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No big changes

MHSAA division listings for next school year hold close to ’25-’26

By STEVE BROWNLEE 8 min read

MARQUETTE -- Ishpeming and Newberry make up two-thirds of the Upper Peninsula's high schools changing classes in the Michigan High School Athletic Association for the 2026-27 school year.

But really, that distinction doesn't make any difference when it comes to the tournaments anymore. At one time, almost every sport used the old letter classes -- A, B, C and D -- or a combination of several letters together, but over the years every sport has been moved into numeric divisions where the schools are divided up entirely based on the schools actually participating in that sport.

So Ishpeming's and Newberry's move from Class D to Class C is more an indicator that the Hematites and Indians may be ready -- it's important to use the word "may" -- to move up with some of their individual teams, too.

Joining Ishpeming and Newberry in the U.P. moving up from "D" to "C" is Brimley.

One other Upper Peninsula team showed up on the MHSAA list of changes in classes -- the Calumet Copper Island Academy is listed as new to being postseason-eligible for 2026-27.

By the way, the cutoff between Classes C and D is 166 students or less to be in "D" with 167 and more going into "C."

Ishpeming is listed at 169 students, Newberry at 170 and Brimley at 174, according to an 8-player football listing on the MHSAA website, www.mhsaa.com. One other area school is also in that neighborhood of enrollment, Munising, with 167 students, though it had already been in Class C a year ago.

Here is a rundown on some select sports and what divisions area teams will be in for 2026-27, according to the MHSAA website:

Football

Ishpeming, Munising and Newberry will all be in Division 1 for 8-player football, not surprising as teams can't have more than 215 students to even be allowed to play in the MHSAA tournament for that sport.

Schools or co-operative programs with more than 215 students can still play in the regular season, but are automatically disqualified from the postseason playoffs. The one exception is that teams that at one time were eligible but then become ineligible are granted a one-year grace period to bring their enrollment back to an eligible level.

Joining those three area schools in D-1 from the U.P. will be Bessemer-Wakefield (often referred to as Gogebic), Brimley, Forest Park, Ironwood, Norway, Ontonagon, Pickford and Rudyard.

Division 2, with an enrollment limit of 140 students, will include one school from the area, Superior Central, and another handful from other parts of the U.P. -- Calumet Copper Island Academy, Carney-Nadeau, Cedarville, Engadine, Lake Linden-Hubbell, Mid Peninsula, North Central, North Dickinson, St. Ignace and Stephenson.

For 11-player, Marquette as always is the largest enrollment U.P. school, being placed in Division 3 with an enrollment of 1,019.

The entire Big North Conference in football includes Division 2, 3 and 4 schools. Alpena is in Division 2, Petoskey, Gaylord and Cadillac in Division 3, and Escanaba and Sault Ste. Marie in Division 4.

Esky and the Soo are the lone U.P. schools in Division 4, while Negaunee heads up the U.P. in Division 5, being joined by Hancock, Houghton and Kingsford.

Division 6 includes Westwood and fellow U.P. schools Calumet and Gladstone; Division 7 has only Menominee from the U.P.; and Division 8 includes Gwinn, L'Anse and Manistique from the area and also Bark River-Harris, Iron Mountain and West Iron County in the U.P.

Volleyball

Unlike football that has a total of 10 divisions in its two forms of the game, volleyball is more traditional with four divisions, closely following the Class A-B-C-D traditional setup.

Marquette again stands alone in this sport as the only Division 1 team from the U.P., with Negaunee the only area team in Division 2, joined by Escanaba, Gladstone, Houghton, Kingsford and Sault Ste. Marie also in the U.P.

Division 3 includes Westwood, Gwinn and Manistique from the area, along with BR-H, Calumet, Iron Mountain, Ironwood, Jeffers, Menominee, Norway, Rudyard and West Iron County from elsewhere in the U.P.

Division 4 has area squads Ishpeming, Munising, Superior Central, L'Anse, Baraga and Newberry, plus 27 other U.P. schools -- Bessemer, Big Bay de Noc, Brimley, Calumet Copper Island, Carney-Nadeau, Cedarville, Chassell, Dollar Bay, Engadine, Ewen-Trout Creek, Forest Park, Hancock, Hannahville, Lake Linden-Hubbell, Mackinac Island, Maplewood Baptist, Mid Peninsula, North Central, North Dickinson, Ojibwe Charter, Ontonagon, Pickford, Rapid River, St. Ignace, Stephenson, Wakefield-Marenisco and Watersmeet.

