MIDVALE — Uintah High now has a permanent home for 2009-13, although it's probably not the one the Utes would have chosen.

Uintah was officially placed into 4A and in what will be a newly created Region 8 for the 2009-13 alignment at a Utah High School Activities Association Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday. The Utes were originally placed in Region 10 when the next alignment was finalized in June, and were going to compete as a 3A school during the regular season partly because of travel concerns. Uintah was still going to be considered a 4A school and compete in 4A state competitions.

The setup was confusing and left open many questions regarding seeding for state competitions. Now, the Utes will simply be a regular 4A school and get ready to open their pocket books for what will be greatly increased travel costs.

Theresa Theurer, the Board of Education's outgoing representative on the Board of Trustees, made motions at three different meetings to try and keep the Utes in 3A. All failed, the last of which occurred at Thursday's meeting. The increased cost of travel wasn't the only reason why she wanted to keep Uintah in 3A. The school has 4A enrollment numbers, but not 4A participation numbers in its sports.

"I've felt that in every classification there's always an exception," Theurer said. "I've never been a person that's said numbers told everything. When I heard Region 10 was accepting of Uintah (as a full-fledged 3A school), it seemed like the best fit for Uintah and those students. I tried to plead my case. I wish Uintah the best."

Uintah wasn't the only school changing places on Thursday. After Uintah was placed in Region 8, Provo was moved from Region 8 to Region 7, putting the Bulldogs in the same region as rival Timpview.

Timpview principal George Bayles attended the meeting and supported the move. He said there were misconceptions regarding his original proposal to place the two schools in separate leagues. He was originally just wanting to keep the Utah County regions balanced with an even number of teams, and not because of any lingering hostility between the two rival schools, he said.

The other major item discussed involved a proposal to cut the allowed number of contests teams can play. The issue has been talked about at great length in previous meetings and the board came to the conclusion on Thursday that it's only an issue in 1A and 2A. No motions were passed, but it will likely be discussed in the future.

"Their situation is totally different than 4A and 5A — the amount of miles traveled, the size of staff, the warehousing of students when coaches have to go and accompany them on trips," said UHSAA executive director Dave Wilkey. "They're two different worlds, and that was clearly defined today."

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