How many high school classifications does your state have?

[pressmurphy]

New York's NYSPHSAA (encompassing around 750 schools, including some of the Catholic schools) varies by sport:

-- two classes in ice hockey, outdoor track, boys volleyball, bowling
-- three classes in field hockey, lacrosse
-- five classes in football, soccer, basketball, cross country, girls volleyball, baseball, softball

All things considered, five classes is overkill in all of those sports except basketball. We could go back to the four-class format of 7-8 years ago without risking rioting in the streets.

New York City's catholics (CHSAA) and publics (PSAL) are separate entities with their own championships. They join the main association (NYSPHSAA) champs in playing down to overall state champs in three classes in a handful of sports (basketball, most notably).

There's also a fourth statewide body -- the Alliance of Independent Schools -- that's mostly insignificant in the big picture.

 

[Central-KY-Kid]

gregcrews already touched on it, but Kentucky has six for football.

32 teams each 1-A (smallest) and 6-A (largest) and all 32 make the playoffs. 2-A, 3-A, 4-A and 5-A have roughly 35-45 teams. Eight districts per class and the top four in each district make the playoffs. There will be several 0-10 teams in the playoffs.

Track and cross country have three classes each.

Every other sport has one class. And in Kentucky, publics and privates compete together (a public school has never been in the state volleyball final).

 

[zebracoy]

Didn't someone mention in a thread similar to this at one point that there's a state where the classifications aren't decided until the playoffs actually begin?

I imagine that being a nightmare.

 

[GidalKaiser]

The two states I've been in are slightly convoluted. New Mexico has a 5-class system, but seven classes in football (5A-1A, eight-man and six-man). Montana has a four-class system, with six-man football thrown in (AA, A, B, C, six-man).
Illinois system has grown from what I remember; back in high school it was just AA and A.

 

[doctorx]

Florida has eight in football, partly to create a de facto public-private split among small schools.

 

[UPChip]

Didn't someone mention in a thread similar to this at one point that there's a state where the classifications aren't decided until the playoffs actually begin?

I imagine that being a nightmare.

That would be the Michigan football tournament. If you go 6-3 (or 5-3 with eight games), you get in automatically. They then fill the field to 256 with 5-4 teams and the like, arrange the 256 schools by enrollment, divide into eight equal groups and go. (Next year it expands to nine champions as the state will be sanctioning an 8-man title game). It sounds convoluted and can be a pain for the writer types who want to figure out who's playing who ahead of time, but it actually works fairly well.

The base classifications in Michigan are Classes A-D, which are used directly only in basketball and volleyball (in football, they are used to determine 'playoff points,' that is, strength of victory, the main factor in seeding). Several other sports (baseball, softball, wrestling, track, etc.) are divided into 'nearly-equal divisions,' that is, all the schools fielding a team are divided into (usually four) equal groups. One other reminder is that several 'minor' sports have separate championships for the two peninsulas, which is to say that one can be a "U.P. State champion" in swimming, tennis, cross country, track and/or golf.

Due to the extremely convoluted demands of the MHSAA's loss in the infamous gender equity lawsuit, U.P. boys' soccer is required to be held in the 'wrong' (spring) season, though the handful (six, maybe?) of U.P. schools that sponsor it have a fall championship outside the MHSAA's sanction.

 

[pressmurphy]

Didn't someone mention in a thread similar to this at one point that there's a state where the classifications aren't decided until the playoffs actually begin?

I imagine that being a nightmare.

That would be the Michigan football tournament. If you go 6-3 (or 5-3 with eight games), you get in automatically. They then fill the field to 256 with 5-4 teams and the like, arrange the 256 schools by enrollment, divide into eight equal groups and go. (Next year it expands to nine champions as the state will be sanctioning an 8-man title game). It sounds convoluted and can be a pain for the writer types who want to figure out who's playing who ahead of time, but it actually works fairly well.

I could see that as being fairly easy to organize and execute in the Internet era, but it has to suck for a lot of football coaches who would like to get some scouting done during the season. Projecting even one or two rounds into a 32-team bracket is impossible, and it gets even worse if your school is close to one of the enrollment cutoffs.

 

[Spartan Squad]

California's always a hodgepodge. In most team sports where there are state championships (boys and girls basketball, girls volleyball and boys and girls soccer in SoCal), there's five divisions. Most are enrollment based, but some sections are going to a ranking system much like in soccer, where teams move up and down in divisions depending on past performance. Football is still being worked out, since there's no statewide playoff system. Instead there's a five-division bowl system in a North vs. South format, four enrollment divisions and an "open" division for the power schools. Teams are selected by committee. Wrestling and track and field have one division, but cross country is five divisions. Boys and girls golf is a single division as well, but that's run by the state amateur golf association, not the CIF.

