New divisional breakdowns for the upcoming fall sports, which for the first time include Competitive Balance roster data in football, volleyball and soccer, were approved Thursday morning by the Ohio High School Athletic Association Board of Directors during its April meeting.
Division assignments are based on school enrollment numbers provided by the Ohio Department of Education, and then modified in football, volleyball and soccer based on Competitive Balance factors that OHSAA member schools approved by referendum vote in 2014.
Highland County schools were largely unaffected by these changes for the 2017 fall sports season. The lone change comes in the form of Fairfield moving up to Division III in volleyball, while Lynchburg-Clay remains in Division III, Whiteoak remains in Division IV, and Hillsboro and McClain remain in Division II.
In football, Hillsboro remains in Divsion III and McClain remains in Division IV.
In soccer for both boys and girls, Hillsboro remains in Division II along with McClain, and Fairfield and Lynchburg-Clay remain in Division III. Whiteoak is the only Highland County that does not have soccer, although it has recently considered adding the sport.
“This is a journey that we have been on for more than eight years to get to this point,” Dr. Dan Ross, OHSAA commissioner, said. “Today’s approval of the fall sports divisional breakdowns is the result of countless hours of work by our staff and our member schools. For the first time in OHSAA history, enrollment isn’t the only factor in determining a school’s division in certain sports. But the journey isn’t over. We will study the results of this first go-around and discuss with the Competitive Balance Committee and the board.”
According to Competitive Balance regulations, the previous season’s roster data (grades 9-12) is used for affecting the following season’s additional roster count in the selected sports. The additional roster count is added to the school’s base enrollment number to determine the final adjusted enrollment count before divisional placements are made. More information on Competitive Balance, which affects baseball, basketball, football, soccer, softball and volleyball, is posted at: http://www.ohsaa.org/School-Resources/Competitive-Balance-Resource-Center.
“The committee studied the competitive balance factors and we listened to the feedback from our member schools,” Ross said, noting that the first three Competitive Balance Proposals were voted down by the membership in 2011, 2012 and 2013. “As we’ve said all along, our goal is to keep public and non-public schools together in the same postseason divisions, but Competitive Balance will help place those schools in the correct division based on the makeup of their roster. We are very pleased that this is now off the ground and we can see the results. We’ll continue to gather feedback and see what changes, if any, the committee wants to propose to the membership to vote on in the future.”
Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2570, or Twitter @RCApplegate89.
