Where Rock Hill area schools stand after South Carolina high school reclassification

The South Carolina High School League has released its biennial reclassification placements for all South Carolina high schools.

The new placements have accounted for the SCHSL’s new 3.0 multiplier rule, which states that each student that lives outside of a school’s “assigned attendance zone” will count as three students for classification purposes.

The changes will go into effect beginning with the 2024-25 school year and last through 2025-26.

Here are where Rock Hill high schools are slated to participate (those in italics changed classifications; grade enrollment numbers in parentheses):

Class 5A

Clover (2,107), Rock Hill (1,833), Fort Mill (1,605), Northwestern (1,534), Indian Land (1,492), Nation Ford (1,485), Catawba Ridge (1,319)

Class 5A will see three new York County schools join its ranks in Northwestern, Indian Land and Catawba Ridge.

In the current alignment, Clover, Rock Hill, Fort Mill and Nation Ford already compete in Region 3-5A, along with Spring Valley and Blythewood, which also retained their 5A placements.

The SCHSL reclassification committee said that it wants to get all regions to six or eight members if possible, but there has been no word on region placements.

One note: Catawba Ridge has a lower total enrollment figure than the top six schools in Class 4A, but the committee has also stated that location and intra-region travel is a factor in deciding regions.

A region including all seven York County 5A schools is a strong possibility.

Last week, the committee decided by unanimous vote to split Class 5A into two divisions for the playoffs, resulting in two state championships for each sport. The split will be based on enrollment.

Class 4A

South Pointe (1,275), York (1,210), Lancaster (1,118), York Prep (991)

York Prep will take a huge leap in classification next year, jumping from Class 2A to 4A due to the multiplier rule.

York Prep has 387 students in grades 9-11 that were counted in the multiplier, with 303 of them living outside of York Prep’s local attendance zone, per the school’s Chief Experience Officer.

This will be the first time that the SCHSL will have a school that doesn’t have a football program compete beyond Class 3A — no non-football school plays above 2A in the current alignment structure — but York Prep will not be alone in this leap.

Five other non-football schools in the state moved up two classifications as well, with two of them joining 4A. No such school is in 5A.

There is no word on whether the six- or eight-team region guideline includes non-football schools.

Class 2A

Chester (610), Andrew Jackson (552), Buford (511)

Chester will be out of Class 3A for the first time in more than 20 years, moving down to Class 2A.

This will set up a possibility for Chester (which currently qualifies in the upper state side of postseason tournaments) to enter a region with Andrew Jackson and Buford (which currently qualify in the lower state side of the postseason tournaments).

Class 1A

Lewisville (349), Riverwalk (323), Great Falls (225)

Class 1A remains the same, with Lewisville, Riverwalk and Great Falls all expected to remain in the same region.

School still have a chance to appeal the committee’s decisions, and therefore realignment assignments are not yet final. The SCHSL Executive Committee will meet in January for schools appealing their new classifications for realignment.

This story was originally published December 20, 2023 at 12:18 PM.