Capital moves up to Class 6A in football; wrestling shrinks to two classes
Dec. 3—Capital moved one step closer to becoming a member of Class 6A in football on Thursday.
The New Mexico Activities Association's board of directors on Thursday approved the classification and alignment plan for the two-year block starting with the 2022-23 school year. The plan saw some movement within football, and it included Capital moving into 6A after spending the past four years in 5A.
It was one of four schools to move up a class based on its three-year enrollment average, which included Alamogordo, Los Lunas and Farmington. Capital's three-year average of 1,458 brought it above the 1,450 threshold for 6A schools.
With Farmington and Capital leaving District 2/6-5A, Los Alamos found itself with completely new district mates for next year.
The reconfigured district will include Albuquerque schools Manzano, Valley and Del Norte. Manzano was the one 6A school to move down a class since its enrollment average fell to 1,394.
In girls soccer, District 3/4/5 1A-3A will see Ruidoso move into it as it fell from 4A to 3A in all sports. That district includes Academy for Technology and the Classics and Monte del Sol.
Meanwhile, wrestling saw Class 1A/3A merge with 4A to produce a 38-team 1A/4A class, a move that met the approval of most wrestling coaches except for those in 1A/3A.
A survey presented at September's board meeting, six of the eight 1A/3A wrestling coaches voted for keeping the current three-class alignment.
Overall, 45 percent of coaches who responded to the organization's survey voted for a two-class system.
District 2-1A/4A will include St. Michael's, Pojoaque Valley, Española Valley, Los Alamos, Taos, Las Vegas Robertson, West Las Vegas and Moriarty. Pecos and Tierra Encantada will wrestle in District 3-1A/4A.
The NMAA board will reconvene Dec. 9 to hear appeals from schools regarding their placements in the plan, with final approval expected after that.
