IHSAA freezes figures

INDIANAPOLIS — The Patriots will be staying put, at least for another year.

So will the rest of the state.

The IHSAA Executive Committee on Friday approved a freeze of enrollment figures for the current cycle, delaying reclassification for member schools.

“This year’s enrollment numbers showed significant fluctuation in the case of many schools likely affected by the (coronavirus) pandemic and raising questions about their true representation,” the IHSAA said in a press release Friday evening. “Following prolonged discussion during today’s monthly meeting of the Executive Committee, members voted 18-1 to extend the classification cycle by a year.”

It was not revealed who cast the dissenting vote.

As a result of the IHSAA’s decision, all Jay County High School athletics teams will remain in their current classes.

The IHSAA will reclassify following the 2021-22 school year, using enrollment figures from that cycle to determine classifications for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.

The release said points earned through the Tournament Success Factor during 2019-20 and 2020-21 will be applied toward sectional groupings for the 2021-22 tournaments.

“Given that last year’s state tournaments in boys basketball, softball and baseball were cancelled, no schools in those sports will move up in 2021-22 since those schools will not be able to achieve the point totals necessary,” the release said.

Schools currently playing up a class, though, could remain in their same classification or revert to their enrollment class once point totals are applied.

Jay County’s enrollment figures for the current classification is 987. The Patriots are Class 4A in football, Class 3A in sports with four classes (baseball, softball, boys basketball and girls basketball) and Class 2A in sports with three classifications (boys and girls soccer).