The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Classification Committee conducted hearings on member school requests and appeals regarding the performance factor initiative for spring sports, which will be implemented during the 2026 seasons.
School programs reaching the six-point performance factor threshold during the past three seasons are placed in the division containing the next largest set of enrollments from where the schools’ enrollments would place them for each respective sport other than track & field and swimming &?diving–which do not have a team component to advancement in the Tournament Series–and sports with only one division. Schools are restricted to moving up a maximum of one division from the previous year’s placement.
This initiative affords schools the opportunity to request to move to a division with lower or higher enrollments for all sports. The Classification Committee reviewed 13 such requests for spring sports. All the requests were to move down for the 2025-26 Tournament Series, including six in softball (Fall River, Frederic, Gibraltar, Riverdale, Sheboygan Lutheran, Sheboygan South), four in baseball (Iowa-Grant, Luck, Riverdale, Sheboygan South), and one each in boys golf (Spring Valley), girls soccer (Sheboygan South) and boys tennis (Sheboygan South).
The committee approved Fall River, Gibraltar, Sheboygan Lutheran, and Sheboygan South moving down to a lower-enrollment division in softball; Luck and Sheboygan South moving down in baseball; Sheboygan South moving down in girls' soccer and boys' tennis; and Spring Valley moving down in boys' golf.
The spring school sports programs that have accumulated at least six points during the most recent three-year span to be eligible for promotion to a division with higher enrollments, if applicable, are listed below.
Baseball (4)
Aquinas
Johnson Creek
Kenosha St. Joseph Catholic
Pacelli
Boys Golf (9)
Cambridge
Chetek-Weyerhaeuser
Eau Claire Memorial
Edgerton
Lakeland
Marquette
Mineral Point
Sheboygan North
Waunakee
Girls Soccer (8)
Catholic Memorial
Cedar Grove-Belgium
Edgewood
Kiel
Muskego
Oregon
Plymouth
Whitefish Bay
Softball (8)
Brodhead
Fall Creek
Kaukauna
Mishicot
Kenosha Bradford
Oakfield
Pacelli
Waupun
Boys Tennis (5)
Brookfield Academy
Brookfield Central
Marquette
Middleton
University School of Milwaukee
The performance factor process affords schools the opportunity to appeal their promotion to the division with the next largest enrollment based on performance points. Of the 34 programs listed above that compiled the threshold of points to engage in a promotion, four appeals were submitted. The Classification Committee reviewed and evaluated one appeal in baseball (Johnson Creek), two in boys' golf (Chetek-Weyerhaeuser and Edgerton), and one in softball (Waupun). No appeals were approved for the programs moving up a division based on the performance factor.
The Classification Committee consists of nine athletic directors, two principals, and seven superintendents. The Competitive Balance Performance Factor was approved by a 265-115 membership vote at the 2023 Annual Meeting and was implemented for the first time in 2024-25.
The WIAA will release the Tournament Series assignments for all 2025-26 spring sports later this summer. For more on the performance factor process, visit the Classification Committee homepage on the WIAA website.
