Just how far is 449 miles? The necessity of the trip from Gillette to Evanston.

 

In the second week of the Class 4A football season, Gillette will board a bus and travel 449 miles, one way, for a football game against Evanston.

As the largest school in Class 4A with an ADM (average daily membership, fancy term for enrollment) in grades 9-12 of 2,439, Gillette doesn’t have many in-state options for competition. Only 10 schools are classified in Wyoming’s big-school division for football; that includes Evanston, which, with an ADM of 918, is the state’s smallest 4A football school.

The fact that Gillette has to travel an estimated seven hours, one way, for a football game is nothing new for those familiar with football in the Equality State. Class 4A’s round-robin schedule, in which the 10 teams play each other, and no one else, in a nine-week regular season, helps fill out schedules but also creates trips like the ones the Camels will have to make this year.

Just how far is 449 miles? Well, here’s a list of places that are closer to Gillette than Evanston is:

Bismarck, N.D. (393 miles)

Pierre, S.D. (287 miles)

Mitchell, S.D. (414 miles)

Colorado Springs, Colo. (412 miles)

North Platte, Neb. (419 miles)

Bozeman, Mont. (373 miles)

Great Falls, Mont. (448 miles)

Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada (434 miles)

With all those places closer to Gillette than Evanston, it only stands to reason that the Camels’ football team would have some pretty decent competition with a shorter drive. Well, it does: In all, there are 100 schools larger than Evanston that are closer to Gillette than Evanston is:

6 in Montana: Bozeman (9-12 enrollment 1,961); Billings West (1,883); Billings Senior (1,730); Billings Skyview (1,557); Great Falls CMR (1,551); Great Falls (1,520).

2 in South Dakota: Rapid City Central (2,020); Rapid City Stevens (1,615).  (South Dakota calculates enrollments on three-year, not four-year, totals; these are calculated four-year totals.)

2 in North Dakota: Bismarck (1,592); Bismarck Century (1,554). (A third high school, Bismarck Legacy, will join this list when it opens fully in 2015.)

1 in Nebraska: North Platte (1,148). (Nebraska calculates enrollments on three-year, not four-year, totals; this is a calculated four-year total.)

89 in Colorado
16 north of Denver/Boulder Metro: Fort Collins (1,517); Fossil Ridge (2,090); Frederick (969); Greeley Central (1,407); Greeley West (1,518); Longmont (1,180); Loveland (1,521); Mountain View (1,180); Niwot (1,311); Northridge (1,046); Poudre (1,780); Rocky Mountain (1,934); Silver Creek (1,129); Skyline (1,352); Thompson Valley (1,238); Windsor (1,225).
54 in Denver/Boulder Metro: Abraham Lincoln (1,517); Adams City (1,768); Arapahoe (2,188); Arvada West (1,703); Aurora Central (2,084); Bear Creek (1,729); Boulder (1,939); Bright0n (1,841); Broomfield (1,428); Centaurus (1,017); Chaparral (2,105); Chatfield (1,805); Cherokee Trail (2,633); Cherry Creek (3,512); Columbine (1,660); Dakota Ridge (1,545); Denver East (2,433); Denver South (1,380); Eaglecrest (2,513); Evergreen (1,009); Fairview (2,128); Falcon (1,253); Gateway (1,680); George Washington (1,436); Golden (1,289); Grandview (2,588); Green Mountain (1,105); Heritage (1,668); Highlands Ranch (1,608); Hinkley (1,923); Horizon (1,917); John F. Kennedy (1,259); Lakewood (2,091); Legacy (2,178); Legend (1,978); Littleton (1,383); Monarch (1,624); Montbello (2,160); Mountain Range (1,964); Mountain Vista (2,100); Northglenn (1,796); Overland (2,282); Pomona (1,448); Prairie View (1,794); Ralston Valley (1,748); Rangeview (2,305); Rock Canyon (1,948); Smoky Hill (2,141); Standley Lake (1,344); Thomas Jefferson (1,075); Thornton (1,770); Thunderridge (2,019); Westminster (2,390); Wheat Ridge (1,307).
19 south of Denver/Boulder Metro: Castle View (1,850); Cheyenne Mountain (1,309); Coronado (1,498); Discovery Canyon (1,009); Doherty (2,064); Douglas County (1,824); Fountain-Fort Carson (1,714); Lewis-Palmer (1,033); Liberty (1,576); Mesa Ridge (1,330); Mitchell (1,215); Palmer (1,986); Palmer Ridge (1,095); Pine Creek (1,467); Ponderosa (1,161); Rampart (1,524); Sand Creek (1,231); Vista Ridge (1,239); Widefield (1,240).

(Update: 12:47 p.m. 7/21/14: Obviously, this list does not include Wyoming high schools. Sorry for not specifying that sooner.)

