Insider: Takeaways from redrawn sectionals for girls basketball, soccer, volleyball

The Indiana High School Athletic Association released sectional assignments for the 2024-25, 2025-26 seasons Tuesday for boys basketball, girls basketball, football, boys and girls soccer and girls volleyball.

As my colleague Kyle Neddenriep notes: There are some significant changes in the four-class sports due to the new classification metrics approved by the IHSAA with top 20% of schools in 4A, next 25% in 3A, next 25% in 2A and smallest 30% in Class A.

With Roncalli and New Palestine among the Central Indiana teams moving down and Park Tudor girls soccer and Brebeuf Jesuit boys basketball slated to move up, most everyone knew there would be some major changes.

Boys basketball, football: New IHSAA sectional alignments are out. Here are takeaways with plenty of teams on move.

Here are my initial thoughts on the newest soccer, volleyball and girls basketball alignments.

Boys soccer

>> The North-South power balance in 3A has been flipped with three-time defending state champion Noblesville, Carmel, North Central, Westfield, Zionsville and 2A powerhouse Brebeuf Jesuit all moving to the north bracket … as members of Sectional 8.

To contextualize just how ridiculous that sectional is: Brebeuf was a win away from playing for a third consecutive state championship, Noblesville has won three straight state titles, Carmel and Zionsville are stalwarts atop the statewide polls, with Westfield and North Central representing worthy adversaries within their former sectional.

They've won a combined six state championships (eight appearances) and nine regional championships since 2017, and posted a combined record of 82-25-14 last season.

And now they're all together. So that's fun.

>> The Sectional 8 shakeup had a ripple effect on the south with Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern and Pendleton Heights joining a revamped Sectional 9 with Anderson, Muncie Central, Mt. Vernon and Richmond.

>> Another group of note: Franklin Central, Greenfield-Central, Greenwood, New Palestine, Perry Meridian, Roncalli and Southport have merged together in Sectional 12.

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>> Center Grove was split up from the Bloomington and Terre Haute schools, moving in with Columbus North — their regional opponent the past three seasons — Columbus East, East Central, Franklin, Shelbyville and Whiteland.

>> Mooresville and Martinsville are moved in with the Bloomington and Terre Haute schools.

>> Lapel and Park Tudor both moved up from Class A, joining Sectional 24 with Guerin Catholic, Hamilton Heights, Heritage Christian, Tri-West and Western Boone.

Girls soccer

>> I thought the "group of death" with Brebeuf, Guerin and Bishop Chatard might be dismantled this go round. And to be fair, there were changes with Lebanon and Speedway moving out. But they were replaced with two-time defending Class A champion Park Tudor and Hamilton Heights. Thankfully, they didn't go full troll mode and make it a six-team sectional with Roncalli.

>> Sectional 8 for the girls also underwent a massive overhaul with Carmel, Cathedral, Lawrence Central, Lawrence North, North Central, Westfield and Zionsville all moving to the north. That's a seven-team sectional. Sectional 7 is a five-team group with Harrison, Kokomo, Lafayette Jefferson, Logansport and McCutcheon.

>> The changes to Sectional 8 mean powerhouse Noblesville moves to Sectional 9 out of the south with Anderson, Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern, Mt. Vernon, Muncie Central and Pendleton Heights.

>> Franklin Central moves into Sectional 11 with Tech, Attucks, Shortridge, Perry Meridian, Southport and Warren Central, while rival Roncalli is in 2A with Sectional 27 with Beech Grove, Herron, Indian Creek and Speedway.

>> There are only two seven-team sectionals in Class A, one of which includes Heritage Christian, which joins Sectional 41 with Bethesda Christian, Christel House, Covenant Christian, Cardinal Ritter, Scecina and University. Lapel will play its second postseason in Sectional 39 with Eastern (Greentown), Elwood, Taylor, Tipton and Tri-Central.

Volleyball

>> There are three four-team sectionals and two of them are in the 3A north bracket, with four of the Fort Wayne schools and the Lafayette schools (Harrison, Kokomo, Lafayette Jeff and McCutcheon) clustered together. That leaves Sectional 8 entirely unchanged and a seven-team Sectional 9.

>> Brebeuf Jesuit is back down to 3A, moving into Sectional 25 with Crawfordsville, Danville, Frankfort, Guerin, Lebanon and Tri-West.

>> Western Boone moves into 2A, joining state runner-up Benton Central in Sectional 37. The geography/travel argument doesn't make much sense there (an over hour-long drive between the schools), but WeBo star Reagan Durbin vs. the defending state runner-up in a state tournament match would be a lot of fun.

Girls basketball

>> Sectional 8 remains intact as one of only two six-team sectionals in the 4A north (Sectional 3 has seven teams): Carmel, Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern, Noblesville, Westfield and Zionsville.

>> New Palestine's move to 3A was the only change to Sectional 9, which is now a six-team sectional with Anderson, Greenfield-Central, Mt. Vernon (Fortville), Muncie Central, Pendleton Heights, Richmond. Similar situation for Sectional 10, which dropped Crispus Attucks and Cathedral (now 3A). Tech, Lawrence Central, Lawrence North, North Central and Warren Central.

>> Sectional 11 is now a five-team group with Avon, Ben Davis, Brownsburg, Pike and Plainfield.

>> A move that will have fascinating repercussions come draw time: Center Grove and Mooresville move into Sectional 12, joining Decatur Central, Franklin Central, Perry Meridian and Southport. A random draw among Sectionals 9-12 determines the regional matchups, so now we add the Trojans or Pios to a list that already included: Pendleton Heights, defending state champ Lawrence Central, Lawrence North, Brownsburg, Pike and Plainfield.

>> Center Grove and Mooresville moving sets up really nicely for defending 3A champion Gibson Southern, which is in Sectional 16 with Castle, Evansville Reitz, Evansville Harrison and Evansville North. Obviously it's all speculative, but the Titans' road back to semistate doesn't look as bad as it could have.

>> Franklin and Whiteland join Columbus East and Columbus North, and East Central in Sectional 14.

>> The private schools were broken up (relatively speaking) in 3A, with Brebeuf and Guerin splitting off from Chatard to join Sectional 25 with Crawfordsville, Danville, Frankfort, Lebanon and Tri-West. That one has potential to be sneaky good next February. As for Chatard, it's left to contend with Cathedral, which is down from 4A based on enrollment.

>> Cascade and Beech Grove are both up from 2A, joining Sectionals 27 and 28, respectively. BG is joined by former 4A members Greenwood, New Palestine, Roncalli and Shelbyville, as well as Indian Creek, Rushville.

>> Sectional 39 is interesting with regional champions Lapel and Sheridan grouped together with Elwood, Frankton, Taylor and Tipton. Fun fact: All but one 2A sectional has six teams (Sectional 48 has seven).

>> Eastern Hancock and Triton Central are joined in Sectional 43 by Heritage Christian, creating what some are calling a power pyramid within the group, which also includes Christel House, Scecina and Irvington.

Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA sectional alignments: Thoughts on soccer, volleyball, girls hoops