Irmo wins but Ridge View denied in final realignment appeal
The third time was the charm for Irmo. That wasn’t the case for Ridge View.
The South Carolina High School League appellate panel voted 3-2 Wednesday in favor of Irmo moving from Region 5-4A to Region 4-4A as part of the 2020-22 realignment.
This means Irmo will be in the region with AC Flora, Dreher, Lugoff-Elgin, Richland Northeast and Westwood beginning this fall.
The appellate panel voted 4-1 against the Blazers’ appeal to move from Class 5A to 4A as part of the 2020-22 realignment. Ridge View’s plea was previously denied by the league’s executive committee and the Class 4A and 5A executive committees.
This means Ridge View will be placed in Region 4-5A with Blythewood, Northwestern, Rock Hill and Spring Valley.
Realignment happens in the state every two years and is done to level the competitive playing field among schools. Among the changes for the 2020-22 school years, Ridge View moved from 4A to 5A — the state’s biggest classification — for the first time.
Irmo requested the change because of travel concerns and the impact on instructional time in the classroom. Region 5-4A is made up of Aiken, Airport, Midland Valley, North Augusta and South Aiken. Airport is the only other Columbia-area school in the region.
“We were just trying to put an emphasis on what is in the best interest in the student athletes,” Irmo athletic director Ray Canady said. “We were happy the committee was able to look at all the facts and take it all into consideration.”
The closest region trip for Irmo in 5-4A was Airport, which is about a 15-minute drive. The other four trips would range from 50 minutes to more than an hour each way.
With Irmo now in Region 4-4A, four of the five trips are under 30 minutes with the Lugoff-Elgin (about 35 minutes) the longest trip for its teams.
Plus, Canady said 160 of its athletes attend Spring Hill Magnet School in Chapin and that it already takes them 30 minutes to get to the school. If Irmo remained in Region 5-4A, the school argued that affected student-athletes would lose an hour of instruction time for each region road game.
Irmo had the support of Aiken schools and Airport for leaving and from most of those in Region 4-4A. Only Dreher and A.C. Flora opposed the move.
Irmo’s move creates 21 teams in the upper state of Class 4A and 19 in the lower state.
Ridge View’s main argument against moving up was the way counting was done for the school’s 45-day enrollment figure. Only students in grades 9 through 11 count toward the 45-day number, which is used to determine realignment. Ridge View’s 45-day total was 1,292 students, two more than West Florence, the biggest Class 4A school.
Ridge View athletic director Brian Rosefield argued that 39 students who should’ve been considered seniors were not. Those 39 students are in their fourth year of athletic eligibility but not academically. Rosefield’s argument is that some school districts in South Carolina count such students as seniors and some don’t.
The Richland 2 School District, where Ridge View is located, does not consider them seniors, which means they do count toward that critical 45-day number.
“The system isn’t equal and we tried. We appreciate the high school league for making trips down here and hearing our appeal,” Rosefield said. “It just didn’t go our way. We have said all along we can compete at 5A. We just made the chance to appeal when we found out the numbers weren’t quite equal.”
Committee member Bob Davis agreed with Rosefield’s belief that numbers weren’t counted equally but said it would be too late in the game for schools to do it over, adding that it wasn’t something the S.C High School League could fix.
Another member said it is something that Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman would have to fix as far as how schools classify their students.
In other appeals, West-Oak won its appeal 3-2 to move to Region 1-2A for football only but won’t be allowed to participate in the playoffs as a trade-off. Christ Church was denied, 4-1, to move from Region 1-2A to Region 1-1A and Burke was denied, 3-2, its appeal to from Region 6-2A to Region 7-A.
