New Castle votes to leave NCC

First the Vikings left the North Central Conference. The Trojans have now followed them out the door.
The New Castle Community School Corporation board voted 3-1 at its meeting Monday to leave the NCC in favor of joining the Hoosier Heritage Conference.
The move followed Huntington North’s selection last week to join Norwell, Bellmont, Columbia City, New Haven, East Noble, DeKalb and Leo in a yet-to-be-named conference beginning in 2015-16. Jay County High School had been invited in February to join the North Central Conference, but instead chose to accept an invitation from the Allen County Athletic Conference.
With the addition of Lafayette-area schools Harrison, McCutcheon and Jefferson to the NCC for the 2014-15 school year, Jay Schools administrators cited travel as a concern when they were considering joining the league. Travel was also a deciding factor for New Castle.
"I think that obviously the prospect of traveling any more than we do currently was a concern,” said New Castle athletics director Brandon Ecker, noting the cost for both the school and its families.  “The cost to families was reason enough for (the school board members) to want to go through with this. They want to do what’s best for the kids of New Castle.”
The Hoosier Heritage Conference, which currently includes Delta, Yorktown, Pendleton Heights, Mount Vernon, New Palestine, Greenfield-Central and Shelbyville, was going through the process this morning of formally voting to accept New Castle as a member. The change is slated to take effect for the 2014-15 school year.
The HHC had an opening with Rushville leaving for the Eastern Indiana Conference following 2012-13.
“The HHC has been looking for a replacement for Rushville for some time now, and New Castle was at the top of our list,” said incoming Hoosier Heritage Conference president and Yorktown principal Kelly Wittman this morning. “They’re a great fit for the HHC.”
The North Central Conference had set a goal of expanding from its current eight schools — Muncie Central, Richmond, Marion, New Castle, Anderson, Huntington North, Kokomo and Logansport — to 12 beginning in 2014-15. It reached 11 when the Lafayette-area schools agreed in February to join the conference, but has slipped back to nine with the losses of New Castle and Huntington North.[[In-content Ad]]