Section realignment brings changes to Minnesota high school sports
The Minnesota State High School League has made changes to some of the sections in different sports, attempting to make them more geographically balanced for the 2019-20 prep sports seasons.
You can check out section alignment for every high school sport via the MSHSL website right here, but below are the changes made in 6A, 5A and 4A football, along with 2A and 1A boys' hockey.
There's been plenty of debate over the years about how the geography is drawn up, and despite some rather significant changes, Andover and Duluth East remain in the same boys' hockey section even though they're more than two hours apart.
The biggest change in basketball realignment was moving Lakeville North out of Section 1-4A (it applies for both boys' and girls' basketball). That's huge since North has won the section every year in boys' hoops nearly a decade. Now they'll participate in Section 3 with the likes of Apple Valley and Eastview.
The other major change in boys' basketball was to move two-time defending Class 2A champion Minnehaha Academy up to Class 3A.
In football, Class 6A has changed slightly, with Osseo being added to Section 5 to bring the total number of teams competing up to 32. That means no team will receive a first-round bye in the playoffs next season.
Below you'll find changes made in football and hockey. If you don't see a section listed, there were no changes.
Note: We couldn't list every sport on this page. It's just a crazy amount of work to dig through them all. But please refer to the link above to see sports that interest you.
Class AAAAA football
Section 6 2018-19: Elk River, Monticello, Osseo, Robbinsdale Armstrong, Rogers, Sauk Rapids Rice
Changes for 2019-20: Osseo is out, St. Cloud Tech is in.
Section 7 2018-19: Andover, Cambridge-Isanti, Chisago Lakes, Coon Rapids, Duluth East, St. Francis
Changes for 2019-20: Chisago Lakes is out, making it a 5-team section.
Section 8 2018-19: Alexandria, Bemidji, Brainerd, Moorhead, Sartell-St. Stephen
Changes for 2019-20: St. Cloud Apollo has been added.
Class AAAA football
Section 1 2018-19: Albert Lea, Faribault, Kasson-Mantorville, Red Wing, Winona
Changes for 2019-20: Byron has been added,
Section 2 2018-19: Hutchinson, Dassel-Cokato, Mankato East, Marshall, New Ulm, Waseca
Changes for 2019-20: Dassel-Cokato is out, Jordan is in.
Section 4 2018-19: Columbia Heights, DeLaSalle, Fridley, Minneapolis South, St. Anthony Village, St. Paul Como Park
Changes for 2019-20: Minneapolis South is out, Minneapolis Edison is in.
Section 5 2018-19: Benilde-St. Margaret's, Holy Angels, Mound Westonka, Orono, Providence Academy, Richfield, SMB
Changes for 2019-20: Richfield and Providence Academy are out, Minneapolis South is in.
Section 6 2018-19: Becker, Big Lake, Delano, Foley, Princeton, Zimmerman
Changes for 2019-20: Foley is out.
Section 7 2018-19: Cloquet, Duluth Denfeld, Grand Rapids, Hermantown, Hibbing, North Branch
Changes for 2019-20: Grand Rapids is out, Chisago Lakes has been added.
Section 8 2018-19: Detroit Lakes, Little Falls, Fergus Falls, Rocori, St. Cloud Apollo, Willmar
Changes for 2019-20: Fergus Falls and St. Cloud Apollo are out, Grand Rapids is in.
Class AA boys' hockey
Section 1 2018-19: Dodge County, Farmington, Hastings, Lakeville North, Lakeville South, Owatonna, Rochester Century, Rochester John Marshall, Rochester Mayo
Changes for 2019-20: Dodge County has been lowered to Class A.
Section 3 2018-19: Apple Valley, Bloomington Jefferson, Burnsville, Eagan, Eastview, East Ridge, Park of Cottage Grove, Rosemount, St. Thomas Academy
Changes for 2019-20: East Ridge is out.
Section 4 2018-19: Hill-Murray, Irondale, Mounds View, North St. Paul, Roseville, Stillwater, Tartan, White Bear Lake, Woodbury
Changes for 2019-20: East Ridge has been added, North St. Paul and Tartan are out.
Section 5 2018-19: Anoka, Blaine, Centennial, Champlin Park, Coon Rapids, Maple Grove, Osseo, Spring Lake Park
Changes for 2019-20: Anoka is out and Totino-Grace has been added.
Section 6 2018-19: Armstrong-Cooper, Benilde-St. Margaret's, Blake, Cretin-Derham Hall, Edina, Holy Angels, Hopkins, St. Louis Park, Wayzata
Changes for 2019-20: Robbinsdale Armstrong/Cooper has been dropped to Class A.
Section 7 2018-19: Andover, Cambridge-Isanti, Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, Duluth East, Duluth Marshall, Elk River/Zimmerman, Grand Rapids, Forest Lake, St. Francis
Changes for 2019-20: Anoka has been added while Cambridge-Isanti and St. Francis are out.
Class A boys' hockey
Section 1 2018-19: Albert Lea, Austin, Faribault, La Crescent, Mankato East, Mankato West, Minnesota River, Rochester Lourdes, Waseca, Winona
Changes for 2019-20: Dodge County has been added to make it an 11-team section.
Section 2 2018-19: Bloomington Kennedy, Breck, Delano, Minneapolis, Mound-Westonka, Orono, Providence Academy, Southwest Christian, Waconia
Changes for 2019-20: Robbinsdale Armstrong/Cooper has been added.
Section 4 2018-19: Gentry Academy, Henry Sibley, Mahtomedi, Minnehaha Academy, Northfield, Red Wing, Simley, South St. Paul, St. Paul Academy, St. Paul Highland Park, St. Paul Johnson, Totino-Grace
Changes for 2019-20: North St. Paul, St. Agnes and Tartan have been added, Totino-Grace and Northfield have been moved up to Class 2A.
Section 5 2018-19: Becker/Big Lake, Chisago Lakes, Legacy Christian, Monticello, Moose Lake Area, Mora-Milaca, North Branch, Northern Lakes, Pine City Area, Princeton, Sauk Rapids-Rice
Changes for 2019-20: Aitkin, Cambridge-Isanti and St. Francis have been added while Legacy Christian is out.
