The Chagrin Valley Conference already is among the largest middle and high school conferences in the state of Ohio and as of Tuesday morning, it got a bit larger.
League administrators unanimously voted to add Fairview High School to the league potentially as soon as the winter of 2023-2024.
“It just made sense,” said CVC Commissioner Don Lewis. “It balances out the divisions and it also gives us more of a west side presence. We thought they were a really good fit competitive-wise, location-wise for the west side schools; it just made sense.”
Previously, the league voted to add Conneaut, Jefferson, and Madison to the conference beginning with the 2023-2024 season. That move benefited the easternmost schools in the CVC, which currently sits at 22 schools spanning five counties.
The addition of Fairview will benefit the league’s teams to the west.
According to the OHSAA, Fairview has 175 boys and 203 girls currently enrolled. The Warriors likely will fit into the current Metro Division in most sports, but new divisional alignments have not yet been established.
Fairview currently competes in baseball, boys and girls basketball, bowling, cross country, football, boys and girls golf, gymnastics, boys and girls soccer, softball, boys and girls tennis, track & field, volleyball, and boys and girls wrestling.
In other league news, Richmond Heights announced it will bring back football, adding to the benefit of Fairview joining the conference as each division will have an even number of teams.
Also, Richmond Heights and Lutheran West both petitioned the conference and were granted permission to play an independent boys’ basketball schedule for the next two seasons. The league will revisit the situation at that time.
The league released a statement on the decision.
“At today’s CVC Principals meeting, the voting body approved the requests made by Lutheran West and Richmond Heights to play independent boys basketball schedules starting next season (2023-2024). They will go independent for two seasons and then the voting body will review divisional alignment in the fall of 2024. Lutheran West, is a college-prep Christian co-ed high school in Rocky River and Richmond Heights has open enrollment. This move allows these schools the flexibility in scheduling independent games with schools that meet their school’s needs. These schools will compete in the CVC in all other sports, in which they offer.
“The advantage of the CVC is our strength in numbers and our administrative leadership. With the addition of Fairview Park to the CVC, we now have 26 schools, which makes us one of the largest conferences in the State of Ohio. We are a conference that always thinks outside the box and is innovative and tries to be ahead of the curve. We pride ourselves on trying to be flexible for our member schools. This is an amazing conference that has outstanding administrative leadership that works really well together and is willing to be bold and try new ideas.”
