18 schools find new homes in O-K Conference realignment
Zeeland East and Zeeland West (with Layne Risdon and Merritt Alderink) are on the move to the O-K White and coach T.J. Meerman and Catholic Central are moving to the O-K Blue. (Photos | Lenny Padilla).
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Ottawa-Kent Conference is getting an overhaul.
Beginning in the 2024-25 sports season, 18 schools will be shifting into new divisions. Every four years, the O-K Conference considers realignment and new schools. But there will be no new school additions or subtractions to the six divisions. The changes are for all sports.
“The committee built this alignment with more of a north/south orientation,” O-K Conference Commissioner David Feenstra said.
The biggest change is that the O-K Green Conference is going away and the O-K Black name is returning.
“The Green was not intentionally dissolved,” Feenstra said. “The return to the Black division is a committee decision based on the fact that we had used that name previously.”
The O-K Red and O-K Silver will not change at all. Here is a look at how each conference changes.
O-K RED
The O-K Red continues to be the largest and most dominant division. But there will be no changes from the current conference. East Kentwood has the largest enrollment of any school on this side of the state with 2,906 students. Rockford has 2,562 and West Ottawa with 2,170.
O-K WHITE
The three new teams are Wyoming, Zeeland West and Zeeland East. Leaving the conference are Lowell, Greenville and Northview. The Zeeland schools will renew a rivalry with Byron Center, who used to be in the Green.
O-K BLACK
The O-K Black used to be in the conference, but the name was eliminated four years ago during the last realignment. It replaces O-K Green name. There are only three Muskegon schools in the O-K Conference and they will all stick together. Mona Shores, Reeths-Puffer and Muskegon High are currently in the O-K Green. That’s great for travel when they play each other. However, it will be a long drive when they play Greenville, Cedar Springs and Lowell. The distance from Reeths-Puffer to Lowell is 59 miles.
O-K GOLD
Three O-K Blue schools will be moving to the O-K Gold: Hamilton, Holland Christian and Unity Christian. Holland High also joins the new conference. That’s good news since all four schools were in the O-K Green together before. Geographically, this is also great since they aren’t that far from each other.
O-K BLUE
For those old enough to remember the old Grand Rapids City League, this is kind of a reunion. The four remaining schools from the City League will all be in the same conference. Union, Ottawa Hills and Catholic Central all shift to the O-K Blue to join West Catholic. So geographically that makes sense. This appears to be the only move that wasn’t based on enrollment. Since Union has 1,924 students and Ottawa Hills has 1,132.
O-K SILVER
The conference will not change at all. Sparta is the largest school at 846 students and Calvin Christian is the small school in the entire O-K Conference at 261 students.
