2013-14 School Year Classifications Announced
March 20, 2013
Classifications for Michigan High School Athletic Association elections and postseason tournaments in traditionally classified sports (A, B, C, D) for the 2013-14 school year have been announced, with enrollment breaks for postseason tournaments set up by divisions to be posted Monday on the MHSAA Website.
Classifications for the upcoming school year are based on a second semester count date, which for MHSAA purposes was February 13. The enrollment figure submitted for athletic classification purposes may be different from the count submitted for school aid purposes, as it does not include students ineligible for athletic competition because they reached their 19th birthday prior to September 1 of the current school year and will not include alternative education students if none are allowed athletic eligibility by the local school district.
After all the counts are submitted, tournament-qualified member schools are ranked according to enrollment, and then split as closely into quarters as possible. For 2013-14, there are 756 tournament-qualified member schools and 189 schools in each class.
Effective with the 2013-14 school year, schools with 893 or more students are in Class A in MHSAA postseason tournament competition. The enrollment limits for Class B are 429-892; Class C is 207-428; and schools with enrollments of 206 and fewer are Class D. The break between Classes A and B decreased 18 students from 2012-13, the break between Classes B and C decreased 20 students, and the break between Classes C and D is 10 students fewer than the current school year.
The new classification breaks will see 24 schools move up in class for 2013-14, while 20 schools will move down.
Schools were recently notified of their classification. MHSAA Executive Director John E. "Jack" Roberts said schools may not subsequently lower their enrollment figure. However, if revised enrollment figures should be higher and indicate that a school should be playing in a higher class, that school would be moved up.
Schools have the option to play at any higher classification for a minimum of two years, but must exercise the option by April 15 for fall sports, August 15 for winter sports, and October 15 for spring sports.
MHSAA tournament sports that will be conducted in traditional classifications for 2013-14 are Basketball and Girls Volleyball. Football will use traditional classifications to determine playoff points.
Sports which will compete in nearly equal divisions are: Baseball, Bowling, Girls Competitive Cheer, Lower Peninsula Cross Country, Lower Peninsula Golf, Ice Hockey, Lacrosse, Lower Peninsula Soccer, Skiing, Softball, Lower Peninsula Swimming and Diving, Lower Peninsula Tennis, Lower Peninsula Track and Field and Wrestling.
Visit the respective sport pages on the MHSAA Website on Monday to review the divisional alignments.
The divisions and qualifiers for the MHSAA Football Playoffs will be announced on Selection Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013.
A complete list of school enrollments used to determine classifications for the 2013-14 school year can be found on the Enrollment & Classification page of the MHSAA Website.
Here is a complete list of schools changing classification for 2013-14. (Note: This list does not include schools opting up in class/division for tournaments, which can be found on the Administrators page of the MHSAA Website under Enrollment and Classification):
Moving Up From Class B to Class A
Haslett
Detroit Osborn
Warren Regina
South Lyon East
Middleville Thornapple Kellogg
Trenton
Moving Down From Class A to Class B
Coldwater
Fowlerville
Fruitport
Detroit Henry Ford
Inkster
Milan
Redford Union
Romulus
Detroit Southeastern
Moving Up From Class C to Class B
Dearborn Advanced Technology Academy
Ypsilanti Arbor Preparatory
Delton Kellogg
Harrison
Houghton
Detroit Plymouth Educational Center Prep
Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central
Detroit University Prep Science & Math
Grand Rapids Wellspring Preparatory
Detroit Westside Academy
Moving Down From Class B to Class C
Southfield Bradford
Farwell
Detroit Henry Ford Academy School for Creative Studies
Houghton Lake
Kalkaska
Lakeview
Moving Up From Class D to Class C
Beal City
Detroit Dr. Benjamin Carson HS for Science & Medicine
Kimball Landmark Academy
St. Ignace LaSalle
Mendon
Mio-Au Sable
Detroit Universal Academy
Pittsford
Moving Down From Class C to Class D
Albion
Detroit Collegiate Prep
Harper Woods HEART Academy
Marcellus
Stephenson
New Postseason Eligible Tournament Schools in 2013-14
Detroit Jalen Rose Leadership Academy
Detroit University Prep Science & Math
Grand Rapids West MI Aviation Academy
Kalamazoo Lakeside Academy
Marquette North Star Academy
Wetmore Munising Baptist
Enrollment Breaks by Classes – 2013-14
(Number of schools in parentheses)
Class A: 893 and above (189 schools)
Class B: 429 – 892 (189)
Class C: 207 – 428 (189)
Class D: 206 and below (189)
Gordon to Receive MHSAA Hampton Award for Championing Unified Sports
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 11, 2026
As athletic director at Novi High School a decade ago, Brian Gordon helped Michigan become a national leader in growing Special Olympics Unified Sports for students with intellectual disabilities. Nearly three years after retiring from school administration, he remains an impassioned advocate helping schools all over the state add these inclusive programs to their athletic offerings.
