The North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) board of directors recently approved a plan to expand the organization’s classification model.
This new model, set to take effect during the 2025-26 school year, will split the state’s nearly 450 participating schools into eight classifications, as opposed to the current four classification system. With this decision, the NCHSAA aims to create more balanced competition among member schools.
The existing classification format, implemented for over six decades, has undergone several iterations. The most prevalent model, currently in use, is the 25-25-25-25 system. It categorizes schools based on their size, designating the smallest 25% as 1A and the largest 25% as 4A.
While this method attempts to distribute schools evenly, it has faced criticism due to the significant disparities in size between the largest and smallest schools especially within the 1A and 4A classifications. As a result, an alternative 20-30-30-20 format was introduced in 2017, aiming to reduce this discrepancy by having fewer schools in the 1A and 4A classifications. However, it proved short-lived, lasting only two years.
Richmond Senior High School has predominantly competed in the 4A classification. However, in its inaugural year, 1972-73, the school participated as a 3A member. Despite being in the largest classification and competing with schools much larger than itself, Richmond has found success in many sports throughout its 51 years.
The Raiders will not benefit from the new classification structure. The expansion from four classifications to eight will likely see approximately 12.5% of schools in each classification. This means that the largest 54 or 55 schools will be placed in the 8A classification, the next 54 or 55 will be placed in 7A and so on. This would also comply with the NCHSAA’s goal of not exceeding 64 schools in any classification.
The added classifications will make it nearly impossible to avoid split conferences, but what is uncertain is how split a conference can be. Under the new structure, current Sandhills Athletic Conference (SAC) schools would be spread across 3 classifications (6A, 7A and 8A).Â
Richmond, along with fellow SAC members Hoke County and Pinecrest, will be classified as 8A schools (using this year’s ADM numbers). The only SAC school in the 7A classification will be Scotland. Lee County, Union Pines, and Southern Lee will be classified as 6A schools.
Looking around at potential 8A conference mates gets a little interesting. The schools closest in proximity to Richmond, Hoke, and Pinecrest that will also be classified as 8A schools are Jack Britt, Lumberton, and Overhills (Spring Lake, NC).
Pine Forest, Purnell Swett, Cape Fear, Seventy-First, South View and Gray’s Creek would all be 7A, creating a reasonable conference option for the Scots.
In postseason play, the Raiders will continue to compete against schools like Myers Park, South Mecklenburg, Apex Friendship, Chambers, Hough, Panther Creek and Leesville Road, all of which Richmond has faced in recent years in various sports and all have at least 400 more students than Richmond.Â
So, while the added classifications will lessen the overall the ADM disparity currently found in the 4A classification, it will not change anything from Richmond’s standpoint.
To put this difference in perspective, if Richmond and Scotland were combined into one school, that mega-school (3,678students) would still only have seven more students than Ardrey Kell, which currently has 3,671 students.
This issue will not be a factor in classifications 2A through 7A as the expansion will do its job. In 8A, the largest school is 90.1% larger than the smallest school. In 7A, the largest school is only 26.1% larger than the smallest. In 6A, it’s a 31.3% difference, 24.8% in 5A, 18.3% in 4A, 30.5% in 3A, and 49% in 2A.
To be fair, there is no reasonable solution for this. There are only 10 schools in the state with 2,500 students or more and the 8A classification will likely be the home for all schools with an ADM of 1,900 and above. Also, the state’s three largest schools, Ardrey Kell, South Mecklenburg, and Myers Park are all going to see some reduction with a new school planned to open in South Charlotte, which will alter the 8A landscape and statistics significantly.
Still, Richmond will sit in the 8A classification well above the 7A line, so any expectation that the Raiders will see fewer postseason games and matches against larger, urban-area schools as a result of this expansion is not realistic. There are currently around 25 schools that have 200 or more students than Richmond does and the Raiders have run into almost all of them in the playoffs in one sport or another.
Richmond will still face an uphill battle, but it has many banners and signs across campus celebrating a legacy of success that has not been impacted by the census. The Richmond Raider basketball team recently defeated South Mecklenburg, handing the Sabres their only loss of the season so far. The largest classification is where the Raiders belong.
