STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association performance factor initiative has advanced through the process for the first time with a review of the fall sports for implementation in 2024.
An ad hoc committee consisting of 11 superintendents/district administrators, six athletic directors, one principal and one principal/athletic director proposed the performance factor process, which was approved by a 265-115 membership vote at the 2023 Annual Meeting for implementation in 2024-25. The initiative promotes school programs that reach a threshold of tournament success based on a performance point system allocated over a three-year period.
School programs reaching the six-point 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, 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 new initiative affords schools the opportunity to request to move down a division with lower enrollments for all fall sports except football next year. The inaugural Classification Committee reviewed nine such requests for girls volleyball, three for boys soccer, four for both boys and girls cross country, two for girls tennis and one for girls golf. The committee approved four requests in girls volleyball, one in boys soccer and one in girls tennis.
The school sports programs that have accumulated at least six points to engage a promotion to a division with higher enrollments–if their 2024-25 tournament placement enrollment doesn’t initially move them up a division–are listed below. Please note that programs that meet the performance points threshold to be promoted and are initially assigned to a lower enrollment division–based on their 2024-25 tournament assignment enrollments–will be promoted back into the division they competed in during the most recent season’s Tournament Series.
Boys Cross Country
Kohler
Lakeside Lutheran
Marquette
McDonell Catholic Central
Notre Dame
Oconomowoc
Pacelli
Shorewood
Stevens Point Area Senior High
Winneconne
Girls Cross Country
Boscobel
Dodgeville/Mineral Point
Kaukauna
Lancaster
Lourdes Academy
Muskego
Neenah
Notre Dame
Phillips
Slinger
Xavier
Football
Aquinas
Catholic Memorial
Columbus
Darlington
Franklin
Kimberly
Kettle Moraine
Mayville
Monroe
Reedsville
Regis
Rice Lake
St. Mary’s Springs
Stratford
Waunakee
Girls Golf
Bay Port
Middleton
Prescott
Westosha Central
Boys Soccer
Hudson
Marquette
New Berlin Eisenhower
Notre Dame
Oregon
Sheboygan Christian/Sheboygan Lutheran
Verona
Whitefish Bay
Girls Tennis
Arrowhead
Middleton
Neenah
University School of Milwaukee
Xavier
Girls Volleyball
Appleton North
Divine Savior Holy Angels
Howards Grove
McDonell Catholic
McFarland
Oconomowoc
St. Croix Falls
Wonewoc-Center
Xavier
The performance factor process affords schools the opportunity to appeal their promotion to the division with the next largest enrollments based on performance points. Of the 62 programs listed above that compiled points to engage in a promotion, 24 appeals were submitted. The Classification Committee reviewed and evaluated these with one approval.
The WIAA will determine the Tournament Series assignments to be released for all 2024 fall sports except football and girls volleyball in early January, 2024. Girls volleyball, which is expanding to five divisions in 2024, will be posted in February, 2024.
For more on the performance factor process, visit the Classification Committee homepage on the WIAA website.
The WIAA, as defined by its Constitution, is a voluntary, unincorporated, and nonprofit organization. The membership oversees interscholastic athletic programs for 515 senior high schools and 43 junior high/middle level schools in its membership.
# WIAA #