Classification, enrollment adjustments bring postseason changes to more than 50 area teams

Richwoods boys basketball coach William Smith talks to his team during a huddle in a game against Manual. Jonathan Michel/Clutch Sports Media

The cards are shuffling this summer. 

Teams are saying goodbye to seniors while welcoming a new class of athletes aiming to eventually make a big impact. A handful — okay, maybe a few handfuls — of players are transferring to new schools. And some schools will find themselves with a brand new deck of cards and a couple new companions at the postseason table. 

The 2025-26 season marks the end of the IHSA’s previous two-year enrollment cycle, which determines postseason classifications for every team across the state. It also marks the genesis of a revamped approach to classifying teams after postseason results in several sports yielded lopsided outcomes. 

Each and every school in the state will have new enrollment figures and every sport now has new classification cutoffs. A majority of teams in the Central Illinois high school sports world won’t see their classifications change as a result but over 50 of them will, either due to dips or spikes in enrollment, new waiver rules for private/non-boundaried schools or the IHSA’s postseason success factor. 

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