SCHSL realignment plan sends Laurens to Class 4A
The initial plans for the 2020-22 South Carolina High School League athletic realignment have been announced, and Laurens High is heading to a new class.
Laurens will move to Class 4A for the upcoming two-year cycle, which begins in the fall of 2020. The Raiders’ program was ranked No. 61 in the state for student population over the first 45 days of the current school year. Student population totals were derived from freshman, sophomore, and junior class numbers for this current school year. A plus-minus fo four schools was used to help alleviate any geographical and travel concerns, according to the SCHSL in its press release.
Laurens has been in Class 5A for the first four years of its existence. It had been previously a Class 4A school for all sports – excluding football, where it was in Class 4A, Division II.
Laurens will be placed in Class 4A, Region 2, a region of just five schools in total. Along with Laurens, Region 2-4A will be made up of Eastside, Greenville, Greenwood, and Greer.
Clinton, meanwhile, will have no change to its classification as it will remain in Class 3A. Clinton was ranked No. 105 overall in the student population rankings. When the 2020 season begins, Clinton will remain in Region 3-3A, along with Broome, Chapman, Emerald, Union County, and Woodruff.
Starting next year the SCHSL Class 5A will feature the top 40 schools, with the next 40 schools falling into Class 4A. In the last realignment, which was set for 2018-20, 48 schools were placed in Class 5A, with Laurens placing at 46th. That made Laurens the third-smallest SCHSL school in Class 5A, ahead of only Greenwood and York. The current plan calls for 46 total schools to be placed in Class 3A.
The SCHSL also announced that to maximize the number of schools with football in each region, some schools may end up participating in a different region for football than all other sports – but will remain in the same class for all sports.
“I appreciate the hard work and commitment of the staff, and the cooperation and patience of the member schools as we worked through this process,” SCHSL Commissioner Jerome Singleton said.
The next step for all schools will be to file any appeals with the Classification Executive Committee. The final realignment plan will be announced next year.