In all the other sports, it's left up to the sections.

And section titles carry a bit more prestige, especially in SoCal. In football in SoCal, I think it's up to 13 sections. Boys and girls basketball, there are 12. It's actually kind of insane, but there are also 600-plus schools just in the Southern Section.

Wow, I forgot how convoluted the CA system was. I know for the North Coast Section they go five divisions for football, six for basketball. Football divisions are enrollment based, with the ability to appeal to move up a division. They also have leagues that include teams from as many as three divisions which makes things even more hectic.

Then you have the two small sections, Oakland with six and San Francisco with eight. I know Oakland is considered Division 2 for Football, with school enrollments going from 250-2000+. Not sure about the other sports.

I've never understood how the Southern Section broke down its sections for the playoffs. In everything except football, it's based on enrollment. For example, in the desert where I work, there's a school with about 3,000-plus enrollment and another school in its league with maybe 1,500 enrollment. In basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball, those two schools won't ever play each other in the playoffs. But in football, it's by geographic region. So 11-man football team that is 1,000 enrollment can play other school that is 3,000 enrollment. The only exception is 8-man football which has two divisions based on school size. I guess it saves some schools from being in the same playoffs as Centennial or Mater Dei.

 

[JBHawkEye]

The number of classes in Iowa vary. Five for football, four for some, three for some. Throw in the fact that there's one organizing body for boys sports and one for girls, and it can be the occasional train wreck.

 

[HanSenSE]

California's always a hodgepodge. In most team sports where there are state championships (boys and girls basketball, girls volleyball and boys and girls soccer in SoCal), there's five divisions. Most are enrollment based, but some sections are going to a ranking system much like in soccer, where teams move up and down in divisions depending on past performance. Football is still being worked out, since there's no statewide playoff system. Instead there's a five-division bowl system in a North vs. South format, four enrollment divisions and an "open" division for the power schools. Teams are selected by committee. Wrestling and track and field have one division, but cross country is five divisions. Boys and girls golf is a single division as well, but that's run by the state amateur golf association, not the CIF.

In all the other sports, it's left up to the sections.

And section titles carry a bit more prestige, especially in SoCal. In football in SoCal, I think it's up to 13 sections. Boys and girls basketball, there are 12. It's actually kind of insane, but there are also 600-plus schools just in the Southern Section.

Wow, I forgot how convoluted the CA system was. I know for the North Coast Section they go five divisions for football, six for basketball. Football divisions are enrollment based, with the ability to appeal to move up a division. They also have leagues that include teams from as many as three divisions which makes things even more hectic.

Then you have the two small sections, Oakland with six and San Francisco with eight. I know Oakland is considered Division 2 for Football, with school enrollments going from 250-2000+. Not sure about the other sports.

Yep, never a dull moment for sure. The relegation system is new to the Central Section this school year and is still in need of some smoothing out. One of the girls basketball teams we cover is Div. III by enrollment, but after winning that Section three years ago, got bumped to Div. II, where they won Section the next two seasons. This past season, they were bumped to Div. I, with schools with 1,000 or so greater enrollment, and not only won again as top seed, but had running clock at the end of two of its three games. I'm assuming they'll play Div. V boys next year ...

MileHigh is right that Section titles do carry a bit more cred in a lot of sports, since outside of the sports I mentioned, Section was as far as you could go until recently. One problem in the Central Section is it's lumped in with SoCal schools for state regionals, while geographically its more tied to the north. Someone has to be cannon fodder for the LA-OC schools I guess. Synching seasons a problem as well. Soccer is a winter sport here, but a fall sport in some Sections and an spring sport in others.

 

[I Should Coco]

The number of classes in Iowa vary. Five for football, four for some, three for some. Throw in the fact that there's one organizing body for boys sports and one for girls, and it can be the occasional train wreck.

Something I hated about Iowa's classifications: Most of the largest schools (Class 4A if I recall) only had to win two games to qualify for state in B-ball, because there are only 48 schools in Class 4A. Meanwhile, some schools in the smallest classification (Class 1A) had to win six or seven games to get to state, because there were like 140 teams in that classification.

Seemed grossly unfair to me, but I rarely heard complaints from coaches or fans, even of the small schools.

I never understood why those two single-sex sports organizing bodies (ugh) didn't take the total number of schools offering the sport and divide by four.

