CINCINNATI — Two high school basketball state championship teams are moving up a tournament division this upcoming winter: Taft and Purcell Marian.
Purcell Marian High School, which won the Division III girls basketball state title March 12 at University of Dayton Arena, is moving to Division II.
Purcell Marian had 145 female students in its school as of Oct. 31, 2021, according to the Ohio High School Athletic Association. The adjusted girls basketball enrollment grew to 195 due to competitive balance and placed the program up to Division II.
The OHSAA uses enrollment data provided by the Ohio Department of Education to determine each school’s base enrollment numbers for girls and boys sports, which will be used for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years.
The enrollment figures are based on the number of students in grades 9, 10 and 11 as of October 31, 2021.
Among the OHSAA’s winter sports, only basketball utilizes competitive balance data, therefore it is reconfigured every season. Sports that do not utilize competitive balance data are reconfigured every two years.
Voted in place by the OHSAA member schools in May 2014, competitive balance is a process which makes modifications to how schools are placed into tournament divisions in the team sports of baseball, basketball, football, soccer, softball and volleyball. The modifications are based on which students are actually on each respective roster.
The initial enrollment count is from the state department of education (grades 9-11 in a school). The additional roster numberis added using a student's tier which is based on how the student came to the school or came to a participation opportunity at the location. This formula varies depending on public or a non-public school.
The Cincinnati Country Day School girls basketball team, a Division IV state semifinalist, moves up to Division III due to competitive balance.
The Taft High School boys basketball team, which won the Division III state titleMarch 20 at UD Arena, is also moving up to Division II due to enrollment numbers or Education Management Information System (EMIS) data.
Fall sports divisional breakdowns were announced Monday, while the spring sports will be announced in September.
