5 key takeaways from classification makeover in SC high school sports
The South Carolina High School League on Tuesday released its official enrollment numbers that it used to form new-look classifications for realignment for the 2024-26 school years.
Realignment is normal and happens every two years in the state, with a handful of schools usually moving up or down a single class — but this year was different.
There was much anticipation for this release because of the first-time use of an out-of-zone multiplier to determine which schools would be in what classification. That multiplier took each student who lives outside of a school’s assigned attendance zone and counted them as three for total enrollment purposes.
This was done to address competitive balance concerns statewide, especially at the A and 2A levels. The initial realignment release attempted to fix things — at least on paper.
Here are five of the biggest takeaways from the new look to the class structure for South Carolina high school sports:
Impact on charter schools
Charter schools Gray Collegiate, Fox Creek and York Prep experienced big moves upward in the realignment, with all three schools going from Class 2A to 4A.
Gray’s success in 2A has drawn ire from other schools in the class, especially over the past few years. The War Eagles’ region opponents forfeited all their games against them in every sport for the 2023-24 seasons — in part a protest for how Gray’s sports rosters are built using out-of-zone students.
Shortly after the SCHSL released its realignment Tuesday, Gray principal Brain Newsome sent this message to parents.
“I have advised all of our head coaches to review how this will affect every athletic program at Gray, and we will meet collectively in early January,” Newsome wrote. “There is an appeal process if we choose to go that route, along with submission of amendments to move our school to a different classification. All avenues will be explored and we look forward to reviewing how this will affect our student athletes. Nonetheless, we will continue to provide our athletes a safe, competitive and positive experience to explore athletics at Gray.”
Newsome and Gray have shown public support for moving up one class to 3A. We’ll see what Gray, located in West Columbia, thinks about moving up two classes.
Mount Pleasant-based Oceanside Collegiate, which just won the 2A football championship, is only moving up one class to 3A.
New charter schools also were affected in the realignment. American Leadership Academy in Lexington will jump to 3A in the school’s second year of existence.
Mountain View Prep, located in Spartanburg, opens in 2024-25 and is being assigned to 3A, which will be a challenge for a first-year program.
What about private schools?
There are four private school members in the S.C. High School League. Greenville’s three private schools Christ Church, Southside Christian and St. Joseph’s — all very successful at the Class A level — are making big jumps upward. Christ Church is headed all the way from Class A to 4A, while the other two schools are going from Class A to 3A.
Bishop England, a private school in the Charleston area, also is moving up two classes from 2A to 4A. Bishop England has competed in 3A in previous realignments.
It’s at least possible that these private schools consider a jump to the S.C. Independent School Association. Most of the state’s private schools already compete in SCISA.
Did any schools move down?
While most of the talk is of schools moving up, there were some that actually moved down in realignment. Lake City will go from 3A to 2A, and Lee Central going from Class 2A to Class A. Chester will be out of Class 3A for the first time in more than 20 years, moving down to Class 2A.
Another interesting observation: Abbeville, a traditional power in football, is the smallest (379 students) of 40 schools in the new-look Class 2A that lost its most successful charter schools (Gray and Oceanside) but still features the Horry County-based upstart Atlantic Collegiate.
Class 5A swells, but will it split?
No classification saw a bigger increase in numbers from the last realignment than Class 5A, the state’s biggest class. It went from 36 teams to 52 teams. In the parameters sent to schools recently by the realignment/reclassification committee, it was recommended that the class be split for all sports, a move that would result in two divisions and two state championships. There’s a good chance that split will happen, but where the line is drawn and how many schools are in each division of 5A is still to be determined.
Expect plenty of appeals, discussion
In recent years, there haven’t been as many appeals from schools regarding classifications and region placement. Don’t expect that to be the case this year.
Expect the private schools to appeal their classification. Don’t be surprise if some of the charter schools appeal their placement as well. It will be an interesting next two months as appeals will be heard and region placements will be made.
And no matter what, the final results will usher in interesting changes across the S.C. high school sports scene.
This story was originally published December 21, 2023 at 8:00 AM.
