INDIANAPOLIS — Based on enrollment figures submitted by the Indiana Department of Education in the fall, IHSAA member schools now know which class they’ll be participating in the next two years. Among schools in the area that play Times-Union area teams in baseball, basketball, softball and volleyball, Columbia City is moving back down from Class 4A to 3A, while Fort Wayne Bishop Luers and Rochester are climbing from 2A to 3A and Plymouth is making the move from 3A to 4A. There are no major local changes in terms of soccer, outside of the Fort Wayne Canterbury boys soccer team moving up from 1A to 2A based on the Tournament Success Factor. The Tournament Success Factor is established based on a team’s postseason championships, awarding one point for a sectional, two for a regional, three for semistate and four for a state title. When a school’s enrollment class, which is a two-year period, reaches a combined six points in a specific sport, it is then moved up a class. By winning the 2011 and 2012 Class 1A state championship, the Fort Wayne Canterbury boys soccer team accumulated eight points, therefore being bumped up to Class 2A, where the Warsaw Tigers also compete. As for the newly created six-class football system, Warsaw’s enrollment ranks it 25th in the state, therefore bumping the Tigers up to 6A. There will be a total of 32 teams in Class 6A, as the north will consist of Warsaw (25th in enrollment), Penn (5th), Lake Central (6th), Portage (9th), Crown Point (11th), Merrillville (19th), Homestead (21st), Fort Wayne Northrop (22nd), Valparaiso (24th), Carroll (Fort Wayne) (28th), Chesterton (30th) and Lafayette Jefferson (32nd). In other football news, Concord moves up from 4A to 5A, leaving the sectional it play in with rival Wawasee. In Class 3A, Tippecanoe Valley and Whitko each stay, and they’ll now be joined by Fort Wayne Bishop Luers and Rochester, which each moved up from 2A. Luers’ move up to 3A is a welcomed one for teams in 2A, as Luers has won the past four 2A state championships and five of the last six. Locally, Manchester remains in 2A and Triton will continue to compete in 1A. Because of all the movement, and with more potentially coming as Tournament Success Factor may move more teams up before the school year is over, sectional groupings will be announced in the spring following IHSAA Executive Committee approval.
