By Joanna Chadwick

It’s that time of year. Enrollment numbers are in, and classifications for all sports, except football, are out.

Check them out below.

As expected Maize South moves up to 5A, even though it stays 4A for football for the next two years. Winfield and Highland Park move down into 4A. Cheney and Haven move down into 3A.

To me, the biggest change is St. James Academy moving up from 4A to 5A. That will create a heck of a 5A volleyball tournament. St. James has dominated in 4A and has had some of the nations top players.

How about Leavenworth and SM South moving down into 5A?

What do you think about the new classifications?

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by joanna

Wichita is building a new high school, northeast of Heights, which is slated to open in 2012. But when the football districts came out on Wednesday, there was no new Wichita High School (which is still nameless).

That means that school will not participate in postseason football in 2012 or 2013.

What do you think about this? Or should this even be a concern when USD 259 is concerned about even staffing this high school?

by joanna

The KSHSAA released its classifications today, and there were some interesting moves. Hutchinson football joins all other sports in Class 6A — 6A football probably wishes its respite lasted longer than it did while Hutch was in 5A. (Remember that football classifications will be for 2012 and 2013, while all other sports are for the 2011-12 school year.)

Collegiate moved up from 3A to 4A in all sports, while McPherson moved down from 5A to 4A. Other big moves are Colgan going from 2A to 3A in all sports, Smith Center down from 3A to 2-1A again.

I knew McPherson was coming to 4A, but boy, it sure affects volleyball next month. 4A is already loaded in the area with Rose Hill, Circle, Maize South, Cheney. Adding Mac, which has one loss, to Newton, makes it even more fascinating.

4A football gets even tougher with Collegiate and Mac being in 4A, too.

What do you think are the biggest changes? What sport is affected the most?

by joanna

I have posted the high school classifications below. These are for the 2010-11 high school year and do not include football.

Some interesting changes — Hutchinson moves back up to 6A, Valley Center moves back up to 5A (I see this impacting volleyball).

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I’m sitting in my living room watching the NBA playoffs and trying to put off going to do laundry when I see Amare Stoudemire dunk over about three Portland defenders. After I finished laughing, I remembered how much I love and miss high school dunks. They are far less frequent than in the college and NBA games. That’s what makes them a little more exciting and meaningful. Anyone care to share some favorite high school dunking moments or highlight plays from any other sport?

Also, be sure to click on my story today about the public private debate that went on at the KSHSAA board meetings this weekend.

Here’s the deal. I want to hear what you guys think about the baseball teams around here. Give me a list of the Top 10 teams (including the City League and area). It doesn’t matter which class the team is in. From a talent, coaching and depth standpoint, which teams are the best. Also add a brief blurb as to why you put your teams in that order. I will post my rankings on Saturday night. (more…)

I spent the weekend in Lawrence at the KU Relays and witnessed a few good races. It was actually my first visit on the campus, and it’s really nice compared to a lot of place I’ve been to.

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As you saw from Joanna’s story this morning, the North Central Kansas League has made a proposal to the KSHSAA board of directors that would make private schools compete one classification higher than their enrollment.

Here’s how the classes would break down this year, if the proposal were in effect (listed in order of enrollment) .

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The Kansas State High School Activities Association has released the classifications for all sports, except football, for the current school year. The numbers are based on enrollment in 10th-12th grades.

Some of the most interesting changes aren’t too surprising.

As expected, Andover has joined Andover Central in Class 5A. Valley Center has dropped from 5A down to 4A, while Maize South enters in at 4A.

Independent has dropped down to 3A (this should affect tennis the most because it puts the Panthers back in with Collegiate and Conway Springs). Hutchinson Trinity has dropped from 3A to 2A.

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The Kansas State High School Activities Association has released its football classifications for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Because football, unlike other sports is in effect for two years, it is based on current numbers in 9th through 11th grades. This is different from other sports, which are for the current school year and are based on numbers in 10th-12th grades.

As expected, Andover and Andover Central have both moved up from 4A and into 5A for football. (Andover Central was 5A for all sports except football in 2008-09.) Maize South comes in at 4A, while Winfield drops from 5A to 4A.

Valley Center which dropped down to 4A in the other sports, stays in 5A for football. Kingman has dropped from 4A to 3A, as has Chaparral. Peabody-Burns is moving down from 2-1A to 8-Man Division I.

And Smith Center is back up in 3A, after being in 2-1A. As if the west wasn’t tough enough in 3A, now Smith Center is back with Conway Springs and Garden Plain. Yeesh.

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