QuickTake:

Local high schools in the largest and second-largest OSAA classes will now form a hybrid league, which will mean fewer trips to southern Oregon for student-athletes. Three smaller schools in the county will also shift to new leagues.

New high school sports classifications and districts will shift large and small Lane County schools into new pools of competitors, starting in fall 2026.

The seven largest schools in the county — Churchill, North Eugene, Sheldon, South Eugene, Springfield, Thurston and Willamette — will now compete in one hybrid league, the Midwestern Hybrid. The league will mix schools from the 5A and 6A classifications, which apply to the second-largest and largest high schools. This puts more local schools in competition with each other.

The new classifications and districts, announced Dec. 15 by the Oregon School Activities Association, will reduce travel time for teams from larger high schools in the Eugene-Springfield area that are currently competing against southern Oregon teams. The changes will remain in place for the next four years, but they will not apply to football, which is being considered separately.

Jim Moore, South Eugene High School’s athletic director, said he was in favor of the change.

“Overall, not having to travel 150+ miles three times each season in nearly every sport for league games that don’t always make competitive sense is a significant and welcome change for our students and programs,” he wrote in an email to Lookout Eugene-Springfield.

Moore pointed out several other advantages: The new hybrid district will give student-athletes more time in class and less time on the road. It will allow more South Eugene students and fans to travel to away games and encourage better attendance at games from fans of the visiting team.

Coaches will also have a time commitment that’s more manageable, which will make it easier to hire staff. And the district will spend less money on travel, a significant selling point as Eugene School District 4J plans to cut $30 million from its budget.

Moore’s main concern is how teams will qualify for the state playoffs.

“With South Eugene and Sheldon being the only 6A schools in the Midwestern Hybrid, and with fewer teams qualifying for the playoffs next year, it will be important to understand how automatic qualifiers will be determined between the (Midwestern Hybrid) and the (Southwest Hybrid),” Moore said, referring to the other hybrid league created to encompass 5A and 6A teams in southern Oregon.

While South Eugene and other local high schools are no longer in the same league as southern Oregon teams such as North Medford, South Medford, Roseburg and Ashland, Moore said they can still schedule nonconference games with certain favorite southern competitors.

“Over the past decade, there have been some great rivalries between Eugene/Springfield schools and our southern Oregon counterparts, and I expect many of those matchups will continue,” he said.

High school football conferences are determined separately. 

The Football Ad Hoc Committee, a subcommittee of Oregon School Activities Association districts, makes official recommendations to the executive board on high school football organization. The committee convened twice in 2025 and will meet twice more in January.

Their current proposal from the Dec. 18 meeting does not include hybrid conferences that mix 5A and 6A teams.

Other local changes caused by the redistricting and reclassification include Elmira High School moving up to the 4A class due to a lowered enrollment threshold, and Lowell and Oakridge high schools moving to a different league.

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Lilly is a graduate of Indiana University and has worked as a journalist at the Indianapolis Star and in Burlington, Vermont, as well as working as a foreign language teacher in France. She covers education and children's issues for Lookout Eugene-Springfield.