Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) pulled off an impressive triple play this school year.
With the Gaels' baseball team No. 1 in the final 25 high school baseball rankings, Bishop Gorman is the first school in a decade to make the final Super 25 rankings for football, boys basketball and baseball. The last team to do so was DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) in the 2001-02 school year.
In the fall, Bishop Gorman finished No. 4 in the football Super 25 and, this past spring, No. 14 in the boys basketball Super 25.
MORE: Final Super 25 rankings
"I just think we're extremely fortunate to have coaches who are extremely committed to the program," Gorman athletics director Sally Nieman said. "The kids work hard all year and the results are obvious."
Gorman's baseball team has won seven consecutive 4A baseball titles. The football team has won three consecutive 4A titles and the boys basketball team has has won three of the past four state 4A titles.
Such success has come with a price, however, as the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association has discussed whether to allow Bishop Gorman to compete in future playoffs.
In a letter in February, NIAA executive director Eddie Bonine requested that Gorman consider affiliate status, which would allow it to compete with Nevada schools but not play in state tournaments. Bishop Gorman refused and, when a committee was formed to discuss the public/private conflict, the school didn't participate, saying the committee was stacked with Gorman's detractors.
There are only 106 schools in the NIAA and this past year, Bishop Gorman was one of only two private schools in Class 4A, so having a separate playoff system for private schools isn't feasible as it is in other states.
"At this point, they are a full member in our association," Bonine said. "We just don't have enough private schools in any of our classes to warrant a public/private structure. Nothing will change. This conflict is not new to the association. It's just reared its ugly head in the course of the last six or seven years with the dominance of the school in Las Vegas."
While some public schools have complained that Gorman's success is due to recruiting, the school has never been sanctioned by the NIAA.
"There's no substance to those allegations that we can find," Bonine said.
