Prep Notebook | Three divisions proposed for Metro basketball

If Metro League principals approve the proposal next week, there will be three basketball divisions for boys and girls next season after Franklin leaves KingCo 4A to rejoin the 3A league.

The proposed Metro basketball divisions:

Mountain — Bishop Blanchet, O'Dea/Holy Names, Lakeside, Seattle Prep and Eastside Catholic.

Sound — Bainbridge, Chief Sealth, Rainier Beach and West Seattle.

Valley — Franklin, Cleveland, Ingraham and Nathan Hale.

This alignment puts boys basketball powerhouses Franklin and Rainier Beach in separate divisions. Over the years, the best Metro teams in girls basketball usually have been private schools, and they will be in the same division.

The plan is to have teams play each division opponent twice and other opponents once. The switch from two to three divisions in basketball is necessary to allow schools to play more than two nonleague games.

Football will remain two divisions, with Franklin added to the Sound (public school) Division. The Mountain Division will continue to have the private schools, plus Bainbridge.

Al Hairston, athletic coordinator for the Seattle School District, said his office drafted the divisional proposal for basketball and that it was approved by the league's athletic directors.

Hairston said other sports will have two divisions, "with some minor adjustments," mostly because some schools won't field teams in particular sports.

Metro title games at Roosevelt

Metro League championship games in boys and girls basketball will be Feb. 15 at Roosevelt High School. The boys will play at 6:30 p.m., followed by the girls game.

Semifinals will be earlier in the week at the home gym of division champions.

The Metro title game often has been played at Seattle Pacific's Royal Brougham Pavilion, but it is unavailable, as is Edmundson Pavilion, Hairston said.

Auburn coaches raise cancer awareness

Check out the coaches' shoes at Auburn boys and girls basketball games this week.

And when you see sneakers instead of dress shoes, think about the steps you can take to reduce your risk of cancer.

That's the idea behind the national Coaches vs. Cancer program, a collaboration between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. College coaches were asked to participate in the awareness project last weekend. Many high-school coaches are doing their part this week.

Auburn Riverside boys coach Tom Adams spearheaded the effort in Auburn, where it is rivalry week. Riverside's boys and girls teams played Auburn Mountainview Monday and will play Auburn Friday.

All six coaches in the Auburn district are wearing polo shirts and tennis shoes at games.

Note

• Chris Rankin, a former baseball and fastpitch player and baseball coach, has been named fastpitch coach at Oak Harbor.

Times staff reporter Sandy Ringer contributed to this report.