Some high schools and their athletes will soon be positioned to win state titles they likely hadn't previously thought possible.

The Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association will change the way it decides state-tournament qualifiers and simply have more of them.

School enrollment has always been the sole factor that determined in which division Delaware high school teams compete for state championships, except for recent changes in football. That will no longer be the case beginning in the fall of 2027.

Enrollment will still count, but recent results will matter much more in the proposed state tournament qualification guidelines the DIAA competition committee has devised. They were introduced to the Delaware Association of Athletic Directors during a gathering in the Caesar Rodney High auditorium April 21.

The new format will “change the face of sports in Delaware,” committee chairman Joe Thomson told the gathering.

A team’s success rate over the previous two- and four-year periods will count as 80% and school enrollment just 20% in the new calculations.

The plan is expected to go up for final DIAA board of directors approval in June. After that, schools will learn exactly if they will be in Division I or II for each sport. A school can be in Division I in some sports and Division II in others.

What sports are impacted?

The change affects 11 sports – boys and girls soccer, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls volleyball, boys and girls lacrosse, field hockey, softball and baseball.

Of those, only three – boys and girls soccer and field hockey – presently crown a pair of divisional state team champs. The others have had just one. Football, which in 2022 instituted a three-division format with recent performance factored in, will continue as is.

It means, for example, that recent Division II state champions who had consistent success, such as Sussex Academy in boys soccer, may now have to topple a traditional Division I powerhouse such as Salesianum. Likewise, longtime Division II field hockey champion Delmar, despite its 2025 dropoff, will find itself competing against recent Division I champions such as Smyrna and Cape Henlopen for that title.

What led to this?

The changes came after a state government directive rooted in private schools dominating recent state championship competition and public schools, particularly those upstate in the Blue Hen Conference, becoming far less competitive in recent years. The DIAA is part of the Delaware Department of Education, meaning it is subject to such oversight.

The newly created competition committee was given the task of improving that situation.

“We’ve met what Sen. [Eric] Buckson and his original task force asked us to do,” Thomson said, “which was to come up with a system that is objective, measurable and consistent and will increase the amount of participants in state tournaments and give more schools an opportunity to win a state championship.”

What will change?

Presently, 46% of the state’s high schools fill 214 state tournament slots, Thomson said. After the changes take effect, 51 high schools will be represented in 248 tournament slots.

Katie Godfrey, the Salesianum athletic director who is on the competition committee, told the group it’s clear some larger public schools will be down in Division II while some smaller Division II private schools are destined for Division I.

Possible examples will likely be traditional girls basketball powerhouses St. Elizabeth, Sanford, Ursuline and Caravel, each a smaller private school, being in Division I. Same with Sanford in boys basketball.

Delaware and Kentucky are presently the only states that still crown one basketball team champ, Thomson said.

What about other sports?

The committee has not yet determined what will happen with the sports that have both individual and team championship competition, which are cross-country, indoor track, wrestling, swimming, outdoor track, tennis and golf. Cross-country and outdoor track presently award divisional team and individual state champions. Wrestling does for teams, but not individuals. The others have just one division.

Competition committee members have regularly appeared during Blue Hen, Henlopen, Independent and Diamond State conference meetings to brief athletic directors on the plans. At the April 21 gathering, Thomson detailed qualification formulas.

All 11 sports will use the same mathematical formulas to determine both divisional classification and state tournament qualifiers. Previously, every sport had its own system.

How many teams in each state tournament?

The plan, based on the number of schools presently playing each sport, calls for two eight-team boys lacrosse, girls lacrosse and boys volleyball tournaments; two 12-team field hockey brackets; and Division I and II 14-team fields in girls and boys basketball, girls and boys soccer, girls volleyball, baseball and softball.

Higher seeds earn first-round byes in the 12- and 14-team brackets.

Where is the divisional split made?

Roughly half the schools in each sport will play in each division. Each school’s enrollment numbers and recent win percentages will be equated to a mathematical index. The final determination of where the split occurs will involve how far apart schools are numerically.

What if a school doesn’t like its division?

Schools in the bottom 10% of Division I may appeal to be moved down to Division II.

Safety issues and incorrect enrollment and performance calculations could also warrant such a change.

Any Division II school that prefers to compete in Division I may voluntarily move up.

Will present conferences still exist?

Yes, Blue Hen Conference Flight A and Flight B, the Henlopen Conference Northern Division and Southern Division, the Independent Conference and Diamond State Conference will continue.

Conference champions earn automatic state tournament qualification.

Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Divisional splits in all sports coming in DIAA