Ejection of Armstrong is start toward the end of a conference

The first step toward dissolving the Classic Lake Conference has taken place, with four of the conference's five schools voting to remove Armstrong from the league, effective with the beginning of the 2010-11 school year.

Armstrong Superintendent Stan Mack was the lone dissenting vote among superintendents.

The Classic Lake has struggled since Richfield left in 1999 and Cooper did the same in 2005. With only five teams --Armstrong, Edina, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Wayzata -- finding nonconference opponents has been an issue.

In some cases, Classic Lake teams have traveled as far as Michigan and Missouri for games.

The decision to exclude Armstrong was based on several other factors, according to league officials, including larger current and future enrollments in the four other schools, as well as a lower percentage of students participating in activities at Armstrong.

The exclusion of Armstrong will set in motion a procedure in which all five schools are expected to be placed in other conferences by the Minnesota State High School League. MSHSL rules mandate that conferences must have at least five members. The Classic Lake schools already have made informal requests to join other leagues, but all have been turned down.

The MSHSL procedure for placing schools can take nearly a year, and that procedure won't begin for several months at the earliest.

The last time schools were placed was in February 2007, when the MSHSL placed Zimmerman, Milaca and Mora in the West Central Conference.

The most high-profile case of placing a team came when Cretin-Derham Hall was placed in the Suburban East in 2004.