by joanna chadwick

I think this is a very fair question. The bigger class schools might be able to say they have the most top caliber athletes, but Class 4A can say it has the toughest road to a state title.

Look at football, softball, basketball — there’s so many good teams in the area, so many good teams in the state. If you win a 4A title in any sport, you can safely say you earned it the right way.

Andale football coach Gary O’Hair talked to me about just that topic today:

“It’s a tough classification, but it’s a great classification as far as competitiveness. 4a football, every sport in 4A, there’s 10-12 teams that could win it eveyr year. It’s a good classification to be in.There’s good-sized schools, yet they’re still a small school and there’s a lot of good programs.