Hermiston High School athletic director Mike Kay is trying to give his students the very best athletic environment possible.

Unfortunately a number of factors are making it harder to run a successful high school athletic program now than ever before.

Kay said the cost of offering a wide range of athletic options for students has increased dramatically in recent years. Travel expenses have risen, while school budgets for athletics have been trimmed, making it more difficult for schools to finance a full athletic program.

Kay said the athletic department is exploring options to alleviate travel time, cost and missed class time with his student athletes.

An idea that has generated some interest inside the Hermiston athletic department, however, is joining the Mid Columbia Conference in Washington State.

Kay said it would help solve one of the major problems for Hermiston; its geographic location.

Were in a tough spot, he said. There just arent a lot of options on our side of the state.

Currently, the Bulldogs play in the four-team Columbia River Conference with Pendleton, The Dalles and Hood River. The Bulldogs make the four-hour round trip to Hood River nearly 20 times a school year as a result.

The small four-team league creates another problem for Hermiston. The school has to fill out its athletic schedule with more non-league opponents when there arent many of them in close proximity in Oregon. A majority of opponents are on the western half of Oregon, and some are even as far away as Eugene.

The MCC currently consists of eight high schools from the Tri-Cities and Walla Walla. If Hermiston joined the MCC, the longest trip for the Bulldogs would be a two-hour round trip to and from Walla Walla.

It would make a lot of sense for us on multiple fronts, Kay said. It would certainly cut our cost and travel time down. It would mean less class time was lost with our student athletes and thats really important to us.

Kay noted there would be significant financial advantages to joining the MCC as well.

Given the close proximately wed certainly see an increase in attendance for our games, he said.

We see that right now when we play the Tri-Cities schools in non-league games.

Joining the MCC would give the Bulldogs more league matches as opposed to only having three league opponents in the CRC.

It would give us an opportunity to create a more competitive schedule in all sports simply because there are more teams in that league, Kay said. Its an athletic directors dream to have a full league schedule in place every year.

Student safety is another concern of Kays and the athletic department.

Kay said they want to eliminate the long bus rides at night, especially in the winter.

That was a concern when we played in the Inter Mountain Conference, Kay said. We were making trips to Bend, Mountain View and Summit. Its just too far to have a high school team travel for league games. Its the reason why we didnt want to join back in with the IMC.

The OSAA recently met to discuss the matter and decided not to explore the idea of schools crossing borders to compete in out of state leagues. The OSAA opens up discussion on reclassification of its schools every four years. Kay said nothing will change until the OSAA and the WIAA, Washingtons governing body, meet and determine what works best for border towns across both states.

What really needs to happen first is the OSAA and WIAA will have to find a way to make this manageable for both states, Kay said. After that the individual schools and leagues would be able to decide whats best for them.

MCC President and athletic director at Kamiakin High School in Kennewick Casey Gant said hes happy with the leagues foundation but is open to anything that could improve it.

We are constantly looking at ways to evolve, Gant said. The league as it stands now is fairly new. There are changes all the time as we figure out what works and what doesnt.

Gant said the MCC hasnt thought about adding schools from a different state but that it is an interesting concept. Much like Kay at Hermiston, Gant noted the powers above would first have to decide if such an idea was feasible.

Currently the WIAA doesnt have border leagues, Gant said.

Before we could even begin to have a conversation about adding an Oregon school the WIAA would have to open that up.

One of the biggest hurdles Hermiston and other border schools are facing is perception.

Everything would be fine and dandy until a team from Oregon won the Washington state title or vice versa, Kay said.

I think other non-border schools would have an issue with crowning a champion that wasnt from that respective state.

Gant agreed with Kays assessment.

I cant speak for the WIAA but my assumption has always been they wouldnt want a state champion from anywhere else beside Washington, Gant said. I imagine that is where most of the push back on this idea is going to occur.

Another option Gant mentioned, which he thought would be a more likely outcome, is having border schools compete in leagues across state lines but then play in their own state for the playoffs.

I think the WIAA would more open to having border towns compete in Washington leagues but then play in their respective state playoffs, Gant said. That seems like a much more likely scenario.

For now, the MCC remains a valuable asset to Hermiston as it provides a plethora of non-league opponents to play, and whether they like it or not, the Bulldogs will continue to compete in the Columbia River Conference for the foreseeable future.