Upstate Eight wants Geneva, Batavia

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Geneva and Batavia were not adrift for long, as two of the three remaining members of the soon-to-be-defunct Western Sun Conference were formally invited to join the ever-expanding Upstate Eight Conference.

All that remains for the move to be official is the go-ahead from both schools' administrations, and both Geneva athletic director Jim Kafer and Batavia athletic director Mike Gaspari feel that is a certainty.

"I was confident that there would be some place for us and there were a few alternatives out there," Kafer said. "For it to have happened this quickly, that was probably unexpected. But once everything was settled with the other schools (leaving the WSC), then things would start to fall into place and it looks like they are. Nothing's official yet but it does look like it will."

That leaves Glenbard South as the only team in the Western Sun without a league for 2010-11, but the move provides some comfort to Geneva and Batavia.

"We were looking at a pretty dire situation for our school and Geneva," Gaspari said. "I don't think too many people understand the seriousness of this type of situation. You certainly don't want to be left as a school with no place to compete. Being an independent is a pretty bleak situation to deal with."

The move will inflate the UEC to 14 teams, and they will be broken up into two, seven-team divisions based on enrollment. Metea Valley, which opens this fall to freshmen and sophomores, will field varsity teams starting in 2010-11.

"If the divisions do end up being set up that way, without a doubt we'll have the tougher division (in basketball)," East Aurora boys basketball coach Wendell Jeffries said. "The record over the last few years shows that, (especially) with Neuqua Valley and Lake Park winning it recently and Waubonsie Valley and East Aurora being strong."

The Tomcats have played both new additions to the conference on the basketball court in recent years. It is unlikely the Tomcats football program will add the new schools to its schedule, however.

"We've played Batavia several times (in boys hoops), twice in the regional and once in their shootout, over the past several years. And we've played Geneva, too," Jeffries said. "Both have a great basketball tradition and both will bring strong teams capable of competing for a conference title. They'll be there year after year."

The fact that Geneva and Batavia do not participate in some sports, such as boys volleyball and swimming, will not deter their entry into the UEC.

"Most of the sports, 95 percent of them do match and I don't know that I've ever been in a conference where everybody had everything," Kafer said. "With a grouping like (the UEC), there is enough to still form a very viable setup with everybody else."

Staff writer Rick Armstrong contributed to this report.