Is Iowa City West/Liberty split just like Ankeny/Centennial? Sort of.

When Kevin Biggs moved from Southern California to Ankeny to oversee the Ankeny High split in 2013, Scott Kibby — then Iowa City West's athletics director — was quick to reach out and welcome him to the Midwest.

Now, Biggs, who is the current Des Moines Roosevelt principal, watches from afar as Kibby faces a similar task in the Iowa City area: the addition of Liberty High — or, effectively splitting up West. 

Four years later, that Ankeny/Ankeny Centennial split is considered a success. Neither school has reached the athletic dominance pre-2013 Ankeny enjoyed. But both schools have won state titles since then, and the sprawling Ankeny community doesn't have to cram a couple thousand students into one building.

"I think (having two schools) is a draw to the community," Biggs said. "I really believe that families looking to move are looking to move to districts that are progressive and are doing what’s best for kids. And there’s no doubt in my mind that splitting high schools, when you get to a certain size, is beneficial to all students."

The West/Liberty split looks a lot like Ankeny/Centennial. One overcrowded sports power will get divided into two; Ankeny had 52 state team titles before 2013, and West currently has 53. But the state’s second major high school split in four years is quite different from the first in a couple key areas.

Community tension

Ankeny was a one-high school town for more than a century. The saying "Once a Hawk, always a Hawk" was literal.

"For many community members, (Ankeny's) athletic success is what gave the community its identity," Biggs said. " … (The split) was very emotional. It created a lot of friction within the community."

That’s not necessarily the case with West, which is in a city that already has two public high schools.

"That might be a difference in the community impact that way," said Centennial principal Jen Lindaman, who was Ankeny's executive director of secondary education before the split. "It’s maybe more a portion of the community (affected) rather than all the community."

MORE ON THE WEST/LIBERTY SPLIT

• How a third high school will alter Iowa City's sports landscape
• Everything you need to know about Liberty High's sports rollout

Trojan fans are as passionate as they come. But West opened in 1968, while Ankeny’s school was first built in 1850 and its first high school seniors graduated in 1914. The Hawks were part of the land’s history in a way few schools are.

Plus, unlike Ankeny residents in 2013, Iowa City-area residents already know a split can work. It sure did in 1968.

"Parents are fine with it — at least the parents that I know from West," said Kim Williams, mother of a rising Liberty sophomore and board member of the Liberty Lightning Athletic Booster Club. "I think everyone’s excited for each other."

Offering a choice

Ankeny’s 2012 football team capped a 14-0 season with a Class 4A state title. Then, half the roster was forced to become Centennial Jaguars in 2013 and play against their former teammates.

"That was not easy," Ankeny athletic director Brent Buttjer said.

Administrators wanted to be able to offer a full complement of classes, clubs, fine arts and varsity sports at Centennial the first year it opened. That meant the school needed a full complement of students. Thus, rising junior and senior Hawks in Centennial’s area didn’t have an option to remain Hawks.

Ankeny had 1,904 students in 2012-13. Only 920 remained in 2013-14, when nearly 1,000 eighth-through-11th-grade would-be Hawks switched schools.

"Here, the split — I would say here it affected everyone," Lindaman said. "Even those kids that stayed at Ankeny High School. It was a challenge their first year because they were away from friends. They got to stay a Hawk, per se, but they had gone to school with people for all those years, and now they weren’t."

Liberty is only taking full freshmen and sophomore classes in 2017-18. West's juniors and seniors-to-be next year who live in Liberty’s geographic area were given the option to graduate as Trojans, and the overwhelming majority chose to do so. Liberty will have about 90 juniors and 30 seniors in its first year. A "low percentage" of those are involved in athletics, Kibby said.

Having that choice has helped ease any tension the split might’ve otherwise caused, said Traevis Buchanan, West’s top returning wide receiver and a rising senior.

"It makes a world of difference," he said. "So if we all had to split up on our senior year and play for different teams? Potentially against each other? It wouldn’t have been what we wanted. We would’ve done what we had to do, but it wouldn’t have been what we wanted.

"There would’ve been a lot of unhappy student-athletes."

Lessons learned from Ankeny/Centennial split?

Just wait it out

"Once we opened here, there was really no more community talk, concern about the whole process," Lindaman said. "Because leading up to it in Ankeny, there was a lot of negativity, especially from the long-time Ankeny residents, about the split. But once it happened — boy, we haven’t heard anything since.

"Success (wasn't) going to disappear just because we’re two."

Don't worry about which students go where

"In sports, people understand that you take what comes on the bus, right?" Buttjer said. "You take what comes on the bus and you work your tail ends off, you pick up your sledgehammer and your hard hat and you go to work. There’s no sense in worrying about who’s where. That’s important because we get that all the time. … I’m going to work with the kids that are on my bus, and that’s kind of the mentality you’ve got to have.

"We’re here for you. Let’s go to work."

Your definition of success might change

"That’s going to be a big part of Liberty’s transition and Iowa City West’s transition," Buttjer said. "How are they defining success? It’s different for a lot of people. Yeah, the championships are important. The win-loss, those are all things that are important. The expectations are high. But initially, I think you have to measure success differently."

Matthew Bain covers preps, recruiting and the Hawkeyes for the Iowa City Press-Citizen, Des Moines Register and HawkCentral. Contact him at mbain@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @MatthewBain_.