With the celebratory parties over and many of its players now playing summer ball, Austin Prep can turn its full attention to its transition to the NEPSAC.
Austin Prep's final act as an MIAA school came during last month’s Division 3 state baseball title victory over Newburyport. AP will partner with the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council beginning next fall.
Austin Prep, a coed institution in Reading, Mass., with an enrollment exceeding 750 in Grades 6 to 12, formally made its announcement to join the NEPSAC back in January.
“We had been thinking about it for a while,’’ said Jon Pollard, who is Assistant Headmaster for Enrollment and Athletics as well as Cougars' head baseball coach. “This is no knock on the MIAA. The MIAA is in a very difficult position when it comes to balancing public schools and private schools. Austin Prep is very much a private school, and we need to provide what our students and their families want. It is hard to do that in an MIAA model. By going to the NEPSAC, it will give us an opportunity to work with our student-athletes more and will allow us the privilege to compete against other mission-aligned and like-minded schools and students."
