For the next two school years, Omaha Benson and Lincoln Pius X will be dropping to Class B as South Sioux City and Columbus make the jump to Class A. The announcement was made after the NSAA released its Enrollment Figures for 2014-15 NSAA Athletic Classifications.

“Every two years the NSAA does an attendance search, where they take every school’s attendance and then they list them who’s the biggest to who’s the smallest,” Westside Athletic Director Tom Kerkman said. “In Class A the number is 28. So, what happens is Pius and Benson have had two small freshman and sophomore classes and Columbus and South Sioux City had two big freshman and sophomore classes. So they basically pass those two schools to be Class A and they just drop the other schools.”

Of the over 300 high schools in Nebraska, the top 28 in population* (Prep and Marian are designated as half a school, so the top 29 schools on the list are in Class A, as Prep and Marian are both in the top 28) compete in Class A activities. Pius X (849) and Benson (840) dropped to No. 30 and No. 31 respectively. South Sioux City (897) and Columbus (856) moved to No. 27 and No. 29 respectively.

According to Kerkman, Benson will petition to the NSAA to compete in Class A for all sports other than football. It is not a guarantee that the NSAA will allow them to compete in Class A. Pius X will compete in Class B for all sports.

With the class changes for the four schools, Westside, which was No. 10 on the enrollment list, was placed in a new district for football, as Benson was part of Westside’s previous district. In district A-4, Westside will compete against Columbus, Fremont, Grand Island, Lincoln Northeast, Millard South and Omaha Burke. However, Kerkman said Westside will not be heavily affected.

“Based on everything changing, and how they redid the districts, you just lose a chance to play a team,” Kerkman said. “Pius we played in sophomore football last year, and we played Pius in soccer and some other sports, [but] it really doesn’t hurt us at all. Doesn’t affect our scheduling.”

*Population is defined as the enrollment for the freshman, sophomore and junior classes combined. The enrollment for all boys or all girls schools, like Prep and Marian, is doubled.