Back to Class 2A For Bulldogs

It's back to Class 2A for the St. Anthony Bulldogs baseball team for the coming school year.

St. Anthony's baseball Bulldogs had played in Class 2A for several years, but a change in enrollment classification at the state level last year dropped the Bulldogs to 1A.  The Bulldogs thrived in 1A, winning the state championship.

A multiplier imposed on non-jurisdictional schools such as St. Anthony did not apply last year due to several years without any state tournament success.  That multiplier returns for this year due to the state championship.  It's worth noting, though, that St. Anthony would have been a 1A this past season regardless of whether the multiplier was in place.

St. Anthony's enrollment for the coming school year is set at 189 by the IHSA.  When the multiplier of 1.65 is imposed, St. Anthony's enrollment is 311.85.  That would have still kept the baseball Bulldogs in 1A.  However, the IHSA has realigned the number of schools in each of the four classes.  Last year, 28% of the baseball teams were in 1A and 28% were in 2A, while 22% were in 3A and 22% were in 4A.  For this year, though, there will be 25% of the schools per class.  It's that switch, not the multiplier, that moves St. Anthony back to 2A in baseball for the coming season.  The new cutoff for 1A in baseball is 285 students, meaning any school with enrollment from 286 to 614 will be in 2A.

St. Anthony will remain in Class 1A in girls basketball and softball this coming year because of the waiver of the multiplier in those sports.

Two other schools are affected by the change in the percentage of schools in 1A and 2A.  Altamont's volleyball team will move up to Class 2A since its enrollment is 29 students above the volleyball cutoff, and Cumberland's girls basketball team will move up to 2A.