For the past two school years, the Wyoming High School Activities Association (WHSAA) has been using what was a different approach to school classifications in the state than what had been used in the past. For the past two years, the state used cutoff enrollment numbers to determine what classifications schools competed in. For example, every school over 700 was competed in the 4A class in most sports. However, analyzing on a two-year cycle, the projections for the smaller schools in Wyoming especially look much different, prompting the organization to return to the set numbers of schools per class.

The short answer? There were projected to be 26 2A schools using the method from the past two years so that had to change. For the three high schools in Lincoln County, things will largely stay the same except perhaps a conference foe or two who may be shifted. Cokeville will remain in 1A for all sports except football and wrestling, Kemmerer will remain 2A in all sports except swimming where they are 3A and Star Valley will be 4A in all sports with the exception of football.

One change to Star Valley’s schedule will be the switch from both Casper schools in the 4A West to now having Natrona County in the 4A West and Kelly Walsh in the 4A East as Cody rejoins the 4A classification. For those sports, the 4A Northwest will consist of Natrona County, Cody, Riverton and Jackson. The 4A Southwest will be Evanston, Green River, Rock Springs and Star Valley.

For soccer, the 4A West will be made up of Jackson, Riverton, Rock Springs and Star Valley.

Four classifications will be used for most sports with the largest 16 enrollments being 4A, the next largest 16 will be 3A and next 18 as 2A. The remaining teams will be 1A.

For wrestling, the breakdown is the top 16 for 4A, the next 16 for 3A and remaining teams as 2A. Girls wrestling will continue to be one classification.

Football continues to be the largest 10 enrollments as 4A, the next 12 as 3A, the next 14 as 2A, the next 14 as 9-Man and the remaining schools as 6-Man. Cokeville will continue to opt-up and play in the 2A West per their desire to keep playing the 11-man version.

ADM Figures

The Average Daily Membership (ADM) is used as those school-aged students who are eligible to participate in the community. While the majority of these numbers attend the listed schools, others attend other options in their communities but are still counted toward a school’s ADM figure. The numbers are a two-year average of projected enrollment for 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years.

For the upcoming two-year cycle, Star Valley High School will have an ADM figure of 852 which makes them the 12th largest school in Wyoming. Jackson is tenth with 876 and then the next largest school is Sheridan with 1,048. Kelly Walsh is projected to have the largest ADM figure of 1,989 with Natrona County next at 1,913.

Kemmerer is projected to have an ADM figure of 174 which makes them the fourth largest 2A school for the next two years. Moorcroft is the largest with 184 followed by Hot Springs (Thermopolis) and Big Horn. Tongue River will be competing at the 3A classification this cycle with a figure of 191.

Cokeville is projected to be at an ADM figure of 61 students for the next two years. This makes them the fifth largest school in the 1A classification. Upton is the largest projection of 78. Southeast is slated to compete in 2A this cycle by just a fraction of a number difference with Upton.

Information below provided by the WHSAA –