L - Hillcrest 33-49
L- Joplin 48-63
L - Lebanon 14-28
L - Kickapoo 12-24
L - Camdenton 13-27
L - Rolla 28-35
D - Waynesville 28-25
Rolla gets new head coach - He will stick to same game plan
2008
West Plains remains classified as 4A by only 3 students
On January 24th the Missouri State High School Athletic Association released a list of schools and their official student enrolment for the 2009-2010 school year. The classifications are as follows:
| Classification |
Enrollment |
Class 1 |
130 and Below |
Class 2 |
131-245 |
Class 3 |
246-577 |
Class 4 |
578-1202 |
Class 5 |
1203- and Above |
West Plains fell just short of a 5A classification with 1200 students making WP the only school in the Ozark Conference 4A. Below is a chart of the all of the OC schools, their enrollment and their Classifications.
| School |
Enrollment |
Class |
| Camdenton |
1440 |
5A |
| Glendale |
1445 |
5A |
| Hillcrest |
1219 |
5A |
| Joplin |
1995 |
5A |
| Kickapoo |
1719 |
5A |
| Lebanon |
1587 |
5A |
| Parkview |
1569 |
5A |
| Rolla |
1361 |
5A |
| Waynesville |
1547 |
5A |
| West Plains |
1200 |
4A |
Looking at the numbers it is no surprise the West Plains athletics program struggles so badly in the Ozark Conference. There has to be a better solution to this. West Plains has not competed for the Ozark Conference title since they have been in it and from the looks of things it's not getting any better. Not only are West Plains the enrollment oddballs they are also geographically out of it as well. Most schools in the OC travel no more than an hour for games. WP will travel anywhere from 2-3 hours making a schedule full of road trips almost impossible to succeeded.
Josh Smith was recently named head coach of the Rolla Bulldogs. Smith has been the defensive coordinator for the Bulldogs the past 5 seasons and now finds himself steering the ship that was once commanded by his good friend Brock Roweton. Roweton, now head coach of Willard, complied a record of 24-25 in his 5 years as Rolla's head coach. Smith and Roweton will face eachother in their season opener for the 2009 season.
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Picture Provided by the Rolla Daily News
West Plains defeats the Salem Tigers in the most dramatic homecoming game in recent memory - 1990
Iron Mike and Coach Simpkins
I recently had the opportunity to sit down and visit with Coach Simpkins and it was truly nice to do some much needed chalk talk. Greg gave me one of the new camp T-shirts which are nice.
Greg and I talked primarily about this new kid that came in this year. I can't go into it too much but the overall conversation was about him being really good at baseball and how he was probably going to miss the Mizzou camp because of it.
Greg and I also just talked about life and what we were both up to. He did mention the fact that I was looking like a guard more and more every time he saw me. This I believe was a coaches way of saying I am getting fat.
I was in town for my sister's graduation which went well. It is so surreal to think my little sister is a college bound kid. Wish my dad could have been here to see it. I know Angie does. - Iron Mike