 

[MileHigh]

California's always a hodgepodge. In most team sports where there are state championships (boys and girls basketball, girls volleyball and boys and girls soccer in SoCal), there's five divisions. Most are enrollment based, but some sections are going to a ranking system much like in soccer, where teams move up and down in divisions depending on past performance. Football is still being worked out, since there's no statewide playoff system. Instead there's a five-division bowl system in a North vs. South format, four enrollment divisions and an "open" division for the power schools. Teams are selected by committee. Wrestling and track and field have one division, but cross country is five divisions. Boys and girls golf is a single division as well, but that's run by the state amateur golf association, not the CIF.

In all the other sports, it's left up to the sections.

And section titles carry a bit more prestige, especially in SoCal. In football in SoCal, I think it's up to 13 sections. Boys and girls basketball, there are 12. It's actually kind of insane, but there are also 600-plus schools just in the Southern Section.

Wow, I forgot how convoluted the CA system was. I know for the North Coast Section they go five divisions for football, six for basketball. Football divisions are enrollment based, with the ability to appeal to move up a division. They also have leagues that include teams from as many as three divisions which makes things even more hectic.

Then you have the two small sections, Oakland with six and San Francisco with eight. I know Oakland is considered Division 2 for Football, with school enrollments going from 250-2000+. Not sure about the other sports.

Yep, never a dull moment for sure. The relegation system is new to the Central Section this school year and is still in need of some smoothing out. One of the girls basketball teams we cover is Div. III by enrollment, but after winning that Section three years ago, got bumped to Div. II, where they won Section the next two seasons. This past season, they were bumped to Div. I, with schools with 1,000 or so greater enrollment, and not only won again as top seed, but had running clock at the end of two of its three games. I'm assuming they'll play Div. V boys next year ...

MileHigh is right that Section titles do carry a bit more cred in a lot of sports, since outside of the sports I mentioned, Section was as far as you could go until recently. One problem in the Central Section is it's lumped in with SoCal schools for state regionals, while geographically its more tied to the north. Someone has to be cannon fodder for the LA-OC schools I guess. Synching seasons a problem as well. Soccer is a winter sport here, but a fall sport in some Sections and an spring sport in others.

It's been talked about for a couple of decades, but I think the time really has come for the Southern Section to be blown up. It's way way WAY too big. Give OC/Long Beach its own section, the IE/high and low deserts their own section. It was big 20 years ago and it's just gotten completely out of hand.

 

[Spartan Squad]

California's always a hodgepodge. In most team sports where there are state championships (boys and girls basketball, girls volleyball and boys and girls soccer in SoCal), there's five divisions. Most are enrollment based, but some sections are going to a ranking system much like in soccer, where teams move up and down in divisions depending on past performance. Football is still being worked out, since there's no statewide playoff system. Instead there's a five-division bowl system in a North vs. South format, four enrollment divisions and an "open" division for the power schools. Teams are selected by committee. Wrestling and track and field have one division, but cross country is five divisions. Boys and girls golf is a single division as well, but that's run by the state amateur golf association, not the CIF.

In all the other sports, it's left up to the sections.

And section titles carry a bit more prestige, especially in SoCal. In football in SoCal, I think it's up to 13 sections. Boys and girls basketball, there are 12. It's actually kind of insane, but there are also 600-plus schools just in the Southern Section.

Wow, I forgot how convoluted the CA system was. I know for the North Coast Section they go five divisions for football, six for basketball. Football divisions are enrollment based, with the ability to appeal to move up a division. They also have leagues that include teams from as many as three divisions which makes things even more hectic.

Then you have the two small sections, Oakland with six and San Francisco with eight. I know Oakland is considered Division 2 for Football, with school enrollments going from 250-2000+. Not sure about the other sports.

Yep, never a dull moment for sure. The relegation system is new to the Central Section this school year and is still in need of some smoothing out. One of the girls basketball teams we cover is Div. III by enrollment, but after winning that Section three years ago, got bumped to Div. II, where they won Section the next two seasons. This past season, they were bumped to Div. I, with schools with 1,000 or so greater enrollment, and not only won again as top seed, but had running clock at the end of two of its three games. I'm assuming they'll play Div. V boys next year ...

MileHigh is right that Section titles do carry a bit more cred in a lot of sports, since outside of the sports I mentioned, Section was as far as you could go until recently. One problem in the Central Section is it's lumped in with SoCal schools for state regionals, while geographically its more tied to the north. Someone has to be cannon fodder for the LA-OC schools I guess. Synching seasons a problem as well. Soccer is a winter sport here, but a fall sport in some Sections and an spring sport in others.

It's been talked about for a couple of decades, but I think the time really has come for the Southern Section to be blown up. It's way way WAY too big. Give OC/Long Beach its own section, the IE/high and low deserts their own section. It was big 20 years ago and it's just gotten completely out of hand.

