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South Carolina High School Athletics Overview
South Carolina high and middle school athletics is currently governed by the South Carolina High School League (SCHSL) which is made up of Principals and Athletic Directors from all member schools. Every two years the SCHSL gathers 45 day enrollment numbers for all member schools and schools applying for membership for the purposes of realignment. During the realignment process, the SCHSL Executive Committee reviews the recommendations of the realignment committee to determine the placement of schools into Classifications and Regions.
For a complete list of 45 Day Enrollment Numbers for all member schools, click here.
Once classifications are completed, the Realignment Committee creates Regions based on several factors, but the primary consideration is to create competitive regions where schools are close in distance to reduce travel costs.
The state is divided into Upper State and Lower State Regions. This line changes every realignment, but it primarily affects the playoffs. Upper and Lower State Champions (or qualifiers in sports like golf and cross country) meet to play or compete for the state championship.
In some cases, particularly in 5A and 4A, the enrollment of schools varies so much (i.e., a 1500 hundred student enrollment difference between the largest 5A school and the smallest) that playoffs are divided into 2 Divisions in order to make the playoffs more competitive.
Finally, some schools, specifically private and magnet schools are able to enroll students from a wider area than public schools whose enrollment is limited to attendance zones. The SCHSL uses a multiplier system for the number of students attending a school who live outside of the standard attendance zones. Each of these students count as 3 students who live within the attendance zone. For the purposes of counting, private and magnet schools have an attendance zone based on the closest public school near which they are located. If a school has a significant number of these students, they may have to play in a higher division than their enrollment number indicates based on the multiplier. For more information on why the SCHSL implemented the multiplier see various news stories or search SCHSL multiplier rule.
For a complete list of 2024-2026 regions and member schools, click here.
In deciding which school offers the best opportunity for your aspiring athlete, choosing the school based on enrollment or classification is not always the best option. Due to the explosion in the amount of information available to recruiters, athletes from both large and small schools are routinely recruited by colleges and universities.