UEC goes to divisions

He competed and coached for Streamwood and now is the Lake Park athletic director, so the traditionalist in Pete Schauer wanted to make sure the Upstate Eight Conference survived.

Thursday the 12-team UEC announced it will introduce divisional play in 2010, a step Schauer believes will keep the league around for a long time to come.

"Hopefully, it's going to help keep this conference together in the future because this conference has grown and it's grown in different directions," Schauer said.

Most of the growth has been to the south, starting with Waubonsie Valley in Aurora in 1991, followed by Neuqua Valley and, next year, by their sister school, Metea Valley, both in Naperville.

The divisions were composed partly along geographic lines, not only to save on transportation costs but also to cut down on the time student-athletes spend on buses on school nights.

"Transportation costs are definitely something schools have to scrutinize more," Schauer said. "But going to Neuqua Valley is not an easy trip to play a Tuesday night volleyball game."

The league - which has been around since 1963 - also wanted to maintain natural rivalries by keeping schools from the same districts together. District 204 schools Waubonsie Valley, Neuqua Valley and Metea Valley will be in the same division as District 303 schools St. Charles East and St. Charles North.

Lake Park will share a division with the five U-46 schools. There are pros and cons to that for the Roselle school.

"Bartlett is probably our biggest rival, so we're very excited about being in the same division as Bartlett," Schauer said.

But the U-46 schools don't have as many sports or offer as many levels in the sports it does have as Lake Park, which offers 27 sports with 91 levels.

"That's probably our biggest concern is making sure our lower levels have full schedules," he said. "The onus is on me to make sure that's happening to maintain our program."

In football teams will play nonconference opponents in Weeks 1 and 2, followed by UEC crossover opponents in Weeks 3 and 4, so that over time each UEC school will play the others. The final five regular-season games will be intradivisonal, ending the league's unbalanced football schedule.

Schauer doesn't expect any change in the league's makeup after Metea Valley joins, nor does he expect the league name to change despite its growth.

"It's a traditional name, and I think that we would maintain that name," Schauer said. "It's been a long time since there were eight teams in the Upstate Eight."

How the UEC will align

UEC South

East Aurora

Metea Valley

Neuqua Valley

St. Charles East

St. Charles North

Waubonsie Valley

UEC North

Bartlett

Elgin

Lake Park

Larkin

South Elgin

Streamwood

Division names are tentative