Rochester drops to 2A girls girls basketball; Winamac to 1A for football
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
The IHSAA revealed that Pioneer will drop from Class 2A to Class 1A for volleyball, girls basketball and boys basketball in classifications for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years released Tuesday.
Pioneer had spent the current cycle in 2A for the first time in over two decades, but with the IHSAA approving a new 20-25-25-30 model last June – the largest 20% of schools in Class 4A and the smallest 30% of schools in Class 1A – Pioneer dropped to 1A.
Pioneer will stay in Class 1A for football.
Meanwhile, other area schools changing classes included Rochester, who will drop from Class 3A to Class 2A in girls basketball, and Winamac, who will drop from Class 2A to Class 1A in football.
Rochester will stay in Class 2A for boys soccer, football, volleyball and boys basketball, and they will stay in Class 1A for girls soccer.
Winamac will stay in Class 2A for volleyball, girls basketball and boys basketball and will stay in Class 1A for boys soccer.
Rochester had been in the same Class 2A football sectional for the last cycle.
In other local news, Tippecanoe Valley will stay in Class 3A for volleyball, football, girls basketball and boys basketball and will stay in Class 2A for girls soccer and boys soccer.
Valley will be the smallest Class 3A school in volleyball and girls basketball and the third smallest in boys basketball. Brownstown Central and Fort Wayne Blackhawk, are the only smaller schools in 3A for boys basketball, and they are only in that class due to the IHSAA Success Factor.
Argos, Caston and Culver will stay in Class 1A for all sports in which they participate.
Other schools dropping to Class 3A in volleyball, girls basketball and boys basketball included Logansport, Columbia City, Marion and Plymouth.
Schools dropping from 3A to 2A include Lakeland, Jimtown, Oak Hill, Knox, Benton Central, Bremen, Boone Grove and Rensselaer.
In addition to Pioneer, other schools dropping from 2A to 1A include Clinton Prairie, Carroll (Flora), North Newton, South Central (Union Mills), North Judson, Lafayette Central Catholic, Fremont and North Miami.
In football, Western and Mississinewa drop from 4A to 3A, and Benton Central and Fort Wayne Luers move up from 2A to 3A, and Boone Grove and Rensselaer drop from 3A to 2A while Adams Central moves up from 1A to 2A. Lafayette Central Catholic, who eliminated Rochester in last year’s sectional semifinals, will stay in 2A despite a 1A enrollment after winning sectional and regional titles in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
LaVille is among those dropping from 2A to 1A in football along with Winamac.
Sectional assignments are expected to be released after the next IHSAA Board of Directors and Executive Committee meeting on April 29.
Classifications and sectional assignments for softball and baseball are expected to be released in August.
The IHSAA released enrollment figures on Feb. 12. Enrollment figures are based on data reported from schools to the Indiana Department of Education.
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