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Moving on up? High schools can now petition OHSAA to move teams to Division I
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- Moving on up? High schools can now petition OHSAA to move teams to Division I
With the Ohio High School Athletic Association entering an era of expanded tournament divisions , member schools now have the chance for increased flexibility within those classifications.
A measure allowing schools to move to Division I on a sport-by-sport basis was one of six referendum items approved by OHSAA members in the 15-day voting period that ended Wednesday. It passed 560-217 with 38 schools abstaining, and schools with fall and winter teams that want to play in the OHSAA's big-school division can petition the organization to do so until June 3.
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Such a move would be on a year-by-year basis, so teams assigned to any other division would have to request membership in Division I annually.
Other schools would not be affected, meaning the smallest school or schools in Division I would not automatically drop to Division II if a school joined Division I. But executive director Doug Ute said May 1 during a meeting of the OHSAA's Media Advisory Committee that the OHSAA may ask smaller Division I schools if they want to change to Division II in an attempt to avoid imbalance.
Under a bylaw approved by OHSAA member schools, a team such as reigning Division III state champion Africentric can now petition the OHSAA to move to Division I. Such approval would be required each year.
Under the expanded divisions, the top 64 schools in each sport are in Division I, the next 64 are in Division II and remaining schools are split as evenly as possible among remaining classifications.
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"We don't want 64 to become 74 and 64 to become 54 in Division II," Ute said, adding that schools can move only to Division I and not simply one division above their current classification.
"If I'm a Division VII football school and I wait until the last minute to see who else is in the division, you'd have a ton of (requests)," Ute said May 1. "I asked someone in Division IV basketball if they'd move up and they didn't hesitate to say yes."
Referendum items pass with a majority vote of the OHSAA's 818 member schools.
Baseball, boys basketball, girls basketball, softball and girls volleyball are expanding from four divisions to seven effective next school year, and boys and girls soccer will be five divisions instead of three.
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That expansion was approved in February in an attempt to mitigate disparity between the largest and smallest schools in Division I.
Divisional alignments for fall and most winter sports were announced in the past few weeks. On each occasion, the OHSAA emphasized that the assignments were "tentative."
Football has had seven divisions since 2013.
While tournament 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, the option to join Division I was voted on by member schools because it is a bylaw.
Worthington Christian boys soccer coach Dan Roads and his team applaud during the trophy celebration after losing in the 2023 Division III state final. Under a bylaw approved by OHSAA member schools, a team such as the Warriors can now petition the OHSAA to move to Division I. Such approval would be required each year.
Teams currently ticketed to slide down a division include perennial boys soccer powers New Albany and St. Charles, both of which would move to the Division II postseason. New Albany lost in the Division I state final in 2020 and 2022, and St. Charles lost in a semifinal last fall .
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New Albany has been "discussing what the best move is for our program and also what's in the best interest of the school," boys soccer coach Johnny Ulry said Thursday.
"There is a prestige about being (in) Division I and to go up against those programs," Ulry said. "We've been in the state final two of the last four years. ... We want to play the best competition. Not saying that Division II isn't equally hard, but there's a different feeling playing in Division I and being able to go up against and measure yourself against the best. If we stay Division II, we are still going to play everybody in the regular season."
Janicia Anderson, coach of the two-time reigning Division III state champion Africentric girls basketball team, said the program "will consider" moving to Division I.
"Every year we are scheduling Division I teams and teams in higher divisions (during the regular season)," Anderson said. "We're OK with playing the best. This is something we're definitely going to talk about as a program.
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"We're in Division V now. It will still be competitive. ... It looks like the same teams we've had to battle the last couple of years. That's something we have to think about also."
Other approved referendum items by OHSAA member schools
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A mileage limit on a student's move between schools during their athletic season due to the death or incarceration of a parent or guardian was overwhelmingly eliminated 745-58. They previously could play a sport for two schools in the same season provided those schools were at least 50 miles apart.
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Midseason transfers are now eligible at their new school within their season, but only at the sub-varsity level. Those athletes would not be permitted to play in the postseason, or, if they have played at the varsity level, to gain any eligibility at their new school. That was approved 562-229.
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A modification to the residency bylaw, allowing eligibility once a student transfers during their season "due to the death or incarceration of the student's parent(s) or the intervention of Children's Services or a similar government agency," passed 761-39.
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An allowance for schools to make unlimited trips to bordering states or provinces for practices, and one trip per season to a non-bordering state for practice passed 692-86. Teams previously could practice outside Ohio only if they are playing a game during the same trip.
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A modification of the OHSAA's definition of "school days" to not include calamity days passed 719-73.
Dispatch reporter Frank DiRenna contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Schools get OK to petition OHSAA to move teams to Division I