Boys basketball

We'll look at boys hoops first, since their season will start a week before the girls on Nov. 30, with the girls not tipping off until Dec. 7.

With both genders in basketball also having four divisions just like volleyball, most schools will be in the same divisions for all three sports.

Volleyball actually falls between boys and girls basketball for its enrollment cutoffs, the difference between the two hoops sports ranging from a 15-student difference up to 22 students.

For boys basketball, Marquette will again be the only U.P. school in Division 1, with Negaunee the only area squad in Division 2 and joined in the U.P. by Escanaba, Gladstone, Houghton, Kingsford and the Soo.

So far, there's no changes compared to volleyball.

Division 3 has the first change, though not for area teams. There's still Westwood, Gwinn and Manistique there, but the others in the U.P. do NOT include Norway or Rudyard, both of which are in Division 4. They will still include BR-H, Calumet, IM, Ironwood, Jeffers, Menominee and WIC.

Division 4 from the area again has Ishpeming, Munising, Superior Central, L'Anse, Baraga and Newberry. Norway and Rudyard will join the 27 D-4 schools from volleyball, though for some reason, there aren't teams listed for Calumet Copper Island, Chassell or Hannahville in boys basketball.

Girls basketball

Like the other two sports listed previously, Marquette is the lone Division 1 team in girls hoops, with Negaunee the only Division 2 school from the area, joined once more by Escanaba, Gladstone, Houghton, Kingsford and Sault Ste. Marie.

Again, Division 3 has Westwood, Gwinn and Manistique from the area, along with the same boys basketball group elsewhere in the U.P., BR-H, Calumet, IM, Ironwood, Jeffers, Menominee and WIC.

Division 4 again has Ishpeming, Munising, Superior Central, L'Anse, Baraga and Newberry. Out of the area in the U.P., again there's Norway and Rudyard and the 27 volleyball schools in D-4, with Copper Island, Chassell and Hannahville not listed.

Hockey

Hockey is one of the most interesting of sports for division breakdowns, mainly because Marquette, the largest school in the U.P. and one of the larger ones in the state, is a Division 3 -- the smallest school in this three-division setup -- team for this sport.

That's because so many Lower Peninsula schools are involved in co-operative programs, as sometimes a half-dozen or even more schools are involved in them.

Previously, the total of the enrollments in all schools involved determined the division, but now there's been some change, allowing co-ops to drop in division in numerous cases.

Marquette just missed being promoted this year, missing the single-school cutoff by eight students as it was allowed to stay in Division 3.

While the single-school cutoff enrollment is 1,027 to be in Division 3, co-ops can be as high as 2,419 before being kicked up to Division 2.

That has put 15 co-ops with larger enrollments than Marquette in D-3, including Negaunee, Kingsford and Escanaba, each with less than 200 more in enrollment than the Sentinels.

Negaunee's co-op enrollment is listed at 1,194, which also includes Westwood, Ishpeming, Gwinn and Republic-Michigamme.

The biggest co-op statewide still able to qualify for Division 3 is Traverse City St. Francis at 2,373, more commonly known as the Bay Reps that includes nine schools in seven counties.

Manistique, a co-op with Munising, Superior Central and Newberry, is listed at 828 and also in Division 3, as is every other U.P. program -- single-school Calumet, Houghton and Sault Ste. Marie; and co-ops based in Hancock and Jeffers.

Among big-school Division 1 teams downstate, there are eight co-ops listed with at least 5,000 students, the largest being Utica with 7,012 made up of four schools.

Other sports

The only area school playing boys and girls soccer is Marquette, a Division 2 school in each sport among four divisions.

In bowling, which also has four divisions, Marquette and the Ishpeming-Negaunee co-op are in Division 2, with Westwood in Division 3 and L'Anse in Division 4.

In wrestling, also with four divisions, the Sentinels are in Division 2, Negaunee and Westwood in Division 3, with Gwinn, Munising, Newberry and Manistique in Division 4. Ishpeming isn't on the D-4 list, but a look at its school listing for the sport shows the Hematites in Division 4.

For softball, another four-division sport, Marquette moves back to Division 1, Negaunee will be in Division 2, Westwood and Manistique in Division 3, and Ishpeming, Gwinn, Munising, Superior Central, Baraga, L'Anse and Newberry in Division 4.

In baseball, the Divisions 1, 2 and 3 teams are the same as softball. The Superior Central-Munising co-op is also in Division 3, while the only area Division 4 squad is Newberry with the other smaller schools not offering the sport, at least as a varsity program.

Story contents based on an examination of the MHSAA website at www.mhsaa.com. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee's email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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