GHSA reclassifies schools for ’24-’26
Gilmer High School will once again have a different set of region opponents at the beginning of the 2024-25 academic year.
The Georgia High School Association finalized its reclassification process last Thursday. Not only will GHS face new opponents for the ’24-’25 and ’25-’26 school years, but the postseason qualifying process has been significantly altered for the Bobcats and Lady Cats.
Gilmer will remain in Class 3A. When the first draft of regions was announced, GHS was originally paired with the new Region 6, which consists of Greater Atlanta Christian, North Hall, Chestatee, Lumpkin County, Dawson County, Pickens and White County.
GHS submitted an appeal to make a lateral move to Region 7, and it passed by a 15-1 vote. For the next two academic years, Gilmer’s region mates will include Calhoun, Adairsville, Heritage, LaFayette, Northwest Whitfield and Ridgeland.
County athletic director Paul Standard explained their reasoning for the appeal.
“The basis for appeal was simply travel,” he said. “There’s a school down in metro Atlanta (GAC) that’s 85 miles from us. We’re the furthest school from them. (Superintendent) Dr. (Brian) Ridley, (GHS principal) Derek Bowen and (GHS athletic director) Matt Johnson agreed with me that there’s no reason to send our teams to Lilburn on a weeknight. In some cases, they would be missing two of four classes in a day to go play ball.
“There is not much difference in the distance of travel between the two regions, but that one school made a huge difference. Gilmer has already been in this region (with Heritage, LaFayette, Northwest Whitfield and Ridgeland) for six years, so it’s not like we’re going to a place we’re unfamiliar with.”
Standard added, “The drive itself, the 61 miles to Ridgeland isn’t anything close to driving 85 miles into Lilburn. All of our folks experienced something similar to that Friday night if they went to the football game.”
As far as classifications go, the GHSA has done away with Class 7A. Class 6A is now the state’s largest, and it consists of the 64 biggest schools by enrollment.
The GHSA will dole out seven state championships per sport aside from swimming. Private and public schools in 4A, 5A and 6A will compete for the same state championship within their respective classification.
However, in classes A, 2A and 3A, private and public schools will not compete for the same state championships. Private schools in these classes will all compete for one state championship per sport. Public schools in A, 2A and 3A will compete for state championships within their respective classification.
Furthermore, A, 2A and 3A schools will not qualify for the playoffs based on final region standings. Instead, a point-based power ratings system will be used to seed state playoff brackets in classes A, 2A, 3A and the A-3A private division.