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Central Ohio’s fall 2024 sports alignment as OHSAA adds divisions in soccer, volleyball

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Central Ohio’s fall 2024 sports alignment as OHSAA adds divisions in soccer, volleyball

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Soccer and girls volleyball teams statewide on Tuesday learned their tournament divisions for the coming season, the first one in which the Ohio High School Athletic Association is implementing expanded classifications for postseason play.

Boys soccer and girls soccer are expanding from three to five divisions, and girls volleyball is going from four to seven.

The expansion, which was approved Feb. 15, came about in an effort to mitigate disparity within Division I. In the affected sports, a group that also includes baseball, boys and girls basketball and softball, the average disparity in enrollment between the top and bottom of Division I is 939 students.

Among notable changes for central Ohio teams, last year’s Division III boys soccer state runner-up, Worthington Christian, moves to Division IV. Division I regional champion St. Charles and runner-up New Albany both are in Division II, and both Division II regional finalists (Watterson and runner-up Fairfield Union) drop to Division III.

Division II volleyball state semifinalist Hartley moves to Division III. Division IV regional runner-up Shekinah Christian is now in Division VII.

Although the change was driven by member schools, expansion had to be approved by a majority vote of the 11-member OHSAA board of directors because it is part of the organization’s General Sports Regulations.

Member schools will vote in May on a measure that would allow schools to request competing in Division I, but schools already in Division I would not be affected.

Divisions I and II are evenly divided between the top 128 schools, with the remaining divisions split as evenly as possible.

Football has had seven divisions since 2013. Divisions and regional alignments for the fall were announced last week.

Boys and girls soccer went to three in divisions in 2000 and 2011, respectively. Girls volleyball has had four divisions since 1990.

Divisions for baseball, boys and girls basketball and softball will be determined at a later date. All are expanding from four divisions to seven.

Cross country, boys golf, girls soccer and girls tennis tournament divisions also were announced. Those sports are not expanding, although a handful of teams are changing classifications.

Here are the changes for central Ohio schools, including the enrollment breakdown by division and regional qualifiers:

BOYS SOCCER

  • Division I (626 students and more)
  • Division II (448-625): Big Walnut, Briggs, Canal Winchester, Dublin Scioto, Franklin Heights, Licking Heights, Mifflin, Mount Vernon, New Albany, Northland, St. Charles, Teays Valley, Thomas Worthington, Watkins Memorial, Westerville Central, Westerville South, Whetstone and Worthington Kilbourne all were in Division I last year.
  • Division III (251-447): DeSales, South, Walnut Ridge and West join from Division I. Former Division II schools are Bexley, Bloom-Carroll, Centennial, Circleville, Columbus Academy, Fairfield Union, Granville, Hamilton Township, Hartley, Jonathan Alder, Linden-McKinley, London, Watterson and Whitehall. Cristo Rey remains in Division III.
  • Division IV (168-250): Heath, Highland, Horizon Science, Johnstown, Lakewood, Logan Elm, Marion-Franklin, Ready and Westfall drop from Division II. Moving from Division III are Grove City Christian, Harvest Prep, International, Northridge, Tree of Life and Worthington Christian.
  • Division V (167 and smaller): Delaware Christian, Fairbanks, Fisher Catholic, Grandview Heights, Granville Christian, Liberty Christian, Liberty Union, Madison Christian, Patriot Prep and West Jefferson all were in Division III last fall.

REGIONAL QUALIFIERS: From the Central District, six in Division I, five in Division II, two in divisions III and IV and one in Division V. In the Southeast District, one team in Division III and two each in divisions IV and V advance.

GIRLS SOCCER

  • Division I (576 and more)
  • Division II (404-575): Big Walnut, Canal Winchester, Dublin Scioto, Franklin Heights, Licking Heights, Mount Vernon, Teays Valley, Watkins Memorial, Watterson, Westerville Central, Whetstone and Worthington Kilbourne all move from Division I.
  • Division III (239-403): DeSales moves from Division I. Changing from Division II are Bloom-Carroll, Granville, Hamilton Township and Hartley.
  • Division IV (168-238): Buckeye Valley, Circleville, Heath, Highland, Logan Elm and London drop from Division II. Amanda-Clearcreek, Columbus Academy, Johnstown, Ready and Worthington Christian change from Division III.
  • Division V (167 and smaller): North Union moves from Division II. Dropping from Division III are Columbus School for Girls, Fairbanks, Fisher Catholic, Grandview Heights, Liberty Union, Madison-Plains, Northridge, Tree of Life, Wellington, West Jefferson and Westfall.

REGIONAL QUALIFIERS: Six Division I teams, three in Division II and the division III, IV and IV champions from the Central District advance. In the Southeast, the division III and IV champions and two from Division V move on.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

  • Division I (575 and more)
  • Division II (412-574): Big Walnut, Briggs, Canal Winchester, Dublin Scioto, Franklin Heights, Licking Heights, Mount Vernon, Northland, Teays Valley, Westerville Central, Westerville South, Whetstone and Worthington Kilbourne all are former Division I schools.
  • Division III (265-411): DeSales, Independence, Mifflin, South, Walnut Ridge, Watterson and West move from Division I. Beechcroft, Bexley, Centennial, Cristo Rey, Granville, Hamilton Township, Hartley, Jonathan Alder and Whitehall change from Division II.
  • Division IV (130-264): Buckeye Valley, Circleville, East, Eastmoor Academy, Fairfield Union, Heath, Highland, KIPP Columbus, Lakewood, Licking Valley, Logan Elm, London and Marion-Franklin drop from Division II. Moving from Division III are Fredericktown, Horizon Science, Ready and Worthington Christian.
  • Division V (134-189): North Union changes from Division II. Africentric, Amanda-Clearcreek, Columbus Academy, Columbus School for Girls, Fairbanks, Grove City Christian, Johnstown, Liberty Union, Madison-Plains, Northridge, Utica and Westfall were previously in Division III.
  • Division VI (91-133): Cardington, Centerburg, Grandview Heights, Newark Catholic, Tree of Life and West Jefferson move from Division III. Moving from Division IV are Delaware Christian, East Knox, Harvest Prep and Mount Gilead.
  • Division VII (90 and less): Changing from Division IV are Berne Union, Danville, Fairfield Christian, Fisher Catholic, Granville Christian, Liberty Christian, Madison Christian, Millersport, Northside Christian, Patriot Prep and Shekinah Christian.

REGIONAL QUALIFIERS: In the Central District, six Division I teams, three in Division II, two each in divisions III-VI and the Division VII district champion move on. The Southeast District advances one team from divisions III and IV, three from Division V and two each from divisions VI and VII.

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY

  • Granville moves from Division II to I. Watterson goes from Division I to II, Northridge moves from Division III to II and Liberty Union drops from II to III.

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY

  • Granville, Hamilton Township and Whitehall all join Division I from II. Fredericktown and Ready move to Division II from III, and North Union and Westfall make the opposite move.

BOYS GOLF

  • Licking Valley moves to Division I from II. Grandview Heights and Worthington Christian are moving to Division II from III, and Centerburg, Liberty Union and Madison-Plains are changing to Division III from II.

GIRLS GOLF

  • Circleville is the only central Ohio team changing divisions, moving to Division I from II.

GIRLS TENNIS

  • Bloom-Carroll, Granville, Hamilton Township and Whitehall are moving to Division I from II.

dpurpura@dispatch.com

@dp_dispatch

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