Polk County officials now have a preliminary idea as to what conference Wolverine teams will be playing in next season.
The Realignment Committee of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association released Wednesday the first draft of its proposed conference alignments for the 2025-2029 school years. The conference changes are just part of a process that happens every four years and results in schools being placed in classifications and conferences.
In the first draft, Polk County reunites with the former members of the Western Highlands Conference, joining Avery, Hendersonville, Madison, Mitchell, Mountain Heritage and Owen in a 4A/3A split conference. Those seven schools previously competed together in the WHC before Polk and Hendersonville were moved to the Mountain Foothills 7 Conference in the current alignment.
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The ongoing realignment process also involves a first for North Carolina schools – eight athletic classifications. Member schools voted last year to cap classifications at 64 schools, and that resulted in the NCHSAA adopting and approving an eight-class model for the pending realignment.
Polk County will compete as a 3A school beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. In the proposed new conference, Hendersonville, Madison, Mountain Heritage and Owen are also 3A schools, with Avery and Mitchell being 2A schools.
It’s not uncommon for teams to change conference locations following the first draft, but it’s believed that the group of schools with Polk County support the proposed setup, as do Polk officials, who had expressed to the Realignment Committee its desire to reunite with those schools.
Schools will have a chance to review the first draft and submit proposed changes or concerns before a second draft is released in early 2025. A final alignment of conferences is expected to be approved no later than March 2025.
Proposed conferences involving Western North Carolina schools:
- 6A/5A: Enka, Erwin, North Buncombe, A.C. Reynolds, Asheville, T.C. Roberson
- 5A/4A: Brevard, East Henderson, Pisgah, Tuscola, Franklin, North Henderson, Smoky Mountain, West Henderson
- 4A/3A: Chase, Draughn, East Rutherford, Patton, West Caldwell, East Burke, Hibriten, R-S Central
- 3A/2A: Polk County, Avery, Hendersonville, Madison, Mitchell, Mountain Heritage, Owen
- 2A/1A: Cherokee, Hayesville, Murphy, Swain, Andrews, Blue Ridge Early College, Highlands, Hiwassee Dam, Nantahala, Robbinsville, Rosman, Summit Charter, Tri-County Early College
The complete first draft of the proposed conference alignments can be viewed here.
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