Well, they did listen after all.

Officials of the Iowa High School Athletic Association indicated last week that the Mississippi Valley and Mississippi Athletic conferences would continue to exist, at least in the short term. The IHSAA had been laying groundwork to have Class 4A football schools play in districts.

Preservation of the eastern conferences is expected to be made official at the IHSAA Board in Control meeting Nov. 19.

Certainly change can be good but it doesn’t seem the right way to go in 4A. The MVC has been in existence for more than eight decades, and its membership has changed and evolved.  Rivalries have been developed. Traditions have emerged.

Many of us believed the IHSAA was merely going through the motions when it invited input from high school athletics directors. The thought was, the IHSAA already had made its decision.

But many of the Valley schools stood strong and made their case. The state organization listened, to the surprise of some.

Certainly 4A district football is not off the table entirely. The western 4A conferences, which have encountered scheduling problems, may still go to districts. And in the coming years, the IHSAA may choose to revisit the district idea for all of 4A.

But in the short term, the Valley lives. Long live the Valley.

NO POOL, NO PROBLEM – Linn-Mar’s ever-growing campus does not include a swimming pool, but that didn’t stop the girls’ team last weekend.

Linn-Mar had the Metro area’s top finish (8th) at the state meet in Marshalltown and earned a state championship in the 200 freestyle relay. It was the second-best finish in the program’s history next to a 5th-place in 1998.

Coach Chad Derlein has led the girls’ program for 10 seasons and it has been a study in perseverance. The Linn-Mar teams practice at the Coe College pool.

The swimmers can say they’ve grown accustomed to the travel routine but a Top 10 state finish still is quite an accomplishment.

ALUMNI HOOPS UPDATE – Last year’s Metro basketball stars got their first real taste of college basketball last weekend.

Kiah Stokes (Linn-Mar) scored seven points and snagged six rebounds in 13 minutes in Connecticut’s 89-30 exhibition stroll over Assumption. Stokes shot 3-of-8 from the field.

Wes Washpun (Washington) played 14 minutes in Tennessee’s 73-52 win over Carson-Newman. Washpun had three points on 3-of-4 free-throw shooting and added two assists and a steal.

Jarrod Uthoff (Jefferson) knocked down five points and four rebounds in seven minutes as Wisconsin whipped UW-Stevens Point, 80-54. Uthoff nailed his only three-point attempt.

Josh Oglesby (Washington) opened his career as an Iowa Hawkeye Sunday afternoon.  Oglesby played 19 minutes in the Hawkeyes’ 79-59 win over Northwestern Missouri State, totaling three points and two assists. He was 1-of-2 from 3-point range.

(Mark Dukes is former sports editor of the Cedar Rapid Gazette. He is co-host of The Gym Class radio show weekdays from 3-4 p.m. on KGYM-AM 1600.)