BY KYLE LOVERN
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

Tug Valley High School will remain in Class Single A in West Virginia. The new classifications were released Dec. 20 by the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission.

Five WVSSAC sports will expand from three classes to four starting in the 2024-2025 academic year. Final approval came from the WVSSAC board of directors to add a class to football, cheer, volleyball, baseball and softball.

Basketball has been a four-class sport since the 2020-2021 academic year and will remain that way.

The only other school in the county, Mingo Central, will remain in Class AA.

Over in neighboring Logan County, Chapmanville will move up the Class AAA. Logan will stay in AA, while Man will still be single A.

Notably, around the state in football, Bridgeport, Princeton, Greenbrier East, Brooke, Ripley, Lincoln County and Hampshire will no longer be in the largest classification. Those seven schools will compete in Class AAA. The largest football classification will go from 32 to down to 25 teams.

The WVSSAC Board of Control, comprised of member school representatives, gave initial approval to add a fourth class to some sports in April. The State Board of Education signed off on the WVSSAC recommendations in July.

Classifications have been determined by using a competitive balance formula similar to what was in place for basketball. Enrollment is the dominant factor, which is 80%, with location 10% and economic 10%, scores included.

In all, 25 schools will comprise the new Class AAAA for the seven sports. The football playoffs will remain at 16 teams in each class. The new four-year cycle of classifications will be in place through the end of the 2027-2028 academic year. Regional and sectional alignments for each sport (excluding football) will be compiled and released later.