The newly formed Kensington Lakes Activities Association has added its final link for the 2009-10 season.

Grand Blanc High School will be leaving the Big Nine Conference to join the KLAA's Lakes Conference as a member of the West Division which also includes Brighton, Hartland, Howell, Milford and Pinckney.

The KLAA, which merged last spring with members of the Western Lakes Activities Association and two schools from the Oakland Activities Association, currently consists of 23 schools divided into two conferences (12 schools each) and four divisions of six.

Grand Blanc fills the void left by newly constructed Howell Parker, which never opened its high school doors because of lower than projected enrollment figures and budget constraints.

Three schools - Dearborn and Belleville, both current members of the Michigan Mega Conference, made presentations along with Grand Blanc this week before a group of principals, athletic and activities directors from the KLAA to become the league's 24th member.

"One of the stipulations was that they had to be ready to join by the fall of 2009,'' Livonia Churchill athletic director Marc Hage said. "We're excited about having them because they offer not only a variety, but also numerous activities. It's a top-notch academic school and it's a good fit for us.''

To gain inclusion into the Kensington Lakes, Grand Blanc needed 75 percent of the vote by the KLAA's Board, which included principals and A.D.'s.

Grand Blanc, nicknamed the Bobcats with an enrollment of 2,237 students (according to the MHSAA's 2007-08 School Directory), will be leaving the Big Nine, which will be narrowed down to five schools next fall - Flint Carman-Ainsworth, Davison, Flushing, Flint Kearsley and Flint Powers Catholic.

What may have tipped the scales in Grand Blanc's favor was its proximity to the other five schools in the West Division of the KLAA.

By being slotted in for Howell Parker, the KLAA will not have to reconfigure its divisional alignments because of geographic considerations.

The KLAA's North Division, part of the Lakes Conference, will remain intact with White Lake Lakeland, Walled Lake Central, Walled Lake Western, Walled Lake Northern, Waterford Mott and Waterford Kettering.

The KLAA's Kensington Conference will also stay the same with Livonia Churchill, Livonia Franklin, Plymouth, Canton, Wayne Memorial and Westland John Glenn comprising the South Division, while the Central Division will continue to be Livonia Stevenson, Salem, Northville, Novi, South Lyon and South Lyon East.

Travel could be the only concern for Grand Blanc in the KLAA's West Division. The distance one-way between Pinckney and Grand Blanc, for example, is 49 miles. Rountrip between Milford and Grand Blanc is 44.

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