OHSAA unveils more divisional breakdowns

The OHSAA revealed divisional breakdowns for swimming and diving, tennis and lacrosse on Aug. 10. Chris Lillstrung has the story. Plus, posthigh school plans for Gilmour hockey players.

The Northeast District Athletic Board recently released district alignments in soccer, and the end product will take acclimation.

Probably the most noteworthy alignment is in girls Division II, which features the deepest collection of local powers at least in recent memory, if not ever.

Gilmour, which won the Division III state championship last fall, moves up to D-II in a loaded Mentor District, and is joined there by Chagrin Falls, a D-II state finalist in 2016, and always-formidable Lake Catholic. Including Hawken and West Geauga, there are now five sides in the D-II Mentor District who have reached an elite eight or deeper in the last seven years.

The geographic changes were not just limited to D-II. Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin and Geneva join a typically deep D-I area district mix headlined by Mayfield and Mentor. Brush is now with a central and western Cuyahoga group in the D-I Parma District.

Kirtland, a 2015 D-III state final four side that went 13-4-2 last fall, paces a new-look D-III Gates Mills District.

On the boys side, Lake Catholic and University, longtime D-II powers, join the D-I ranks in the Mentor District. The Cougars made D-II state final four charges in 2009 and 2015 and were a regional finalist last fall, and the Preppers, a district finalist in 2016, made elite-eight appearances in 2012 and 2013.

With Lake and US moving up to D-I — and Chagrin Falls being placed in a brutal Kent District with Aurora and CVCA — the area D-II district is vastly different. Chardon, Geneva, Gilmour, Harvey, Hawken, NDCL, Perry, VASJ and West Geauga will vie for the Mentor District.

The area’s standard D-III district is no more as well. Beachwood and Wickliffe have been placed in the Elyria District. The D-III Kent District has more of a geographic reach, with area sides Berkshire, Cardinal, Kirtland and Newbury joining sides ranging from Badger to Waterloo.

Divisional talk

At its board of directors meeting Aug. 10, the Ohio High School Athletic Association unveiled divisional breakdowns for swimming and diving, tennis and lacrosse:

The enrollment cutoffs for Division I for those sports — which each play with two divisions — will be: • Boys swimming: 370 • Girls swimming: 328 • Boys tennis: 316 • Boys lacrosse: 480 • Girls lacrosse: 445

The divisional breakdowns for bowling, baseball, softball and track and field were tabled until the OHSAA’s September meeting.

None of the sports whose divisional cutoffs were announced Aug. 10 do not fall under competitive balance divisors.

In swimming, the only two area teams affected with switches from their previous division were the Chardon boys, who head to D-II with 355 boys in grades 10-12, 15 below the cutoff, and the Geneva girls, who head to D-I with 335 girls, seven above the cutoff.

The lone area boys tennis team impacted is Lake Catholic, which goes to D-II with 310 boys, six below the cutoff.

No area impact occurred in lacrosse.

Other items of note from the board meeting:

• The OHSAA announced 10-year contract extensions with Nationwide Arena in Columbus and Firestone Stadium in Akron for state hockey and softball that will run through 2027.

• A modification was made to OHSAA bylaw 4-8-1 to add Exception 4. Schools that have had oncampus dorms prior to 2014 can allow interscholastic sports participation for international students who reside in those dorms and who have an F-1 visa.

On the ice

Several Gilmour hockey players — four recent graduates and a junior-to-be — will continue their careers after exiting Gates Mills.

Ani Fitzgerald, who is entering her junior year as a standout forward for the Lancers’ girls prep squad, verbally committed to play for Northeastern, a Division I school in Boston.

Fitzgerald recorded 53 goals and 18 assists in 42 games this past winter for Gilmour, which won the Mid-Am District title.

Northeastern went 2212-3 this past season and advanced to the Hockey East tournament final, where it fell in overtime to Boston College.

“Ani is a gifted studentathlete,” Lancers girls prep coach Rob Potter said in a prepared statement. “She has big-time athletic ability on the hockey rink and is equally outstanding in the classroom. She has a bright future ahead of her at Northeastern and higher levels.”

Michael Carr and Sam Lau signed for the Cornwall Colts, a Junior A team in the Central Canada Hockey League. Brett Reed inked a deal with the Drayton Valley Thunder in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, and Tim Lopez was drafted in the fourth round of the North American Hockey League draft by the Brookings Blizzard.