Highland Lakes schools remain in same UIL classes; districts announced in February 2018

STAFF WRITER JENNIFER FIERRO

MARBLE FALLS — There were no big surprises for local high schools Dec. 6 when the University Interscholastic League released the classification cutoff numbers.

Those numbers will be used in the upcoming realignment. On Feb. 6, the UIL will announce the district in which public high schools will compete for the next two years.

Marble Falls High School will remain in Class 5A with its 1,240 students. The UIL’s cutoff for that conference is 1,150 on the low end and 2,189 on the upper end. According to the UIL, Class 5A will have 253 schools playing football and 254 schools playing basketball.

Marble Falls will play football in Division II, the small schools division, with a student enrollment of 1,150-1,839. That division will have 127 members.

The remaining 126 schools will be in Division I, the large schools division, with a student enrollment of 1,840-2,189.

Mustangs interim athletic director and head football coach Mike Birdwell said he wasn’t surprised Marble Falls would remain in Class 5A.

“I applaud our leaders within our district and in our state,” he said. “With the superintendents breaking up Class 5A into Division I and Division II, it levels the playing field. Going into district, we know people in our division at least have similarities to enrollment and possibly facilities.”

Burnet and Llano high schools will remain members of Class 4A, which has an enrollment number of 505-1,149. The Bulldogs turned in an 899 enrollment, while Llano submitted 539. The UIL announced Class 4A will have 183 schools playing football and 191 members playing basketball.

As for the football teams, Burnet will play in Class 4A Division I with 92 other schools whose enrollment falls between 790 and 1,149 students. Llano will compete in Division II with 89 other schools with an enrollment between 505 and 789 students.

jfierro@thepicayune.com