By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
NILES - The Michigan High School Athletic Association has released its classifications for the upcoming season and Niles will be one of three area schools which will move up a class beginning next fall.
Niles will be moving from Class B to Class A, while Berrien Springs will move back to Class B from Class C. Eau Claire will be the other area team moving up a class as the Beavers will go from Class D to Class C.
The MHSAA bases its classification numbers on the second semester count date, which was set at Feb. 22. Schools may have submitted different enrollment numbers for school aid and this does not include students who will be 19-years-old before Sept. 1.
The MHSAA takes the numbers from the 760 tournament-qualified members and then splits them, as equally as possible, into four classes.
This year there will be 190 schools in each class.
Beginning in the fall of this year, schools with 1,053 students and above will be in Class A, while schools with enrollments between 508 and 1,052 will be in Class B. Schools will enrollments between 245 and 507 will be in Class C, while those with enrollments between 244 and below will be in Class D.
This year there was a decrease of five students between classes A and B, an increase of 12 students between classes B and C and a decrease between classes C and D.
With the new breakdown, 19 schools moved up a class, while 11 schools moved down a class.
Law noted that by looking at class numbers, Niles will remain Class A for two years. Once this year's sophomore class graduates, he said the Vikings will more than likely return to Class B.
Schools have an option to play in a higher classification for a minimum of two seasons according to the MHSAA. Those schools must inform the MHSAA of those intentions prior to April 15 for fall sports, Aug. 15 for winter sports and Oct. 15 for spring sports.
Sports which currently compete in traditional classes are basketball, bowling, girls competitive cheer, girls gymnastics, skiing and volleyball.
Sports which compete in nearly equal divisions are baseball, cross country, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field and wrestling.
According to the MHSAA, soccer will have 20 percent of sponsoring schools in Division 4, with the remaining schools being equally divided into the remaining three divisions.
The MHSAA has delayed the breakdown into divisions for ice hockey, lower peninsula girls golf, girls soccer and lower peninsula boys and girls swimming and diving until May 15 in order to “reflect changes being made to cooperative programs to bring them into compliance with the 3,500 student enrollment limit that takes full effect in 2006-07,” the MHSAA said in a prepared statement.
Also set to take place in May will be proposals from girls competitive cheer, skiing, lower peninsula swimming and diving and volleyball to switch to divisions or to restructure existing divisions.
Any vote to adopt such a proposal would take effect in the 2006-07 school year.