Tradition is again changing at Arapahoe. As of Nov. 12, 2007 Colorado High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) and the Arapahoe administration decided to officially transfer and become a member of the Centennial League for the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year.

“Right when we heard there was an opening in the Centennial League with Fairview and Boulder High Schools withdrawing, we took initiative immediately,” principal Ron Booth said. “Who wouldn’t want to compete against the most prestigious schools in the state?”

The Continental League currently is one of the largest leagues in the state with up to 15 high schools. Arapahoe is one of the original members of the Continental League from 21 years ago and is now leaving.

“Being a founding member of the Continental League, I will miss the relationships we have made, but I look forward to making new ones,” Booth said.

League changes in the next couple of years are not only planned for Arapahoe, but also for all Douglas County High Schools. In the next two to four years they plan on making their own league.

The new Centennial League consists of Grandview, Cherokee Trail, Arapahoe, Mullen, Overland, Eaglecrest, Cherry Creek and Smoky Hill High Schools.

The big let down to the changing of leagues is that Arapahoe will not be playing their strongest rival, Heritage, in football.

“The number of students at Heritage High School this year is 1,604,” Heritage High School Athletic Director Steve Shelton said. “CHSAA puts out numbers every two years that determines what schools play 4A and 5A football. The number they have chosen for the next two years [for football] is 1,640. That means everyone above that number will play 5A and everyone below that number will play 4A or below. We felt like those numbers were chosen for a reason and it was in our best interest to play where CHSAA was telling us to play and that meant 4A football.”

Heritage had the chose to be 5A or 4A in football, but they requested to become 4A.

“All schools have a choice to play up a level if they choose,” Shelton said. “If we chose to stay 5A in football, we would have been the smallest 5A school in the state and it would have meant that we had to compete with schools as big as 3,800 students. After much discussion and thought we did not feel that it was in our student-athlete’s best interest to ask them to compete with schools that big if they didn’t have to."

Arapahoe won’t be playing Heritage in football, but in all other sports Heritage is highly over the qualified enrollment of 1,440 to participate as a 5A school against Arapahoe.

As for the sisterhood rivalry against Heritage, some think it will continue even with the league change, but others have their own opinion.

“At first it bothered me [that we wouldn’t be playing Heritage in football],” Assistant Principal and Varsity Football Coach Mike Campbell said. “I have always looked forward to that game and really the week leading up to it. It is fun to practice and prepare for your cross town rival. However, growing up here, Cherry Creek was always the rival and we switched to the Continental League my junior year [1989] and no longer played them. It was tough not getting to play them. In a few years nobody cared and it was all about Heritage. I sort of think in a few years it will be all about Cherry Creek.”

“The Heritage/Arapahoe rivalry will always exist, but for the next couple of years and we hope that we can put the competitive rivalry aside and learn to cheer for each other to represent the Littleton Community,” Shelton said. “We have great experiences and much success for the student-athletes at both schools. We are extremely happy and consider ourselves lucky that we won the Milk Jug this year and that it gets to stay at Heritage High School, and we look forward to the day in the future that we can renew this great rivalry.”

The new changing of leagues not only affects athletics, it affects the whole school.

“It’s not only about athletic competition, it is also academic,” assistant principal Natalie Pramenko said. “We will be up against the biggest high schools in the state and moving to the new league is what’s best for Arapahoe."