​The Nonnewaug wrestling team captured the school’s 24th Berkshire League crown by finishing in a tie for second at the Berkshire Valley Wrestling Championships on Saturday. The conference title is based on points from the regular season and the tournament. (Steve Barlow/For Hearst Connecticut Media)
After several of its member schools initiated conversations to join other athletic conferences, the Berkshire League formed a committee on Oct. 16 to explore options for realignment with the Naugatuck Valley League and the North Central Connecticut Conference.”Recently, several schools have expressed concern over the challenges that many of the league schools face in fielding full schedules for varsity and JV squads as well as a full slate of sports offerings among all of the schools,” Berkshire League president and Housatonic principal Ian Strever said. “Schools have also expressed concern over competitive balance, and taken collectively, these concerns have led us to a more concerted inquiry into alignment with nearby leagues.” The league is comprised of eight full-member schools from Litchfield County: Gilbert (Winsted), Housatonic (Falls Village), Lakeview (Litchfield), Nonnewaug (Woodbury), Northwestern (Winsted), Shepaug (Washington, Conn.) Terryville and Thomaston. This school year, ACES at Chase (Waterbury) is competing within the Berkshire League on a limited trial basis, as well.The Berkshire League was founded in 1960 with six teams: Thomaston, Wamogo, Litchfield, Washington, Woodbury and Southbury. Litchfield and Wamogo have since merged to form Lakeview, while Washington and Woodbury later joined other towns to form the regional districts that operate Shepaug and Nonnewaug, respectively.Nonnewaug principal Mykal Kuslis said his school contacted the Naugatuck Valley League about the process required to become a member of the league, because it wants to explore all its options for providing a more competitive environment for its student-athletes.”We are in contact with the NVL,” Kuslis said. “We are aware of their deadlines. We are trying at this point to keep all options open knowing that there might be some other changes in the BL happening.”I will just say that there are multiple schools in the league who are looking, I think for better opportunities for their students, and we are also kind of in that same boat. We are continuing to keep our options open just to define avenues we think are best for our students in terms of athletics, competition and opportunity.”Lakeview athletic director Jim Parker gave a presentation to the Regional School District No. 20 Board of Education on Oct. 15, according to the official minutes of that meeting. He presented reasons why the board should consider completing a formal membership application to the NVL by Dec. 1.In a five-page document from Parker’s presentation linked to the district’s website, four potential advantages were listed for exploring a move to the NVL: 1. Reliable level schedules,