BAXTER — Baxter High School is the newest member of the Iowa Star Conference.
A few weeks after its soon-to-be former athletic sharing partner Collins-Maxwell joined the league, Baxter’s Board of Education made the move official on its end Monday at its monthly meeting.
Currently on the same team, Collins-Maxwell and Baxter will play against each other every season beginning in the fall of 2017.
“It will be a really good fit with the school,” Collins-Maxwell/Baxter Activities Director Lori Fricke said. “We are pretty excited that the Iowa Star Conference were so accepting of our unique situation. I think it will be a really good.”
CMB’s current sharing agreement runs through the 2016 baseball and softball seasons.
The two sides will go separate ways when those seasons come to an end.
The school board also revealed the top four choices for the next mascot at Baxter High School. With the help of the student body, the board narrowed down a list of 10 to Bolts, Bison, Knights and Railriders.
According to Fricke, the student body K-12 will make the final decision.
Baxter High School was known as the Baxter Bulldogs from the 1940s to the late 1980s.
The Iowa Star Conference currently has 13 members. The conference will have 15 schools next season and then drop to 14 when CAL leaves the league before the 2017-18 season.
Currently, the Iowa Star Conference’s South Division includes Colo-NESCO, North Tama, GMG, Meskwaki Settlement School, Don-Bosco and Waterloo Christian. The North Division includes Janesville, Riceville, CAL, Dunkerton, Tripoli and Valley Lutheran.
After CAL leaves the league in two years, the South Division could include Baxter, Collins-Maxwell, Colo-NESCO, North Tama, GMG, Meskwaki Settlement School and either Waterloo Christian or Don-Bosco.
The adjustment to the divisions will help cut down on travel between sides. The current most southern school is Colo-NESCO and the most northern school is Riceville. The distant between those two communities is 150 miles.