The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association, the governing body of all high school sports in the state, announced on Tuesday that four schools will be leaving the current Division I-A.
The NIAA uses the Nevada Rubric to determine alignment for the two largest school classifications in Southern Nevada.
According to the NIAA, the rubric takes into account schools’ finishes in 22 sports in each of two seasons and uses point values assigned to those finishes. The point totals are computed for a two-year cycle to determine the following two years’ alignment.
A team needs 150 points or more to be in consideration to leave the I-A. This two-year cycle, five teams in the 1-A achieved that number: Faith Lutheran (377 points), Clark (187), Sierra Vista (165), Boulder City (180) and Spring Valley (159).
Since Boulder City is a protected school, they will be staying. The two other schools that are protected are Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley. Those three schools are exempt from movement between classifications because their enrollment numbers are lower than other I-A schools.
To be in consideration to move into the I-A, a team must have a total of 15 points or less and there were no teams that met that criteria this cycle, which means no team will be coming down.
Next year, Division I-A will be Class 3A and Division I will be 4A. Beatty, Tonopah and Round Mountain will be in Class 1A. There will also be a Class 2A for the current Division III schools.
Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com