The problem is, that would make sense and I don't see the Southern Section willingly doing anything that makes sense

 

[Petrie]

Oregon has six full-time classifications (6A to 1A) that apply to football, basketball, volleyball and track and field. All 1A schools (105 students or less) play 8-man football. Other sports will have fewer divisions in which they just combine the lower classes until there are enough teams (2A/1A for wrestling, baseball and softball; 3A/2A/1A for soccer, cross country and boys golf; 4A/3A/2A/1A for tennis, swimming and girls golf).

For the most part, 16 teams make the state tournament. Thirty-two 6A schools make state, meaning about a dozen don't. We just had realignment this year in which some leagues now have schools in multiple classes, so we seed teams with an RPI-like system. For the 6A, 5A and 4A schools, there are regionalized "play-in" games to make the field of 16 (all 6A and 5A schools are in these; 32 of the 4As are). 3A, 2A and 1A still have auto berths (top three in this league advance, top two in this one, etc.), and 1A basketball and volleyball have 24-team state tournaments (top three in each of the eight leagues).

The districts themselves are inconsistent, as the realignment has created "special districts" for a lot of sports. For example, there are four wrestling special districts (our 4A district literally is the merger of two leagues), and the top four in each weight class make state.

 

[HanSenSE]

California's always a hodgepodge. In most team sports where there are state championships (boys and girls basketball, girls volleyball and boys and girls soccer in SoCal), there's five divisions. Most are enrollment based, but some sections are going to a ranking system much like in soccer, where teams move up and down in divisions depending on past performance. Football is still being worked out, since there's no statewide playoff system. Instead there's a five-division bowl system in a North vs. South format, four enrollment divisions and an "open" division for the power schools. Teams are selected by committee. Wrestling and track and field have one division, but cross country is five divisions. Boys and girls golf is a single division as well, but that's run by the state amateur golf association, not the CIF.

In all the other sports, it's left up to the sections.

And section titles carry a bit more prestige, especially in SoCal. In football in SoCal, I think it's up to 13 sections. Boys and girls basketball, there are 12. It's actually kind of insane, but there are also 600-plus schools just in the Southern Section.

Wow, I forgot how convoluted the CA system was. I know for the North Coast Section they go five divisions for football, six for basketball. Football divisions are enrollment based, with the ability to appeal to move up a division. They also have leagues that include teams from as many as three divisions which makes things even more hectic.

Then you have the two small sections, Oakland with six and San Francisco with eight. I know Oakland is considered Division 2 for Football, with school enrollments going from 250-2000+. Not sure about the other sports.

Yep, never a dull moment for sure. The relegation system is new to the Central Section this school year and is still in need of some smoothing out. One of the girls basketball teams we cover is Div. III by enrollment, but after winning that Section three years ago, got bumped to Div. II, where they won Section the next two seasons. This past season, they were bumped to Div. I, with schools with 1,000 or so greater enrollment, and not only won again as top seed, but had running clock at the end of two of its three games. I'm assuming they'll play Div. V boys next year ...

MileHigh is right that Section titles do carry a bit more cred in a lot of sports, since outside of the sports I mentioned, Section was as far as you could go until recently. One problem in the Central Section is it's lumped in with SoCal schools for state regionals, while geographically its more tied to the north. Someone has to be cannon fodder for the LA-OC schools I guess. Synching seasons a problem as well. Soccer is a winter sport here, but a fall sport in some Sections and an spring sport in others.

It's been talked about for a couple of decades, but I think the time really has come for the Southern Section to be blown up. It's way way WAY too big. Give OC/Long Beach its own section, the IE/high and low deserts their own section. It was big 20 years ago and it's just gotten completely out of hand.

Agreed. Needles plays in the NIAA, instead of the long drives to the coast. Lake Tahoe area schools also compete in NIAA instead of the CIF's Sac-Joaquin Section (yes, I know everything's only 15 minutes away ...) and do occasionally win Nevada state titles. The San Francisco and Oakland sections dirtybird referenced served a purpose at one time, but can and should be absorbed into the Central Coast and North Coast Sections, respectively.

 

[NightHawk112005]

Three "classes" in Virginia, but six divisions for football, and five divisions for some other sports, like basketball and volleyball.

The big schools -- AAA -- are in one group for basketball, but there's a Division 5 and Division 6 for football.

AA has Divisions 3 and 4

A has Divisions 1 and 2

The private schools do not compete against VHSL members for championships, and there are several divisions of private school leagues ranging from largest to smallest enrollment.

