Browning likely headed to Northwest A

All signals point toward Browning High School joining the Northwest A athletic division as the league’s fifth team.

The Whitefish School Board on Feb. 9 unanimously approved a recommendation in support of the maneuver and Columbia Falls is expected to vote on the move soon. Final approval comes from the Montana High School Association once all schools in the conference have OK’d the plan.

When Libby High School dropped to Class B last year, it left only four schools in the Northwest — Whitefish, Columbia Falls, Frenchtown and Polson. Including the Southwest, there are currently nine schools total in the West conference.

Meanwhile, the East has 11 schools, with five in the Central division and six in the Eastern A.

With Browning headed west, Laurel would shift from the Eastern A to the Central A to even out all the divisions.

All divisions would then have five schools and each conference would have 10.

Browning is likely to participate in all activities except for soccer and tennis.

Browning traditionally is strong in basketball and wrestling.

Safety concerns with transporting teams over Marias Pass on Highway 2 are still a concern.

It was 32 years ago that the Whitefish wrestling team was returning from a dual at Browning when their bus collided head-on with a jackknifed fuel-tanker on an icy Highway 2 near Essex. Of the 30 people on the bus, nine died and 19 others were injured. Today there are nine white crosses marking the accident site on Highway 2.

Whitefish avoided sending buses over the pass near Glacier Park for many years following the tragedy.

But school leaders note that teams since then have routinely traveled over the pass and in the future, if roads are bad, they won’t travel. 

This year, for example, Browning freshmen teams played basketball in Columbia Falls and earlier in the season, Columbia Falls traveled to Browning for freshmen games as well.