OHSAA announces new fall divisions

The Ohio High School Athletic Association has announced the preliminary divisional breakdowns for the upcoming fall sports season. The OHSAA Board of Directors approved the new divisions and tournament representation last week during its April board meeting, which included the previously announced football divisions and regions.

The divisional assignments and regional tournament representation should be considered preliminary, as OHSAA member schools may opt to move up to Division I if Referendum Issue 1B passes this spring. Results of the referendum voting will be announced May 16.

As announced last February, girls and boys soccer will expand to five divisions this fall and girls volleyball will expand to seven divisions. In both sports, the largest 64 schools are placed in Division I, the next 64 largest schools are placed in Division II, and the remaining schools are divided as equally as possible into the other divisions.

Earlier this spring, the OHSAA received base enrollment data, comprised of students in grades 9, 10 and 11 as of October 2023, from the Ohio Department of Education to use for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. In addition to football, the fall sports of soccer and girls volleyball utilize competitive balance data from the previous season to create a new adjusted enrollment count. Details of the competitive balance process are available at: https://www.ohsaa.org/School-Resources/Competitive-Balance-Resource-Center.

In football, Hillsboro will be in Division III and McClain will be in Division IV.

In girls soccer, Hillsboro and McClain will be in Division IV, and Lynchburg-Clay and Fairfield will be in Division V.

In boys soccer, Hillsboro will be in Division III, McClain in Division IV, and Lynchbury-Clay and Fairfield in Division V.

In volleyball, McClain and Hillsboro will be in Division IV, Lynchburg-Clay and Fairfield will be in Division VI and Whiteoak will be in Division VII.

In girls cross country, McClain and Hillsboro will be in Division II.

In boys cross country, Hillsboro and McClain will be in Division II, and Whiteoak and Fairfield will be in Division III.

In girls golf, Hillsboro and McClain will be in Division I, and Lynchburg-Clay will be in Division II.

In boys golf, Hillsboro will be in Division I, McClain will be in Division II and Fairfield will be in Division III.