Participation Ranks 7th Nationally
August 26, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
For the sixth straight year, Michigan ranked seventh nationally in high school sports participation, according to statistics for the 2013-14 school year released recently by the National Federation of State High School Associations. That level of participation continued to best Michigan’s national ranking for total number of residents of high school age, which remained ninth for the second consecutive year.
Michigan’s participation ranking was based on a number of 299,246, with 127,275 girls and 171,971 boys taking part, and included sports in which the Michigan High School Athletic Association does not conduct postseason tournaments. The totals count students once for each sport in which he or she participates, meaning students who are multiple-sport athletes are counted more than once.
The state’s girls participation remained seventh nationally for the third consecutive year, while the boys participation figure continued to rank sixth. According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau figures from 2013, Michigan ranks ninth in both females and males ages 14 through 17.
Michigan ranked ninth or higher nationally in participation in 26 of the 28 sports in which the MHSAA conducts a postseason tournament (not counting separately 8-player football), and 14 sports bested the state’s overall national participation ranking, placing sixth or higher on their respective lists.
Boys cross country participation improved for the second straight year, up one spot to seventh nationally. Eight-player football also jumped, three spots to 11th, while 11-player football fell only one spot to sixth on its national list despite the shift of some teams to the 8-player format.
Seven Michigan boys sports joined 11-player football in falling slightly in national rankings, although none placed lower than ninth on their respective lists. Boys basketball fell from fourth to sixth, boys ice hockey from third to fourth, boys lacrosse from seventh to eighth, boys soccer from eighth to ninth, boys swimming and diving from seventh to ninth, boys track and field from sixth to seventh and wrestling also from sixth to seventh. Baseball (seventh), boys bowling (second), boys golf (sixth), boys skiing (fourth) and boys tennis (fifth) held constant to their 2012-13 national rankings.
Twelve of 14 girls sports also ranked the same as a year ago – girls basketball at seventh nationally, girls bowling at fourth, competitive cheer fifth, girls cross country fifth, girls golf sixth, gymnastics 12th, girls lacrosse 13th, girls skiing fourth, girls soccer ninth, softball seventh, girls swimming and diving ninth and girls tennis fourth. The two remaining girls sports fell in ranking, but only slightly – track and field from seventh to eighth and volleyball from fourth to fifth nationally.
National participation in high school sports in 2013-14 set a record for the 25th consecutive year with 7,795,658 participants – an increase of 82,081 from the year before. Girls participation also set a record for the 25th straight year, increasing this time 44,941 participants to 3,267,664 total. Boys participation rose above 4.5 million for the first time with a total of 4,527,994 – 37,140 more participants than in 2012-13. Part of the boys record total can be attributed to a jump in 11-player football participation, which grew by 6,791 players over the 2012 season – the first increase in national 11-player participation in five years.
Football (1,123,852 participants including 6, 8 and 9-player teams) remained the top sport for boys participation and top high school sport overall, with baseball the largest gainer among the top 10 boys sports. Girls track and field topped the girls national participation list, with volleyball the biggest girls gainer moving to third on that list behind also basketball. Outdoor track and field (1,059,206 boys and girls combined) was the second-most participated in sport nationally, followed by basketball (974,398 boys and girls combined).
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.
2022-23 School Year Classifications Announced
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 28, 2022
Classifications for Michigan High School Athletic Association elections and postseason tournaments for the 2022-23 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. 9. 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 September 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 2022-23, 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 (March 28). 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.
Several MHSAA Finals champions awarded so far during the 2021-22 school year are assigned to different divisions for 2022-23. In 11-player football, Detroit Martin Luther King will move to Division 4 after winning Division 3 in the fall, with Hudson moving to Division 7 after winning Division 8 this past November. Muskegon Western Michigan Christian won the Lower Peninsula Division 4 girls cross country championship in the fall but will compete in LP Division 3 next season. Dearborn Divine Child’s girls golf team, winner of the LP Division 2 title in the fall, will move to LP Division 3 next season. The East Grand Rapids girls swimming & diving team will move back into LP Division 2 after winning LP Division 3 in the fall.
Orchard Lake St. Mary’s baseball, the reigning Division 2 champion but playing in Division 1 this upcoming season, will move back into Division 2 for 2023. Richmond softball, which won Division 3 last season and remains in that division for this spring, will move to Division 2 for 2023.
Visit the respective sport pages on the MHSAA Website at https://www.mhsaa.com/sports to review the divisional alignments for all MHSAA-sponsored tournament sports.
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 2022-23, there are 187 member schools in Class A and Class C and 188 member schools in Class B and Class D.
Effective with the 2022-23 school year, schools with 814 or more students are in Class A. The enrollment limits for Class B are 388-813, Class C is 183-387, and schools with enrollments of 182 and fewer are Class D. The break between Classes A and B decreased 21 students from 2021-22, 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 2021-22 school year.
The new classification breaks will see 32 schools move up in Class for 2022-23 while 24 schools will move down:
Moving Up from Class B to Class A
Battle Creek Harper Creek
Cadillac
Detroit Henry Ford
New Boston Huron
Owosso
Plainwell
Sault Ste. Marie
Sparta
Spring Lake
Moving Down from Class A to Class B
Dearborn Divine Child
Detroit East English
Detroit Martin Luther King
Fowlerville
Garden City
Marysville
Pinckney
Moving Up from Class C to Class B
Adrian Madison
Blissfield
Brooklyn Columbia Central
Buchanan
Canton Prep
Clinton Township Clintondale
Dearborn Heights Star International
Detroit Voyageur College Prep
Elk Rapids
Grayling
Hart
Quincy
Sanford Meridian
Moving Down from Class B to Class C
Benzie Central
Coloma
Comstock
Detroit Communication Media Arts
Ecorse
Jonesville
Michigan Center
Otisville LakeVille Memorial
Shelby
Watervliet
Moving Up from Class D to Class C
Bellevue
Plymouth Christian Academy
Eau Claire
Fowler
Indian River Inland Lakes
Ironwood
Jackson Prep
Muskegon Heights Academy
New Buffalo
Ubly
Moving Down from Class C to Class D
Adrian Lenawee Christian
Breckenridge
Detroit Benjamin Carson Science & Medicine
Grand Traverse Academy
Lawrence
Rogers City
Warren Michigan Math & Science
New Postseason-Eligible Tournament Schools in 2022-23
Escanaba Holy Name Catholic
Farmington Hills Huda School
Center Line Prep
Battle Creek Academy
Enrollment Breaks by Classes – 2022-23
(Number of schools in parentheses)
Class A: 814 and above (187 schools)
Class B: 388 – 813 (188)
Class C: 183 – 387 (187)
Class D: 182 and below (188)
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.