MHSAA 2023-24 School Year Classifications Announced
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
April 6, 2023
Classifications for Michigan High School Athletic Association elections and postseason tournaments for the 2023-24 school year have been announced, with enrollment breaks for postseason tournaments posted to each sport’s page on the MHSAA Website.
Classifications for the upcoming school year are based on a second semester count date, which for MHSAA purposes was Feb. 8. The enrollment figure submitted for athletic classification purposes may be different from the count submitted for school aid purposes, as it does not include students ineligible for athletic competition because they reached their 19th birthday prior to Sept. 1 of the current school year and will not include alternative education students if none are allowed athletic eligibility by the local school district.
All sports’ tournaments are conducted with schools assigned to equal or nearly equal divisions, with lines dependent on how many schools participate in those respective sports.
For 2023-24, there are 750 tournament-qualified member schools. Schools recently were notified of their classification, and sport-by-sport divisions were posted to the MHSAA Website today (April 6). MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said schools may not subsequently lower their enrollment figure. However, if revised enrollment figures are higher and indicate that a school should be playing in a higher division, that school would be moved up.
Five MHSAA Finals champions awarded so far during the 2022-23 school year are assigned to different divisions for 2023-24. Division 6 champion Grand Rapids West Catholic will play 11-player football in Division 5 this upcoming season. The Holland Christian boys soccer team will be moving into Division 2 after winning the Division 3 Final in the fall, and East Grand Rapids’ girls swimming & diving program is headed back to Lower Peninsula Division 3 after winning in LP Division 2 this past season. A pair of cross country champions are on the move – LP Division 4 boys champion Wyoming Potter’s House Christian to LP Division 3, and Upper Peninsula Division 3 girls champion Munising into UP Division 2 – and the Grass Lake boys bowling team will compete in Division 3 next winter after winning the Division 4 championship last month.
Also set to change divisions among Finals runners-up from head-to-head sports are Cadillac volleyball (Division 2 to D1), Ann Arbor Greenhills boys soccer (Division 4 to D3), Mendon 8-player football (Division 2 to D1) and three 11-Player Finals runners-up – Caledonia (Division 1 to D2), Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central (Division 2 to D3) and Muskegon (Division 3 to D2).
Visit the respective sport pages on the MHSAA Website to review the divisional alignments for all MHSAA-sponsored tournament sports. Click the “SPORTS” menu above to access the page for each sport, then the “Assignments” link on the selected sport page and then “DIVISION LIST” to see the 2023-24 division.
Traditional classes (A, B, C, D) – formerly used to establish tournament classifications – are used only for MHSAA elections. To determine traditional classifications, after all counts are submitted, tournament-qualified member schools are ranked according to enrollment and then split as closely into quarters as possible. For 2023-24, there are 187 member schools in Class A, Class B and Class C, and 189 member schools in Class D.
Effective with the 2023-24 school year, schools with 807 or more students are in Class A. The enrollment limits for Class B are 380-806, Class C is 177-379, and schools with enrollments of 176 and fewer are Class D. The break between Classes A and B decreased eight students from 2022-23, the break between Classes B and C decreased 11 students, and the break between Classes C and D is six students fewer than for the 2022-23 school year.
The new classification breaks will see 21 schools move up in Class for 2023-24 while 24 schools will move down:
Moving Up from Class B to Class A
Bay City John Glenn
Fowlerville
Garden City
Lansing Eastern
Orchard Lake St. Mary’s
Tecumseh
Moving Down from Class A to Class B
Detroit Henry Ford
Detroit Mumford
Harper Woods
Plainwell
Sault Ste. Marie
Spring Lake
Moving Up from Class C to Class B
Ann Arbor Greenhills
Grand Rapids Covenant Christian
Hartford
Ishpeming Westwood
Kent City
Mason County Central
Pinconning
Moving Down from Class B to Class C
Blissfield
Clawson
Clinton Township Clintondale
Detroit Northwestern
Elk Rapids
Fennville
Sanford Meridian
Stockbridge
Moving Up from Class D to Class C
Auburn Hills Oakland Christian
Benton Harbor Countryside Academy
Detroit Crocket Midtown Science & Medicine
Grand Traverse Academy
Martin
Munising
Rudyard
Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary
Moving Down from Class C to Class D
Eau Claire
Fowler
Jackson Prep
L’Anse
Marcellus
Merrill
Mesick
Morenci
Muskegon Heights Academy
St. Ignace
New Postseason-Eligible Tournament Schools in 2023-24
Waterford Oakside Prep
Enrollment Breaks by Classes – 2023-24
(Number of schools in parentheses)
Class A: 807 and above (187 schools)
Class B: 380 – 806 (187)
Class C: 177 – 379 (187)
Class D: 176 and below (189)
Council Announces Schedule to Resume Sports
November 18, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association approved today an adjusted schedule to restart and conclude Fall Tournaments in football, girls volleyball and girls swimming & diving, and also to resume Winter sports after the three-week “pause” in activity ordered by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) scheduled to end Dec. 9.
The MDHHS announced Nov. 15 a three-week pause to various activities including school sports, effective Nov. 18, in hopes of halting the state’s rising infections due to COVID-19.
The volleyball and swimming & diving tournaments have one week remaining, with MHSAA Finals for both previously scheduled for Nov. 21. The 11 and 8-Player Football Playoffs also are nearing their conclusions, with the 8-player postseason two games from completion and 11-player down to its final three rounds. Winter practices for all but boys basketball, bowling, skiing and wrestling had begun for high school teams.
If allowed by the MDHHS, practice would resume for all three Fall sports Dec. 9, with tournaments scheduled as follows:
•
Volleyball: Quarterfinals in all four divisions would be played Tuesday, Dec. 15, with Semifinals played Dec. 17-18 and Finals on Saturday, Dec. 19. Those final two rounds would be played at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena, as previously scheduled.
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Swimming & Diving: All three Lower Peninsula Finals would be conducted Tuesday, Dec. 22 (diving) and Wednesday, Dec. 23 (swimming) with three high schools each hosting one meet. This allows for a two-week practice window for all participating swimmers who previously met and entered qualification times, and for divers who previously qualified at Regional meets.
•
Football: 11-Player Regional Finals and 8-Player Semifinals would be played Tuesday, Dec. 15, and Wednesday Dec. 16; 11-Player Semifinals and 8-Player Finals would be played Dec. 21-22, the 8-player championship games at Midland Community Stadium; 11-Player Finals will be played Monday, Dec. 28, and Tuesday Dec. 29 at Ford Field.
For Winter sports, the Council approved resuming practices on Dec. 9 if allowed by the MDHHS, with competition to begin Jan. 4.
“We understand where COVID numbers were trending, and that’s why we have been supportive of the order to pause,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “But these Fall sports deserve closure, and this strategy provides the best opportunities without further interruptions to a normal course of training and competition.
“A very small percentage of our teams remain active in our Fall tournaments, also limiting potential exposure to the virus across the state. Meanwhile, by waiting until January to begin Winter competition, the Council is allowing our teams to continue activity but also restricting the mixing of communities to further promote reducing COVID spread.”
The Council meets again Dec. 4 for its annual Fall Meeting, and at that time will consider possible tournament adjustments necessary due to the shortened Winter competition season.
The Representative Council is the 19-member legislative body of the MHSAA. All but five are elected by member schools. Four members are appointed by the Council to facilitate representation of females and minorities, and the 19th position is occupied by the Superintendent of Public Instruction or designee.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.