EAST LANSING — Two area schools — Lakeshore and Eau Claire — will be changing classes for the 2019-20 high school athletic season.

Classifications for Michigan High School Athletic Association elections and postseason tournaments for the 2019-20 school year were announced Monday.

Lakeshore will be moving back to Class A after spending several years in Class B, while Eau Claire will drop from Class C to Class D.

Classifications for the upcoming school year are based on a second semester count date, which for MHSAA purposes was Feb. 13.

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 Sept. 1 of the current school year and will not include alternative education students if none are allowed athletic eligibility by the local school district.

Traditional classes (A, B, C, D) are used only for MHSAA elections and football playoff purposes — in 11-player to determine opponents’ point values, and in 8-player to determine if schools are eligible to compete in the MHSAA playoffs (only Class D teams may participate in the postseason). All other sports’ tournaments will be conducted with schools in equal or nearly equal divisions.

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 2019-20, there are 748 tournament-qualified member schools.

Effective with the 2019-20 school year, schools with 863 or more students are in Class A. The enrollment limits for Class B are 395-862, Class C is 189-394, and schools with enrollments of 188 and fewer are Class D. The break between Classes A and B decreased 22 students from 2018-19, the break between Classes B and C decreased three students, and the break between Classes C and D is five students fewer than the current school year.

Schools recently were notified of their classification. 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.

Schools have the option to play at any higher division for a minimum of two years, but must exercise the option by May 1 for fall sports, Aug. 15 for winter sports and Oct. 15 for spring sports.

The divisions and qualifiers for the MHSAA Football Playoffs will be announced on Selection Sunday, Oct. 27. Visit the respective sport pages on the MHSAA website at mhsaa.com/sports to review the divisional alignments for all other MHSAA-sponsored tournament sports.

Among teams that will be playing in new divisions in 2019-20 are two reigning MHSAA champions. The Rochester Adams girls swimming and diving team will be moving into Lower Peninsula Division 1 this fall after winning Division 2 in 2018.

The Saugatuck boys cross country team will move into Lower Peninsula Division 3 after winning Division 4 last fall. Additionally, two-time reigning Division 3 girls soccer champion Flint Powers Catholic is playing in Division 2 this spring, but will move back into Division 3 for the 2020 season. There will be a guaranteed new champion in Division 1 boys bowling in 2020 as this winter’s winner Farmington Hills Harrison will be closing after this school year.

Moving up to Class A

Battle Creek Harper Creek

Dearborn Divine Child

Marysville

Parma Western

Pontiac

Stevensville Lakeshore

Moving down to Class D

Big Rapids Crossroads Academy

Britton Deerfield

Dryden

Eau Claire

Newberry