The COVID-19 pandemic is hopefully in its last stages, but an after-effect will be felt during the upcoming Indiana high school sports season.
In April, the IHSAA voted to freeze enrollment figures from the current classification cycle, which began in the 2019-20 season, for the 2021-22 school year. The organization noted in a press release that enrollments for the just-finished 2020-21 school year “showed significant fluctuation likely affected by the pandemic which raised questions about their true representation.”
That means all schools will stay in their current classifications for each sport this coming year. The only exception are schools that are affected by the IHSAA’s Tournament Success Factor, and will be moving up a class, down a class, or remaining in a higher class.
Because of this, there isn’t much change for Hamilton County schools when the sectional groupings were announced. There will be some new schools here and there, but no radical re-groupings.
Starting with the fall sports, boys soccer doesn’t have too many changes. In Class 3A, the highest class, the sectionals are the same. Sectional 8 consists of Anderson, Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern, Muncie Central, Noblesville and Pendleton Heights, while the Sectional 10 group is Carmel, Shortridge, North Central, Pike, Westfield and Zionsville.
In Class 2A, Guerin Catholic and Hamilton Heights stay in Sectional 22. The sectional had been a six-team group, but will now be seven teams as Covenant Christian moves in. The other teams are Brebeuf Jesuit, Cardinal Ritter, Lebanon and Western Boone.
Class 1A Sectional 39 remains the same, consisting of Anderson Prep Academy, Liberty Christian, Sheridan, Taylor and Tri-Central. Sectional 40 features one change: Tindley replaces Howe. The other schools are the same: Heritage Christian, International, Park Tudor, Scecina and University.
In girls soccer, all local 3A sectionals are the same. Class 3A Sectional 8 is identical to the boys (Anderson, Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern, Muncie Central, Noblesville and Pendleton Heights), while 3A Sectional 10 features Arsenal Tech, Carmel, Guerin Catholic, North Central, Pike, Westfield and Zionsville.
Hamilton Heights plays in 2A Sectional 24 with Delta, Jay County, New Castle and Yorktown. Sheridan and University play in 1A Sectional 37 with Eastern, Taylor, Tipton and Tri-Central.
VOLLEYBALL – EAGLES MOVE UP
In volleyball, one school will move up due to the success factor, and that impacts two local sectionals.
Heritage Christian makes the jump to Class 3A and will go to Sectional 27. Guerin Catholic and Hamilton Heights are in that sectional, along with Bishop Chatard, Brebeuf Jesuit and Shortridge. It will remain a six-team sectional, though, as Indianapolis Manual is leaving the group.
Heritage had been playing in 2A Sectional 43, in which Sheridan and University play. That sectional will now be a four-team group, with the Blackhawks and Trailblazers also playing with Park Tudor and Western Boone.
There are no changes in 4A Sectional 8. That lineup will stay Carmel, Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern, Noblesville, Westfield and Zionsville.
FOOTBALL – STARS IN 3A
The success factor will also mark a change for a football sectional involving county teams.
Western Boone, state champions in 2A for three straight years, will be moving up to 3A. The Stars will move to Sectional 28, a group that includes Guerin Catholic and Hamilton Heights. Other schools are Brebeuf Jesuit, Crawfordsville, North Montgomery, West Lafayette and Yorktown. Chatard had been in this sectional, but the success factor bumped the Trojans up to 4A.
The other local football sectionals are the same. Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern, Noblesville and Westfield stay in 6A Sectional 3; Avon, Brownsburg, Carmel and Pike play in 6A Sectional 4, and Sheridan remains in 1A Sectional 46 with Covenant Christian, Edinburgh, Indiana School for the Deaf, Indianapolis Lutheran, Park Tudor and Tindley.
BASKETBALL – BIG SCHOOLS THE SAME
The county’s Class 4A schools will have the same lineup in both girls and boys basketball. Carmel, Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern, Noblesville, Westfield and Zionsville will continue to battle it out in Sectional 8 this coming school year.
Hamilton Heights will stay in 3A Sectional 24 in both girls and boys basketball, playing with Delta, Jay County, Muncie Burris, New Castle and Yorktown. Guerin Catholic’s girls and boys teams will remain in Sectional 27, but now both sectionals will only have five teams with the loss of Manual. The Golden Eagles will play with Brebeuf Jesuit, Chatard, Lebanon and Shortridge.
In Class 2A girls, Sheridan will stay in Sectional 38, which also drops to five teams as Lafayette Central Catholic moves back down to 1A. Other schools in that sectional are Clinton Prairie, Fountain Central, Rossville and Seeger.
The University girls play in Sectional 43, which has the same five-team lineup. The ‘Blazers will compete with Cascade, Covenant Christian, Park Tudor and Western Boone.
As for the 2A boys teams, Sheridan plays in Sectional 39, where the roster will stay the same: Blackford, Eastbrook, Madison-Grant, Taylor and Tipton play with the Blackhawks.
University’s boys stay in Sectional 42, which drops to six teams with the loss of Howe. Other teams in that sectional are Covenant Christian, Heritage Christian, Irvington Prep, Park Tudor and Scecina.