Back in April of 2023, it was announced that the Republican Plains Activities Conference would be adding three new schools to the conference. Here was the official statement from the RPAC Executive Committee at that time.
" At the Republican Plains Activity Conference (RPAC) April Executive Committee Meeting, held earlier today, the committee unanimously approved the admission of Elwood, Eustis-Farnam and Sutherland as members of the organization beginning with the 2024-2025 school year.
The Elwood and Eustis-Farnam school districts have a cooperative agreement in place for all athletic teams to compete as the Hi-Line Bulls. In these three (03) schools becoming members of the RPAC, the conference membership will be eighteen (18) schools participating in activities and sixteen (16) athletic teams competing in sports.
The membership will begin working immediately on preparing the expanded organization being ready to begin as a 18-member organization in August of the 2024-2025 school year."
It's incredibly exciting to be adding schools to the conference. A conference that continues to excel in academics, activities, and athletics.
For these schools that are joining there is an adjustment period and some challenges. Like scheduling. We asked the Activities Directors at the three schools what it has been like to adjust schedules as they join the conference. We received answers from Bryan Fangmeyer, the AD at Eustis-Farnam, Patrick Ropers, the new AD at Elwood, and Jason Gunderson, the former AD at Sutherland who is still within the school there. Sutherland's new AD is Dan Wolken.
1. What challenges have there been in changing the schedule to get more RPAC opponents? Specifically volleyball, and basketball as football kind of takes care of itself.
Fangmeyer: We had several RPAC schools on our schedule previously. The ones that were not already on our schedule have done a nice job of trying to work with us to get them on the schedule. If they are not currently on our schedule we hope to get them, at least those in the Eastern half of the conference in the near future. Probably the biggest issue is trying to add those teams and at the same time not overwhelm our student/athletes on a particular week(s) with athletic contest and still take into consideration all of the other activities our students from both schools are involved with. With the RPAC and FKC tournaments on different NSAA weeks of the calendar the hardest part was finding teams to fit the schedule to replace the FKC tournament with.
Ropers: I am new to some of this since I am the new AD for Elwood, taking over for Kurt (Banzhaf.) A lot of this was taken care of before I came into the new position. I would say since the RPAC tournaments are on different days then the FKC that would be one of the biggest challenges as far as scheduling goes. Volleyball-wise, we really didn't change a whole lot. We did add some teams from the RPAC that we didn't play in previous years. We added the teams that we are grouped within the East side. Basketball from what I have seen and knew was probably a little more difficult.
Gunderson: The biggest challenge was rescheduling the RPAC conference basketball tournaments. The RPAC conference tournament takes place over two weekends, so there were some adjustments and switching games around for the month of January. Volleyball wasn’t as difficult. The conference tournament is the same week as the previous conference we were in, and volleyball has more regular-season tournaments.
2. How important is it to make sure you are playing conference opponents?
Fangmeyer: We hope to play as many RPAC schools as possible while at the same time keeping in mind travel time, ets. The RPAC has a lot of great competition amongst the schools in all sports and activities. We look forward to working with the RPAC and becoming more involved with the conference in all aspects.
Ropers: We already play most of them. Obviously we added to our schedule the teams that are in the East with us. We did not play some of the East schools in some sports so adding them to our schedule is nice. Like Cambridge, we used to play them in hoops, I like that we have them back on the schedule knowing they have a program with a rich history of success. Plus, they are close to us as well. Adding Southern Valley another close team as well is nice, a team that also has had success in the past.
Gunderson: It is important to play conference opponents during the regular-season competition. This is one of the reasons Sutherland decided to join the RPAC conference. Sutherland’s enrollment numbers align better with the RPAC conference, and its sports schedule already includes playing 60% of RPAC teams.
3. Are the kids excited to be facing some different teams within the RPAC?
Fangmeyer: Our kids are ready. They look forward to playing new competition in all sports and activities. Like I stated earlier, we have played a number of RPAC schools in the past. In all honesty we probably have more of the old "rival" games with more of the RPAC schools than we did with the FKC.
Ropers: We play most already so that wont be new to them. Kids will have excitement being able to see some different teams in other sports and activities along with competing in some different venues. Spring sports will for sure be different for the fact we dont see some of those schools a lot. Looking at our schedule overall, we play a lot of RPAC schools and the kids look forward to being able to go out and compete and show their abilities.
Gunderson: Switching conferences affects the administration and coaches more than the students. I don't think the students will notice much of a difference until conference tournaments and competitions. (They just want to play.)
4. Any other challenges worth mentioning with the changes?
Fangmeyer: Not necessarily a challenge, but not getting to host the conference track meet will probably be the biggest challenge. The FKC was limited on schools with tracks so we got to host frequently. Also, not having a JH conference track and wrestling meet was a little disappointing. I believe our younger athletes looked forward to those.
Ropers: I'm not sure there are challenges but maybe more of changes. Different dates for conference tournaments. Obviously a larger number of schools make things different than being in the FKC. The way the VB and BB tournaments are mapped out than the FKC are different but I wouldn't call it challenging as far as the setup goes. I will miss not having the opportunity to host the conference Track meet for HS and JH. Since I've been here and even before, we have always put on a great track meet and I think if you asked most they would agree with that. I'm not sure that is a challenge but like I said before a change. JH wise RPAC doesn't do a true conference meet for some events, not having that for our younger athletes to display their talents will be truly missed. Maybe that's something that would be looked at in the future but that's down the road.
Gunderson: The RPAC has had success and great representation at districts and state levels in all activities. Competing in the RPAC conference will be a challenge.
