Buckhannon-Upshur High School could compete against the largest schools in the state under a new classification structure approved by the West Virginia Secondary Schools Athletic Commission.

Under the new guidelines, schools with an enrollment of 1,050 or more will be in Class AAAA, schools with an enrollment of 625-1,049 will be Class AAA, schools with an enrollment of 351-624 will be Class AA, and schools with an enrollment of 350 or fewer will be Class A.

B-UHS comes in just above the cutoff for AAAA, which will have 20 schools under current enrollment numbers. Most other area schools — including Elkins, Lewis County, Bridgeport and the three Marion County schools — would be AAA. The closest AAAA school to Buckhannon is Morgantown High School.

The WVSSAC’s Board of Control approved the proposal by a vote of 150-0 among those present and voting. The Board of Control is comprised of principals (or designees) from secondary schools in the state.

The proposal must still be approved by the West Virginia Board of Education.

The proposal states that each member high school shall be classified as either AAAA, AAA, AA or A based on the total enrollment figures of grades 9-12 based on enrollment figures from the West Virginia Department of Education. The enrollment figure will be calculated at the start of the second school month of the year preceding classification.

The reclassification will take effect beginning in the 2025-26 academic year.

In a separate vote, the Board of Control determined which sports would utilize four, three, or no classifications.

Sports utilizing the four-class structure will be volleyball, football, cheerleading, girls basketball, boys basketball, baseball and softball.

Sports utilizing a three-class (Class AAAA, Class AAA and Class AA/A) will be golf, cross country, soccer, wrestling, tennis and track.

Participants in swimming will compete without a designated classification.