Below are the classifications and regions for the 2020-22 realignment plan:
Class 5A
Region 1: Hillcrest J. L. Mann Mauldin T. L. Hanna Woodmont
Region 2: Byrnes, Dorman, Riverside, Spartanburg, Wade Hampton
Region 3: Boiling Springs, Clover, Fort Mill, Gaffney, Nation Ford
Region 4: Blythewood, Northwestern, Ridge View, Rock Hill,Spring Valley
Region 5: Chapin, Dutch, Fork, Lexington, River Bluff, White Knoll
Region 6: Carolina Forest, Conway, Socastee, St. James, Sumter
Region 7: Berkeley, Cane Bay, Goose Creek, Stratford, Wando
Region 8: Ashley Ridge, Fort Dorchester, Stall, Summerville, West Ashley
Class 4A
Region 1: Easley, Pickens, Travelers Rest, Walhalla, Westside
Region 2: Eastside, Greenville, Greenwood, Greer, Laurens
Region 3: Catawba Ridge, Indian Land, Lancaster, South Pointe, York
Region 4: AC Flora, Dreher, Lugoff-Elgin, Irmo, Richland Northeast, Westwood
Region 5: Aiken, Airport, Midland Valley, North Augusta, South Aiken
Region 6: Darlington, Harstville, Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, South Florence, West Florence, Wilson
Region 7: Beaufort, Bluffton, Colleton County, Hilton Head Island, James Island, Lucy Beckham, May River
Class 3A
Region 1: Belton-Honea Path, Daniel, Pendleton, Seneca, West-Oak (everything but football), Wren
Region 2: Berea, Blue Ridge, Carolina, Palmetto, Powdersville, Southside
Region 3: Broome, Chapman, Clinton, Emerald, Union County, Woodruff
Region 4: Chester, Fairfield-Central, Keenan, Lower Richland, Mid-Carolina
Region 5: Brookland-Cayce, Fox Creek, Gilbert, Orangeburg-Wilkinson, Strom Thurmond, Swansea
Region 6: Camden, Crestwood, Lake City, Lakewood, Manning, Marlboro County
Region 7: Aynor, Dillon, Georgetown, Loris, Waccamaw
Region 8: Academic Magnet, Battery Creek, Bishop England, Hanahan, North Charleston, Oceanside Collegiate
Class 2A
Region 1: Abbeville, Christ Church, Crescent, Greenville Tech, Liberty, Ninety Six, West-Oak (football only)
Region 2: Blacksburg, Brashier MC, Chesnee, Greer MC, Landrum, Legion Collegiate (football), St. Joseph
Region 3: Batesburg-Leesville, Columbia, Eau Claire, Gray Collegiate, Newberry, Saluda
Region 4: Andrew Jackson, Buford, Central, Cheraw, Chesterfield, Legion Collegiate (everything but football), North Central, York Prep
Region 5: Barnwell, Edisto, Pelion, Silver Bluff, Wade Hampton
Region 6: Burke, Lake Marion, Philip Simmons, Ridgeland-Hardeeville, Timberland, Woodland
Region 7: Andrews, Kingstree, Latta, Lee Central, Marion, Mullins
Class A
Region 1: Calhoun Falls, Dixie, High Point Academy**, McCormick, SCSDB**, Southside Christian, Ware Shoals, Whitmire
Region 2: CA Johnson, Governor’s School**, Great Falls, Lamar (football only), Lewisville, McBee, Midlands Stem**, Riverwalk Academy**
Region 3: Blackville-Hilda, Calhoun County, Denmark-Olar, Hunter-Kinard-Tyler, North, Ridge Spring-Monetta, Wagener-Salley, Williston-Elko
Region 4: CE Murray, Carvers Bay, East Clarendon, Hemingway, Scott’s Branch
Region 5: Coastal Leadership**, Green Sea-Floyds, Hannah-Pamplico, Johnsonville, Lake View, Lamar (everything but football), Timmonsville
Region 6, Allendale-Fairfax, Bamberg-Ehrhardt, Bethune-Bowman, Branchville, Bridges Prep**, Estill, Polaris Tech**, Royal Live Oak**
Region 7: Baptist Hill, Charleston Math & Science, Cross, Low Country Leadership**, Military Magnet, Palmetto Scholars**, St. John’s, Whale Branch
** denotes no football
This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 11:05 AM.
