South Aiken going back to 4A in 2010 6/26/2009 12:19 AM By MAC BANKS Staff Writer
According to the officials of the South Carolina High School League, the South Aiken High School Thoroughbreds will once again be a Class AAAA school at the start of the 2010-11 school year.
Enrollment at the school over the past school year put South Aiken as one of the top 48 schools in the state, which traditionally would push them into the AAAA status.
"South Aiken's numbers put them as the 47th largest," said Dru Nix, associate commissioner for the state High School League. "I would definitely say they are 4A."
Realignment takes place every two years in the state, when the High School League looks at enrollment on the 135th day of school to see what classification schools fall into. This past year, when enrollment was looked at on the 135th day, South Aiken had 1,488 students, putting it in the top 48 between Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School at 1,494 students and J.L. Mann High School at 1,486 students.
The executive committee still has to approve the realignment, but Nix said she saw no reason why South Aiken wouldn't be moving up.
"I don't see them not being a 4A school," she said.
Once approved, South Aiken would start play as a AAAA school in the 2010-11 school year and remain that way for two years. This upcoming school year, the 2009-10 school year, South Aiken will still play as a AAA school.
South Aiken head football coach Robert Wrightenberry said it didn't matter to him where the school fell in classifications, he just wanted to put the best product on the field and play the best competition.
"It don't make a hill of beans to me," he said. "We want to play the best people we can."
But, with a new classification could come more time on the road for the T-Breds, in traveling to bigger schools like Rock Hill High School in the Upstate or Carolina Forest High School near the coast.
"The good thing about the last two years is we didn't have to travel far," Wrightenberry said.
How the new realignment will affect the Aiken-South Aiken football rivalry is unknown for now?
South Aiken was a AAAA school in the 2007-08 school year before dropping to AAA after realignment in 2008.
Of the Aiken County schools and the schools covered by the Aiken Standard, South Aiken is the only one making a move. Aiken High School and North Augusta High School will continue to remain AAAA schools, North Augusta fell as the 36th largest school in the state at 1,611 students, with Aiken not being too far behind at 1,593 students, or the 38th largest school.
At the AAA level, Midland Valley High will remain in the same classification with 1,205 students on the 135th day of enrollment, making it the 78th largest school in the state.
Both Silver Bluff High School and Strom Thurmond will remain at the AA level. Strom Thurmond had an enrollment of 890 students and was the 107th largest in the state, while Silver Bluff was 20 spots lower at 127th place with 740 students. Strom Thurmond is close to becoming a AAA school, with only about 53 students separating it and the AAA level.
Wagener-Salley High School, Williston-Elko High School, Ridge Spring-Monetta High School and Fox Creek High School will all remain at the Class A level. The biggest of those schools was Wagener-Salley High with 337 students, followed by Williston-Elko High with 313 students. Fox Creek High and Ridge Spring-Monetta High are also close in enrollment with Fox Creek having 306 students and Ridge Spring-Monetta having 286 students.
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