High school lacrosse continues to expand as, starting in 2017, four state champions will get crowned on both the boys and girls sides.
In meetings last week at the Turning Stone resort in Verona, the New York State Public High School Athletic Association approved the expansion of its state tournaments in lacrosse, moving from three classes to four.
Dividing schools into those four new classes was not done on a uniform basis, though.
Boys lacrosse chose to divide strictly on state-provided BEDS numbers, which is the enrollment each year in each school in grades nine through 12. Here, Class A was any enrollment 1,050 or higher. Class B covers enrollment of 750 to 1,049, Class C from 425 to 749 and Class D is anyone 425 or lower.
Girls lacrosse decided to go on a basis of dividing each class into equal numbers of schools -78 for Class A, C and D, 77 for Class B. This slightly changed the BEDS figures, for now Class A was 1,075, followed by Class B (790-1,074), Class C (475-789) and Class D (474 and below).
Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse stay with the large schools in Class A. Baldwinsville, West Genesee, Rome Free Academy, Utica Proctor and Syracuse City also stay in Class A.
On the other hand, Fayetteville-Manlius, who enrollment was just above the 1,050 mark but short of 1,075, stays in Class A for boys lacrosse, but gets moved to Class B for girls lacrosse. There’s still eight teams because reigning state champion Christian Brothers Academy is expected to stay in Class A.
Big changes happen elsewhere. Jamesville-DeWitt, the state Class B boys lacrosse champions, are now in Class C, while many powerful programs – Skaneateles, Cazenovia and Westhill – all go from Class C to D. Marcellus is another program in two different classes – C for boys, D for girls.
What this also does is change the structure of both state tournaments. Previously, boys state semifinals for West (Section III, IV, V and VI) and East regions were all held in a single venue, with three games in one day.
Now those semifinals will go to two venues, with two games held at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium and the other two at St. John Fisher College near Rochester, also the venue for the state title games for the next three years.
In girls lacrosse, the state tournament remains at SUNY-Cortland, but having four classes could mean that the event, which used a Friday-Saturday schedule, could add an extra day, depending on circumstances.
