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Central Ohio’s winter 2024-25 sports alignment as OHSAA adds divisions in basketball

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Central Ohio’s winter 2024-25 sports alignment as OHSAA adds divisions in basketball

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The two-time defending Division III state champion Africentric girls basketball team moves to Division V under new winter tournament division alignments released Monday by the Ohio High School Athletic Association.

Basketball expands from four to seven divisions, as will girls volleyball, baseball and softball beginning in the 2024-25 year, the first in which the OHSAA is implementing expanded classifications for postseason play.

Boys soccer and girls soccer will go from three to five divisions.

The expansion, which was approved Feb. 15, came about in an effort to mitigate disparity within Division I. In the affected sports, the average disparity in enrollment between the top and bottom of Division I is 939 students.

Among other notable changes for central Ohio basketball teams, Harvest Prep’s boys program moves from Division III, where it was state runner-up in March, to Division V.

Divisional breakdowns for wrestling are expected to be approved in June.

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

Given the expanded tournaments, only the basketball state finals will be held at University of Dayton Arena, which has hosted the state tournament since 2021. OHSAA executive director Doug Ute told a statewide media panel last week that semifinals are expected to take place the previous weekend at various sites around the state, although that plan is not finalized.

Gymnastics, ice hockey and girls wrestling continue to have only one division with no competitive balance.

The OHSAA emphasized these divisions as tentative, given that member schools currently are voting on a measure that would allow schools to request competing in Division I in certain sports. Other schools in the classification, and other sports at schools where teams move to 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 football were announced in late April, with other fall sports following suit last week.

Divisions for spring sports will be announced at a later date. Here are the winter changes for central Ohio schools, including the enrollment breakdown by division and regional qualifiers:

BOYS BASKETBALL

  • Division I (625 students and more): Central Crossing, Delaware, Dublin Coffman, Dublin Jerome, Gahanna, Grove City, Groveport, Hilliard Bradley, Hilliard Darby, Hilliard Davidson, Lancaster, Marysville, Newark, Olentangy, Olentangy Berlin, Olentangy Liberty, Olentangy Orange, Pickerington Central, Pickerington North, Reynoldsburg, Thomas Worthington, Upper Arlington and Westland stay in Division I.
  • Division II (448-624): Big Walnut, Briggs, Canal Winchester, Dublin Scioto, Franklin Heights, Licking Heights, Mifflin, Mount Vernon, New Albany, Northland, St. Charles, Teays Valley, Watkins Memorial, Westerville Central, Westerville North, Westerville South, Whetstone and Worthington Kilbourne move from Division I.
  • Division III (277-447): Former Division I schools are DeSales, Independence, South, Walnut Ridge, West and Whitehall. Beechcroft, Bexley, Centennial, Granville, Hamilton Township, Hartley, Licking Valley, Linden-McKinley and Watterson change from Division II.
  • Division IV (198-276): Bloom-Carroll, Buckeye Valley, Circleville, East, Eastmoor Academy, Highland, Johnstown, Jonathan Alder, Lakewood, London and Marion-Franklin switch from Division II. Schools previously in Division III are Cristo Rey, Fairfield Union, Heath, Horizon Science, International, KIPP Columbus, Logan Elm and Westfall.
  • Division V (146-197): Ready drops from Division II. Africentric, Amanda-Clearcreek, Columbus Academy, East Knox, Fairbanks, Fredericktown, Harvest Prep, Liberty Union, Mount Gilead, Northridge, North Union, Utica and Worthington Christian move from Division III.
  • Division VI (98-145): Former Division III teams are Cardington, Centerburg, Grandview Heights, Grove City Christian, Madison-Plains and West Jefferson. Berne Union, Tree of Life and Wellington change from Division IV.
  • Division VII (97 and fewer): Danville, Delaware Christian, Fairfield Christian, Fisher Catholic, Granville Christian, Liberty Christian, Madison Christian, Millersport, Newark Catholic, Northside Christian, Patriot Prep and Shekinah Christian all were previously in Division IV.

REGIONAL QUALIFIERS: The Central District will advance six Division I teams, five in Division II, two in divisions III, IV, V and VII and one in Division VI to regionals. One Southeast District team in Division III and two each in divisions IV, V, VI and VII move on.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

  • Division I (582 students and more): Central Crossing, Delaware, Dublin Coffman, Dublin Jerome, Gahanna, Grove City, Groveport, Hilliard Bradley, Hilliard Darby, Hilliard Davidson, Lancaster, Marysville, New Albany, Newark, Olentangy, Olentangy Berlin, Olentangy Liberty, Olentangy Orange, Pickerington Central, Pickerington North, Reynoldsburg, Thomas Worthington, Upper Arlington, Westerville North and Westland stay in Division I.
  • Division II (418-581): Big Walnut, Canal Winchester, Dublin Scioto, Franklin Heights, Licking Heights, Mount Vernon, Teays Valley, Walnut Ridge, Watkins Memorial, Watterson, Westerville Central, Westerville South, Whetstone and Worthington Kilbourne all were formerly in Division I.
  • Division III (271-417): DeSales, Hartley, Independence and West move from Division I. Changing from Division II are Beechcroft, Bexley, Bloom-Carroll, Centennial, Granville, Hamilton Township, Linden-McKinley, South and Whitehall.
  • Division IV (192-270): Buckeye Valley, Circleville, East, Eastmoor Academy, Fairfield Union, Jonathan Alder, Licking Valley, Logan Elm, London and Marion-Franklin move from Division II. Horizon Science, International and Ready previously were in Division III.
  • Division V (135-191): Heath, Highland and North Union drop from Division II. Africentric, Amanda-Clearcreek, Columbus Academy, Columbus School for Girls, Fairbanks, Fredericktown, Johnstown, Lakewood, Liberty Union, Madison-Plains, Northridge, Tree of Life, Utica, Westfall and Worthington Christian had been in Division III.
  • Division VI (93-134): Schools previously in Division III are Cardington, Centerburg, East Knox, Grandview Heights, Harvest Prep and West Jefferson. Grove City Christian, Mount Gilead and Newark Catholic move from Division IV.
  • Division VII (92 and fewer): Berne Union, Danville, Delaware Christian, Fairfield Christian, Fisher Catholic, Granville Christian, Liberty Christian, Madison Christian, Northside Christian, Patriot Prep, Shekinah Christian and Wellington change from Division IV.

REGIONAL QUALIFIERS: The Central District will send six Division I teams, four in Division II, two in divisions III, V, VI and VII and one in Division IV to regionals. One Southeast District team in divisions III and IV, three in Division V and two in divisions VI and VII advance.

BOWLING

  • Hartley and Licking Valley’s boys teams join Division I after previously competing in Division II.
  • On the girls side, East’s girls team moves from Division II to I and Circleville returns to Division II from I.

SWIMMING & DIVING

  • Bloom-Carroll and Granville’s girls teams move to Division I from II. No local boys teams changed divisions.

dpurpura@dispatch.com

@dp_dispatch

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