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But this isn’t just a problem for the Camels. The Red Devils will have to make the trip to Gillette in 2015 when the schedule flip-flops next season and home dates turn into road dates. Just like Gillette, Evanston has plenty of options available that are closer than the drive across the Three Sisters, the Red Desert, Muddy Gap, Wyoming’s Adventure Capital and the Thunder Basin National Grassland:

Durango, Colo. (448 miles)

Fort Collins, Colo. (372 miles)

Winnemucca, Nev. (434 miles)

Boise, Idaho (379 miles)

Ontario, Ore. (431 miles)

Butte, Mont. (420 miles)

Page, Ariz. (442 miles)

In fact, the Red Devils have more options than the Camels do for quality opposition. In all, there are 123 schools larger than Evanston’s 918 students that are closer to Evanston than Gillette:

67 in Utah (some schools count their enrollments in three-year increments, others in four): American Fork (2,086 in 3); Lehi (2,048 in 3); Lone Peak (2,334 in 3); Mountain View (1,291 in 3); Orem (1,126 in 3); Pleasant Grove (1,888 in 3); Timpanogos (1,344 in 3); Westlake (2,512 in 3); Bear River (888 in 3); Box Elder (1,400 in 3); Mountain Crest (1,669 in 3); Sky View (1,574 in 3); Bountiful (1,506 in 3); Clearfield (1,701 in 3); Davis (2,400 in 3); Layton (1,752 in 3); Northridge (18,57 in 3); Viewmont (1,755 in 3); Woods Cross (1,358 in 3); Syracuse (2,013 in 3); Cottonwood (1,624 in 3); Cyprus (1,612 in 3); Granger (1,704 in 3); Hunter (2,148 in 3); Kearns (1,623 in 3); Olympus (1,542 in 3); Skyline (1,483 in 3); Taylorsville (1,728 in 3); Cedar City (1,086 in 4); Canyon View (1,000 in 4); Copper Hills (2,424 in 3); Bingham (2,398 in 4); Herriman (2,177 in 3); Riverton (2,038 in 3); West Jordan (1,748 in 3); Maple Mountain (1,219 in 3); Payson (1,135 in 3); Salem Hills (1,240 in 3); Spanish Fork (1,156 in 3); Springville (1,355 in 3); Park City (1,083 in 3); Tooele (1,482 in 4); Stansbury (1,555 in 4); Uintah (1,106 in 3); Wasatch (1,662 in 4); Desert Hills (1,014 in 3); Dixie (1,050 in 3); Hurricane (852 in 3); Pine View (970 in 3); Snow Canyon (1,095 in 3); Bonneville (1,320 in 3); Weber (1,842 in 3); Fremont (1,838 in 3); Roy (1,553 in 3); East (1,986 in 4); Highland (1,539 in 4); West (2,386 in 4); Ben Lomond (1,084 in 3); Ogden (1,245 in 3); Provo (1,646 in 4); Timpview (1,952 in 4); Logan (1,712 in 4); Murray (1,452 in 3); Alta (2,414 in 3); Brighton (1,671 in 3); Hillcrest (1,695 in 3); Jordan (1,726 in 3). (NOTE: The Utah High School Activities Association does not post school enrollment numbers online; these are enrollments from the state’s department of education.)

2 in Nevada: Elko (1,340); Spring Creek (953). (Nevada, like Utah, doesn’t post school enrollments on the activities association’s website.)

31 in Idaho: Rocky Mountain (2,163); Mountain View (2,152); Borah (1,981); Boise (1,954); Capital (1,863); Vallivue (1,800); Centennial (1,800); Eagle (1,674); Nampa (1,555); Meridian (1,509); Timberline (1,500); Highland (1,379); Madison (1,373); Idaho Falls (1,371); Hillcrest (1,361); Skyline (1,348); Columbia (1,335); Bonneville (1,302); Kuna (1,282); Skyview (1,266); Caldwell (1,266); Rigby (1,238); Century (1,189); Canyon Ridge (1,129); Twin Falls (1,100); Pocatello (1,087); Blackfoot (1,082); Minico (995); Mountain Home (994); Middleton (993); Jerome (939).

2 in Montana: Bozeman (1,961); Butte (1,296).

21 in Colorado (In the front range, the cutoff is at about Boulder. To be generous, we’ll only count schools north of the Denver/Boulder metro): Fort Collins (1,517); Fossil Ridge (2,090); Frederick (969); Greeley Central (1,407); Greeley West (1,518); Longmont (1,180); Loveland (1,521); Mountain View (1,180); Niwot (1,311); Northridge (1,046); Poudre (1,780); Rocky Mountain (1,934); Silver Creek (1,129); Skyline (1,352); Thompson Valley (1,238); Windsor (1,225). (Others in Colorado outside the front range): Grand Junction Central (1,452); Durango (1,075); Fruita Monument (1,706); Montrose (1,361); Palisade (1,053).

(Update: 12:47 p.m. 7/21/14: Obviously, this list does not include Wyoming high schools. Sorry for not specifying that sooner.)

Keep in mind that this list doesn’t account for all the schools that are smaller but close in size to Evanston… only the ones that are larger.

The point? 449 miles is a long way for a football game, especially when 449 miles isn’t necessary to find quality competition.

Postscript: In the third week of the 4A season — one week after Gillette comes to Evanston — Evanston makes a road trip to Sheridan. And if you go through Casper instead of over the treacherous mountain passes of the Bighorns, Sheridan is actually further from Evanston (471 miles) than Gillette is.

–patrick