The Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) has announced a series of divisional realignments due to a shift in enrollment caps. The change will take effect for the 2024 – 2026 athletic seasons. The AIA reviews its alignmnets every two years.
The 2023 AIA Swimming and Diving State Championships were recently held from November 3rd through the 4th for all three divisions.
- 2023 D1 recap – 2 State Records Fall at Arizona High School State Championships
- 2023 D2 recap – Millenium Boys, Desert Mountain Girls Win Division II Titles
- 2023 D3 recap – Arizona College Prep Sweeps Division III Titles
In Arizona high school swimming, Division I is home to the state’s biggest high schools, followed by Division II and Division III for the state’s smallest schools.
- See full enrollment figures here (Boys)
- See full enrollment figures here (Girls)
Division I (50 Boys/50 Girls Teams)
For the 2024 season, Chaparral High School will make the leap from Division I to Division II. This is a significant move for Chaparral, who has a rich history of winning 10 of the last 11 AIA Girls’ Division I State Championships. Chaparral High School was dethroned for the first time in 10 years this past weekend, as Desert Vista High School won the state title with 271 points. The Chaparral boys’ team faced a tight battle this past weekend, falling to Pinnacle High School by 5 points.
The Chaparral boys’ team was highlighted by Hudson Schuricht and Seth Crow. Schuricht, who heads to NC State next fall, clocked a 54.51 in the 100 breaststroke to break Matt Anderson’s record from nearly a decade ago. Seth Crow was a double event winner, taking the 50 (20.00) and 100 (45.16) freestyle events. The meet ultimately came down to the last relay, where Pinnacle clocked a 3:05.67 in the 400-yard freestyle relay to seal the championship.
Moving to Division II along with Chaparral is Horizon High School, this year’s Division I runner-up on the girls’ side. Horizon has been 2nd at the Division I meet two out of the last three seasons, so Division II is seeing two of the best Division I swim teams joining next year.
2023 Division I Girls’ Top 5 Results
- Desert Vista High School – 271 (remaining in Division I)
- Horizon High School – 259.5 (moving to Division II)
- Boulder Creek High School – 247 (remaining in Division I)
- Chaparral High School – 243.5 (moving to Division II)
- Red Mountain High School – 133 (remaining in Division I)
2023 Division I Boys’ Top 5 Results
- Pinnacle High School – 309 (remaining in Division I)
- Chaparral High School – 304 (moving to Division II)
- Brophy College Prep High School – 256.5 (remaining in Division I)
- Mountain View High School – 175 (remaining in Division I)
- Hamilton High School – 154 (remaining in Division I)
Division II (58 Boys/58 Girls Teams)
Millennium High School, who won the boys’ title and finished 5th at the girls’ meet, will move from Division II to Division I in 2024. The Millennium girls’ finished with 180.5 points, placing 5th behind Desert Mountain High School (365). The Millennium boys’ scored 439 points to win the meet by 169 points over Canyon del Oro High School. Having won the Boys’ Division II title in 2022 as well, Millennium will certainly look to shake up the Division I rankings next year.
2023 Division II Girls’ Top 5 Results
- Desert Mountain High School – 365 (remaining in Division II)
- Catalina Foothills High School – 312 (remaining in Division II)
- Campo Verde High School – 232 (remaining in Division II)
- Canyon del Oro High School – 218 (remaining in Division II)
- Millennium High School – 180.5 (moving to Division I)
2023 Division II Boys’ Top 5 Results
- Millennium High School – 439 (moving to Division I)
- Canyon del Oro High School – 270 (remaining in Division II)
- Desert Mountain High School – 265 (remaining in Division II)
- Catalina Foothills High School – 195 (remaining in Division II)
- Verrado High School – 126 (remaining in Division II)
Division III (60 Boys/62 Girls Teams)
Arizona College Prep High School, who topped both the girls and boys Division III meets, will move to Division I for the 2024 season. Arizona College Prep took the Division III Girls’ title just this past weekend with 362 points, while the boys scored 308.5 points to also take the title. Arizona College Prep has seen a steady rise in Division III since the 2019 season, improving each year to culminate with two straight State Championships in 2022 and 2023.
The next closest finisher on both the girls’ and boys’ side, Phoenix Country Day School, will remain in Division III for the upcoming season.
Salpointe Catholic High School, who recently placed 3rd at the boys’ Division III meet, will move up into Division II for the upcoming 2024 season.
2023 Division III Girls’ Top 5 Results
- Arizona College Prep High School – 362 (moving to Division I)
- Phoenix Country Day High School – 262.5 (remaining in Division III)
- American Leadership Academy – 170 (remaining in Division III)
- Paradise Honors High School – 150 (remaining in Division III)
- Chandler Prep High School – 143 (remaining in Division III)
2023 Division III Boys’ Top 5 Results
- Arizona College Prep High School – 308.5 (moving to Division I)
- Phoenix Country Day High School – 205 (remaining in Division III)
- Salpointe Catholic High School – 183 (moving to Division II)
- Gilbert Classical Academy High School – 156 (remaining in Division III)
- Tanque Verde High School – 115 (remaining in Division III)
Why is Chaparral moving into division 2? With its student population and swimming success, It has no place outside of division 1.
Enrollment seems to be way down relative to pre-pandemic. AIA reports it at 1917, in the previous round it was at 2,149, and it was higher pre-pandemic.
They haven’t listed the caps on the swimming alignments, but on spotcheck, that’s similar to other D2 schools.
True. Demographics changed a lot in Maricopa County depending on upon where you live. Some cities are fast growing while others are not, and some schools experience kids boom and others do not. Arizona is one of the fastest growing states so this will happen where a school in an older area will decline in enrollment.
I’m curious how these decisions are made. Are there objective data utilized or subjective influence at play? What other schools are jumping over divisions (ie ACP going from DIII to DI)?
It’s based on enrollment. There is an appeals process for schools that want to be in a different division than their enrollment dictates.
See bylaw 8.6 https://aiaonline.org/files/58/article-8-classification-of-member-high-schools.pdf
We have appealed to stay in D1