NEW OZARK MOUNTAIN CONFERENCE BEGINS NOW
Tue, 08/27/2024 - 12:37pm
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CONFERENCE REALIGNMENT SHUFFLES THE DECK FOR MOST SPORTS
By:
Sue Fiorino, contributing writer
The newly formed Ozark Mountain Conference covers a large swath of southern Missouri, aligns similar sized schools, and launches its first year of action with the opening of the 2024-2025 school year.
“The new conference is very exciting! It’s not just athletics. It’s a new conference for everything- music, FFA, all of it. It’s just exciting because most of these schools are like us in terms of size and being agricultural communities,” said West Plains Athletic Director Dr. Ashley Cooley.
West Plains joins Bolivar, Branson, Carl Junction, Hillcrest, Logan-Rogersville, and Marshfield in a brand-new conference that stretches nearly two hundred miles east to west.
“West Plains is kind of an island out here in terms of size. All of our games are going to be a long drive. It does make for a lot of late nights when there are weeknight games,” said boys soccer Head Coach Justin Frazier.
The Ozark Mountain Conference contains mostly Class 4 teams.
Coach Frazier expressed optimism about the equal competition the new conference will provide, “The great thing about the new conference is that anybody can win, any year. Everybody’s got a chance.”
Zizzer Volleyball Head Coach Hailey Beazley agreed, “It is really exciting to play more teams that are like us. When we go up against teams like Kickapoo, they are just 100 students shy of being double our size. That’s tough.”
When asked how the new conference will affect the volleyball season, Coach Beazley replied, “We just don’t know yet. A lot of these teams we aren’t used to playing. It’s going to be really interesting.”
Softball Head Coach Karsyn Smith echoed, “There’s just so much we don’t know about some of these teams that are in our conference now. We have a conference tournament early in September, that’s going to help.”
Only the swimming program looks like it will have less competition. Ryan Smith, Head Coach for the boys’ swim team commented, “Only four schools have boys swim teams so that’s going to be a small conference for championships.” Those four teams are Hillcrest, Logan-Rogersville, Marshfield, and West Plains. “Maybe Branson will add a swimming program someday. That’s a big school.”