Nevada High School AD McNeley excited about joining new conference

Nevada Daily Mail

Nevada High School Athletic Director John McNeley has high hopes for the school's athletic programs as they embark upon their inaugural season in the West Central Conference.

"It's an exciting time for us," McNeley said.

McNeley is entering his second year as the school's athletic director. Former AD Kevin McKinley retired from the position in 2013.

"Coming on board we want to be a good representative for the conference," McNeley told The Daily Mail Tuesday. "We're excited about the opportunity to compete for conference championships."

Nevada joins current league members (Sedalia) Smith-Cotton High School, Warrensburg High School, Center High School (Kansas City), Clinton High School, St. Pius X High School (Kansas City), and O'Hara High School (Kansas City).

Nevada has been unaffiliated since 2008. Prior to that NHS was a member of the Southwestern Conference.

"I think one of the biggest things it affects in this office is, it makes scheduling a lot easier," McNeley said. "And that was one of the things Kevin did such a great job of. When you're not conference affiliated you're trying to schedule games when everybody else is playing their conference seasons, and it's not easy.

"And I don't know that I can identify for you a program (here) that didn't play a full schedule during that time, which is a tremendous tribute to Kevin and the job that he did in that position."

McNeley said another advantage of being conference-affiliated involves the school's programs potentially playing in additional post-season games, which could result in additional accolades for players.

"Our kids for the past several years, the only thing they've had to point to is the district tournament at the end of the year," he said. "Now you get to compete for a possible conference championship.

"The only post-season honors that our kids could qualify for over the past few years have been ---- your Academic All-State team, that is typically put out by your coach associations, or your district tournament teams. Which again, come from district associations or maybe a newspaper.

"This way they get a chance to compete for All-Conference recognition. So these possibilities really excite us as far as being back in a conference."

Teams competing this fall at NHS are football, volleyball, softball, cross-country, girls tennis and golf, and boys swimming.

"We feel like we can compete in the conference football-wise," McNeley said. "I think with volleyball and softball, we will as well. With the other sports, we don't know as much about the (teams) we will be competing against.

"But we're really just looking forward to conference competition."