New sectional assignments approved

The IHSAA Executive Committee has approved the recommendations of the realignment committees responsible for placing member schools into sectional groups in six team sports for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school years.
Football
Harrison County schools Corydon Central and North Harrison remain in Class 3A Sectional 23. They are joined by newcomers Brownstown Central, Mitchell and first-year program Silver Creek. Other teams include Charlestown, Heritage Hills and Salem.
Leaving the sectional are Brown County, Edgewood and Indian Creek, all which moved to Sectional 22.
Crawford County’s football program is lumped into Class 2A Sectional 31 with Clarksville, Eastern (Pekin), Lawrenceburg, Monrovia, Paoli, Providence and Triton Central.
Floyd Central’s football team remains in Class 5A Sectional 8 with Bedford North Lawrence, Castle, Evansville North, Jeffersonville, Jennings County and New Albany.
Baseball, Basketball, Softball, Volleyball
Shakeups also occurred in baseball, boys’ and girls’ basketball, softball and volleyball, which are divided into four classes.
In Class A Sectional 62, Lanesville and South Central are joined with Borden, Christian Academy of Indiana, New Washington and Rock Creek Academy. The lone change within the sectional is Henryville, which moved up to 2A.
The Class 3A Sectional 30 remains at seven teams but swaps Brownstown Central for Crawford County, which dropped to 2A while dropping Mitchell for Scottsburg. The sectional now features Brownstown Central, Charlestown, Corydon Central, North Harrison, Salem, Scottsburg and Silver Creek.
Crawford County joins Class 2A Sectional 46 with Clarksville, Eastern (Pekin), Henryville, Paoli and Providence.
Floyd Central remains in Class 4A Sectional 15 with Bedford North Lawrence, Jeffersonville, Jennings County, New Albany and Seymour.
Soccer
Classified for the first time is boys’ and girls’ soccer. Corydon Central and North Harrison find themselves split among the two classes.
In Class 2A, Corydon Central joins Sectional 30 in boys’ soccer with foes Floyd Central, Jasper, Jeffersonville and New Albany.
The North Harrison boys’ soccer team will play in Class A Sectional 60 with Christian Academy of Indiana, Providence, Rock Creek Academy and Silver Creek.
In girls’ soccer, Corydon Central is in Class 2A Sectional 30 with Floyd Central, Jasper, Jeffersonville and New Albany.
Also in girls’ soccer, North Harrison is joined with teams to the west for Class A Sectional 46. Those teams are Forest Park, Heritage Hills, Northeast Dubois, Salem and South Spencer.
Three committees consisting of principals and athletic administrators representing each IHSAA district and class were constructed to realign the sports. The baseball, basketball, softball and volleyball committee, along with the soccer committee, consisted of 12 individuals while the football committee totaled 15 members.
These committees met during the week of March 14 and submitted their realignment plans to the Executive Committee for approval on March 25.
‘All three realignment committees were extremely well-prepared and provided valuable input throughout each meeting,’ Commissioner Bobby Cox said. ‘The conscientious attitudes of the committee members were clearly evident in their deliberations. The locations of schools and their proximity to other schools were given the greatest consideration when forming sectional groupings. Secondly, a deliberate effort was made to eliminate five- and seven-team sectionals where possible. I feel that each group developed an alignment which will serve the membership appropriately and create excitement and interest among our patrons. The IHSAA staff will now begin the process of identifying member schools that are willing to host these important tournament series events.’
Proposals and tournament formats will be submitted to the IHSAA Executive Committee for approval in June for fall sports, October for winter sports and February for spring sports.