Thursday, the MHSAA announced the school classifications for the 2023-24 school year. The enrollment numbers reported by the schools during their count day in February determines in what particular Class of school they will be for the upcoming sports year.
And while schools are still assigned to Class A, B, C, or D. those classifications have become less important in recent years because each school is also given an divisional assignment in each of the sports they participate in.
In Thursday’s announcement, the MHSAA reported a total of 750 high schools that are eligible for postseason play in the sports they participate in. Of those 750 schools, 187 schools each will be Class A, B, and Class C. With Class D consisting of 189 schools.
Locally some schools that will be changing are. Plainwell, which will drop from Class A to B. Hartford will move up from Class C to Class B. Countryside Academy in Benton Harbor and Martin are both going up to Class C from Class D. Eau Claire at Martin will drop to Class D from Class C.
The Individual Sports Divisions also have a few changes for local schools. Most Notably Lakeshore which was Division 1 for both boys and girls basketball, will drop to Division 2.
The largest school in Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren Counties, continues to be St. Joseph, despite the high school enrollment dropping from 1,001 to 966. It’s the first time St. Joe has been under 1,000 students since the 2016-17 school year, and the smallest it’s been since 2011, when there were 948 at St. Joe.
Lakeshore then follows with a total of 826 students, a drop from 860. The smallest enrollment for Lakeshore since 1992 when it was at 815. St. Joe and Lakeshore an almost 4% drop from last school year (St. Joe -3.5%, Lakeshore -3.95%).
Benton Harbor experienced another drop of 2.58% as it lost 14 students at the high school. Benton Harbor in the mid 1980’s had over 1,700.
Two of the schools that experienced the biggest gains were Berrien Springs, who added 64 students, an increase of 13.06% and Countryside Academy, which gained an amazing 28.78%, going from 139 to 179 students.
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