UIL Realignment 2024: Abilene remains with Lubbock, Amarillo 5As; Liberty to join Estacado
The wait is over. The UIL released the districts for fall sports Thursday morning, completing the process of its biennial realignment.
Member schools submitted enrollments in October and found out in December the classification in which they'll compete for the next two years.
Several schools in the Lubbock area will change divisions for football, but Abernathy is the only one that will be in an entire new classification. The Antelopes will drop from Class 3A to 2A and compete in 2A Division I for football.
COMPLETE LIST OF DISTRICTS: Lubbock-area football, basketball and volleyball districts
Abilene remains with Lubbock 5A Division I schools
Abilene High was a question mark heading into the day, and the answer was a spot back with Lubbock and Amarillo schools.
The only change in District 2-5A Division I is swapping Lubbock High for Lubbock-Cooper.
Coronado, Monterey, Abilene, Amarillo High, Amarillo Caprock and Amarillo Tascosa round out the seven-team district.
Liberty in district with Estacado for first varsity season
Lubbock-Cooper Liberty will join Estacado in District 2-4A D-II for the Patriots' first season of varsity football.
The two Lubbock schools are grouped with Borger, Levelland and Perryton. That means only one team will miss the playoffs.
Class 2A Division II schools split into three districts
The 13 Class 2A Division II schools in the South Plains were split into three districts in Region I.
Farwell will head north with Bovina, Gruver, Stratford and Vega. The remaining area teams were split among Districts 2 and 3.
Crosbyton, Hale Center, Lockney, Morton, Ralls and Sudan are grouped together. As are Plains, Ropes, Seagraves, Smyer, Sundown and Tahoka.
The surprise came as a six-team district in the Panhandle moved to Region II.
Clarendon, Memphis, Quanah, Wellington, Wheeler and Shamrock will be in a new region for the next two years.
Abernathy finds out new Class 2A district
The Antelopes will be one of two teams in their district changing classifications to 2A D-I.
New Home moved up from 2A D-II to join former 3A Abernathy, Floydada, New Deal, Olton and Post.
Class 3A Division II features all-South Plains district
With Muleshoe and Slaton moving down from 3A D-I, there is an all-local district in 3A D-II.
Idalou, Littlefield, Roosevelt, Muleshoe and Slaton make up District 2-3A D-II.
CUTOFF NUMBERS: Lubbock High to 5A DI, Cooper to 5A DII, Abernathy 2A
SNAPSHOT DAY: Enrollments for Lubbock-area schools
What is UIL realignment?
Every two years, the UIL, the governing body for public-school athletics, rearranges districts and regions for competition. This is a measure to keep similar-sized schools together.
The districts that are released Thursday will remain for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. Alignments for spring sports will be revealed at a later date, although they are usually similar to the basketball districts.
2024-26 Lubbock-area enrollments
* — Lubbock-Cooper Liberty submitted an enrollment of 326, but that number is doubled for realignment purposes because there are currently no junior or senior classes.
^ — Crosbyton will opt up to 11-man football and Whiteface will remain in six-man because of an alternate formula allowed by six-man schools who are near the cutoff line. Crosbyton will be Class 1A in all other sports, while Whiteface will be 2A in all other sports.
CLASS 6A
Frenship — 3,384
CLASS 5A DIVISION I
Monterey — 2,130
Coronado — 1,944.5
Lubbock High — 1,918
CLASS 5A DIVISION II
Lubbock-Cooper — 1,893
Plainview — 1,425
CLASS 4A DIVISION II
Estacado — 873
Seminole — 861
Levelland — 760
Snyder — 690
Lubbock-Cooper Liberty — 652*
CLASS 3A DIVISION I
Denver City — 512
Shallowater — 509
Lamesa — 491
Brownfield — 467
CLASS 3A DIVISION II
Littlefield — 364
Slaton — 356
Muleshoe — 350
Roosevelt — 347
Idalou — 286
CLASS 2A DIVISION I
Post — 247
New Deal — 232
Abernathy — 228
Floydada — 209
Olton — 202
New Home — 192
CLASS 2A DIVISION II
Sundown — 177
Hale Center — 173
Farwell — 172
Tahoka — 169
Ropes — 161
Seagraves — 158
Ralls — 148
Sudan — 139
Plains — 134
Lockney — 132
Smyer — 132
Morton — 108
Crosbyton — 92^
CLASS 1A DIVISION I
Whiteface — 108^
Springlake-Earth — 101
O'Donnell — 96
Petersburg — 88
Kress — 84
Borden County — 81
Nazareth— 74
Lorenzo — 73
Meadow — 68
Hart — 66
Wellman-Union — 65
Spur — 62
CLASS 1A DIVISION II
Klondike — 59
Sands — 58
Jayton — 53
Paducah — 53
Anton — 52
Motley County — 50
Whitharral — 50
Loop — 43
Lazbuddie — 38
Wilson — 34
Dawson — 32
Amherst — 30
Cotton Center — 29
Southland — 27
Patton Springs — 26
Guthrie — 25
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas UIL Realignment 2024: Follow for Lubbock, South Plains updates
