Delaware Hayes’ Jesse Burris goes up to block a shot by Reynoldsburg’s Hammond Russell (20) during the second half of an OHSAA tournament game last season in Delaware.
Gazette | File
COLUMBUS — The Ohio High School Athletic Association has announced the divisional breakdowns for the upcoming winter season using competitive-balance data submitted last year.
The result: girls and boys basketball will have four divisions using competitive balance. All other winter sports will use the same divisional format for the 2023-24 season as last year.
On the girls’ side, Olentangy, Olentangy Orange, Olentangy Liberty, Olentangy Berlin, Delaware Hayes and Big Walnut will again compete in Division I.
New members making the move from D-II to the top division include Columbus Bishop Hartley and Akron Archbishop Hoban.
The Patriots had the best season of the county contenders last winter, winning an OCC-Central Division championship before reeling off three straight tournament wins to punch a ticket to a district title game.
Buckeye Valley will again compete in Division II, which will now include the likes of Aurora and Columbus Centennial — two teams that competed in Division I a season ago — and Delaware Christian will again be a Division IV team on the hardwood.
As for the boys, perennial power Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary is among the handful of teams making the jump from Division II to Division I. Delaware Hayes, Olentangy, Olentangy Orange, Olentangy Liberty, Olentangy Berlin and Big Walnut, meanwhile, will stay in D-I.
The Pacers and Pioneers met in a district title game a season ago, with the Pioneers advancing to their first regional championship game in program history before falling to D-I state runner-up Pickerington Central. The Patriots also made it to a district title game last winter.
Buckeye Valley will once again compete in Division II while Delaware Christian will be a Division IV team.
Other than that, things will be unchanged. Boys and girls swimming will once again have two divisions, boys and girls bowling will have two divisions, gymnastics and ice hockey will have the typical one-division format and wrestling will have three divisions for boys and one for girls.
Voted in place by the OHSAA member schools in May 2014, Competitive Balance is a process which makes modifications to how schools are placed into tournament divisions in the team sports of baseball, basketball, football, soccer, softball and volleyball.
The modifications are based on which students are actually on each respective roster. Competitive Balance roster data collection began in ArbiterGame during the Fall of 2016 and was initially implemented during the 2017-18 school year.
