Which central Ohio high school basketball teams are changing divisions?

[ASFN Admin]

Thirty-six central Ohio high school basketball teams, three of which came within a win of the state tournament this past winter, will change divisions for the 2026-27 season under the winter sports tournament alignments announced by the Ohio High School Athletic Association on June 30.

Division I girls regional runner-up New Albany is dropping to Division II, while Worthington Kilbourne – a Division II district champion each of the past two years and regional runner-up to OCC-Capital rival Big Walnut last season – is changing to Division I.

Jonathan Alder’s boys team, a regional runner-up in Division IV last year, will be in Division III. A similar move is in store for the girls team from London, which reached its first regional last winter in Division IV and is making a jump in 2026-27.

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Westerville North’s boys team, the Division II state champion in 2025 and runner-up last season, narrowly remained in that classification based on its adjusted basketball enrollment of 613 boys and its competitive balance number. North is the largest school in Division II, one boy below Thomas Worthington. Thomas Worthington would be the smallest school in Division I, if not for Cleveland Heights Lutheran East having opted up from Division V.

That was arguably the most notable change statewide. Lutheran East has won four consecutive championships – Division III in 2023 and 2024 and Division V each of the past two years, both against Columbus Academy.

Lutheran East was the only boys team statewide to choose the option of moving to Division I. The OHSAA allows schools to request changing divisions, but only to Division I.

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Westerville Central and Worthington Kilbourne were the only Division II boys basketball teams statewide to change to Division I.

On the girls side, Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame and Rocky River Magnificat moved from Division II to Division I. Mount Notre Dame defeated Big Walnut in a state semifinal and lost to Akron Hoban in the final.

The 2026-27 school year is the first of a new two-year enrollment cycle using data provided by the Ohio Department of Education, according to the OHSAA.

Here are all of the central Ohio basketball teams changing divisions for 2026-27:

BOYS​

Division II to Division I​

Westerville Central, Worthington Kilbourne

Division III to Division II​

Walnut Ridge, West, Whitehall

Division IV to Division III​

Bloom-Carroll, Horizon Science Academy, Jonathan Alder, Licking Valley

Division IV to Division V​

Logan Elm, Worthington Christian

Division V to Division VI​

East Knox, Mount Gilead

Division VI to Division V​

Centerburg

Division VI to Division VII​

Liberty Christian

Division VII to Division VI​

Genoa Christian, Liberty Christian, Patriot Prep

GIRLS​

Division I to Division II​

New Albany, Thomas Worthington, Westerville South

Division II to Division I​

Licking Heights, Worthington Kilbourne

Division III to Division II​

DeSales, Mifflin

Division IV to Division III​

International, London

Division IV to Division V​

Worthington Christian

Division V to Division IV​

Heath, Johnstown, Lakewood

Division V to Division VI​

Liberty Union

Division VI to Division V​

Grandview Heights, Northridge

Division VI to Division VII​

Berne Union

Division VII to Division VI​

Patriot Prep

High school sports reporter Dave Purpura can be reached at [email protected] and at @dp_dispatch on X.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Which central Ohio high school basketball teams are changing divisions?

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