Dumbest thing this state ever did was split into divisions for basketball. The enrollment difference isn't large enough to justify it. Maybe in football, where the big schools absolutely should be separated because of the difference in participation and depth. But in hoops, it's just watered down. In one region in Division 4 this year, three of the four semifinalists had losing records, ensuring a team with a losing mark made it to the state quarterfinals. Total joke. It was a lot more exciting when there were just Group A, AA and AAA champion. Five state champs in basketball/baseball/softball/volleyball is a total joke.

No kidding. It might be made more interesting if they added the private schools for basketball and baseball, but the five-class system just needs to go. As far as football, they have to be kept separate, or the private schools would drop football completely.

 

[NightHawk112005]

As far as my last state, Idaho is simply ridiculous. Six classes, with most classes having a very small number of schools. In football, the percentage of teams making the playoffs is nothing short of absurdity. In 2A, 16 schools make the football playoffs. There are 21 2A schools in the state, for a percentage of 76.2 making the playoffs.

This makes for some matchups that just do not need to happen. In one game, Malad beat Firth 61-13. Another year, Fruitland drilled Orofino 67-6. Nobody benefits from that. Idaho has three classes too many.

 

[MileHigh]

California's always a hodgepodge. In most team sports where there are state championships (boys and girls basketball, girls volleyball and boys and girls soccer in SoCal), there's five divisions. Most are enrollment based, but some sections are going to a ranking system much like in soccer, where teams move up and down in divisions depending on past performance. Football is still being worked out, since there's no statewide playoff system. Instead there's a five-division bowl system in a North vs. South format, four enrollment divisions and an "open" division for the power schools. Teams are selected by committee. Wrestling and track and field have one division, but cross country is five divisions. Boys and girls golf is a single division as well, but that's run by the state amateur golf association, not the CIF.

In all the other sports, it's left up to the sections.

And section titles carry a bit more prestige, especially in SoCal. In football in SoCal, I think it's up to 13 sections. Boys and girls basketball, there are 12. It's actually kind of insane, but there are also 600-plus schools just in the Southern Section.

Wow, I forgot how convoluted the CA system was. I know for the North Coast Section they go five divisions for football, six for basketball. Football divisions are enrollment based, with the ability to appeal to move up a division. They also have leagues that include teams from as many as three divisions which makes things even more hectic.

Then you have the two small sections, Oakland with six and San Francisco with eight. I know Oakland is considered Division 2 for Football, with school enrollments going from 250-2000+. Not sure about the other sports.

Yep, never a dull moment for sure. The relegation system is new to the Central Section this school year and is still in need of some smoothing out. One of the girls basketball teams we cover is Div. III by enrollment, but after winning that Section three years ago, got bumped to Div. II, where they won Section the next two seasons. This past season, they were bumped to Div. I, with schools with 1,000 or so greater enrollment, and not only won again as top seed, but had running clock at the end of two of its three games. I'm assuming they'll play Div. V boys next year ...

MileHigh is right that Section titles do carry a bit more cred in a lot of sports, since outside of the sports I mentioned, Section was as far as you could go until recently. One problem in the Central Section is it's lumped in with SoCal schools for state regionals, while geographically its more tied to the north. Someone has to be cannon fodder for the LA-OC schools I guess. Synching seasons a problem as well. Soccer is a winter sport here, but a fall sport in some Sections and an spring sport in others.

It's been talked about for a couple of decades, but I think the time really has come for the Southern Section to be blown up. It's way way WAY too big. Give OC/Long Beach its own section, the IE/high and low deserts their own section. It was big 20 years ago and it's just gotten completely out of hand.

Agreed. Needles plays in the NIAA, instead of the long drives to the coast. Lake Tahoe area schools also compete in NIAA instead of the CIF's Sac-Joaquin Section (yes, I know everything's only 15 minutes away ...) and do occasionally win Nevada state titles. The San Francisco and Oakland sections dirtybird referenced served a purpose at one time, but can and should be absorbed into the Central Coast and North Coast Sections, respectively.

Needles has been with Nevada for a lot of the last 30 years. Rightly so. But a section that goes from Lee Vining to San Clemente, Atascadero to Calexico -- minus LAUSD -- is just insane. Needs to be broken into three or four other sections.

 

[azom]

Wyoming has five for football, four for basketball/volleyball/track, three for wrestling/cross country/golf, and two or one for everything else. Enrollment cutoffs are the same across sports except for football.

The trick in Wyoming? Only 71 high schools in the state. Only 63 play football. Almost no co-ops due to the distances between schools.

 

[gregcrews]

It seems like the classification system in most states is pretty screwy. I guess the question is, is there a state that has a system that actually makes sense and can be modeled after?