway said. "Now we are with the big boys. But down the road, Central will be there, too."

Flannery thinks the IHSA has a plan in mind.

"My understanding of the current layout is that the IHSA wants a quarter of the
schools in 1A, a quarter in 2A, a quarter in 3A and a quarter in 4A,'' he said.

Despite the stunning news, Kirchway is well aware the game of volleyball won't change.

"There still will be only six on a court,'' she said. "But those schools will be pulling from a lot more people."

Even though he had no inkling that a move was coming, Flannery signed up his new team for games this summer with Class 4A squads.

"Prior to even knowing this, I put our team in the Stevenson summer league and the Stevenson shootout,'' he said. "I have have seen Zion in the Grayslake league and will be playing at a McHenry tournament against a couple 4A schools. That will give us a chance to see some 4A schools and how we compare, so far we have been doing pretty well."

The good news here is North will adapt to this new move. The bad news is no more Central-North matchups in the post-season at least for a few years.