To recognize his pioneering and now continuing work in expanding these opportunities across the state, Gordon has been selected as the recipient of this year’s Nate Hampton Champion of Progress in Athletics Award by the Michigan High School Athletic Association.
The Hampton Award was created by the MHSAA’s Representative Council to honor Nate Hampton, who retired in 2021 after serving in education and educational athletics for 50 years, including the last 32 as an MHSAA assistant director. Honorees have championed the promotion and advancement of opportunities for women, minorities and other underrepresented groups within interscholastic athletics, while serving as an administrator, coach, official, educator or school sports leader in Michigan.
Gordon will receive the Hampton Award during the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA) annual conference, March 13-16 in Traverse City.
“To me, (Unified Sports) is absolutely the purest form of sport – what you’re supposed to get out of participating in athletics. Kids that participate in this program get every bit of that – teamwork, camaraderie, adversity, how to win, how to lose, being part of something bigger than yourself. It was, to me, just so impactful,” Gordon said. “The whole idea of more kids being involved in their athletic program, where they have the opportunity to play in front of their parents, being members of an athletic department at their school, to me was just incredible. … And the life lessons that kids learn, families learn, you can’t even measure them.
“It’s just a great, positive experience – for everyone.”
Gordon began his professional career in educational athletics in 1990 as a physical education and health teacher for Royal Oak Schools, and moved into his first athletic director/assistant principal role at Royal Oak in 2010. He left to become the director of athletic and physical education at Novi High School in 2012, retired from Novi at the end of the 2020-21 school year but then returned to Royal Oak as athletic director the following fall for two more years.
Unified Sports pair students with and without intellectual disabilities as teammates for training and competition. While at Novi, Gordon and Brighton athletic director John Thompson were inspired to bring Unified Sports not only to their schools, but to the Kensington Lakes Activities Association as a whole – and during the 2015-16 school year their schools were joined by Northville, Howell and Hartland in offering Unified teams, with the total soon growing to 13 KLAA schools. The KLAA, at Novi, hosted the first league tournament in the nation for Unified Sports teams – playing 21 basketball games during the inaugural event.
Also following his Novi retirement in 2021, Gordon became a liaison for Special Olympics of Michigan and Unified Sports. He meets with school administrators to promote Unified Sports and help districts build programs, and estimates there are more than 600 elementary, middle and high school Unified Sports teams across the state – with more than 100 high schools playing as part of leagues.
Current Unified offerings in Michigan include basketball, soccer and bocce, with track & field to be introduced this spring. Unified athletes have opportunities to play not just as part of leagues, but during special events like school-day assembly games and at venues like Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
“Brian Gordon has spent more than 35 years promoting school sports and the athletes they serve, and who better to advocate for Unified Sports than someone who has dedicated his career to championing kids and creating opportunities for them to excel,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “The MHSAA and the state’s school sports community have long benefitted from Brian’s positive approach and tremendous energy, and he’s poured all of himself into building bridges for Unified Sports in communities all over Michigan.”
In addition to his Special Olympics efforts, Gordon has served as a mentor for the MHSAA’s AD Connection Program since its creation at the start of the 2023-24 school year, working with first-year athletic directors as they transition to that role.
He’s also taught at the elementary and middle school levels, and supervised physical education and served as a health advisory chairperson at the district level. Including a season while still a college student, he has coached baseball, football, basketball and track & field from the junior high to varsity levels, including a stint as Royal Oak Kimball and Royal Oak High varsity baseball coach from 1995-2010. He was inducted into the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2021.
Gordon was selected for the MIAAA’s Jack Johnson Distinguished Service Award in 2021 and received an MHSAA Allen W. Bush Award in 2019 for his essential but often “behind-the-scenes” contributions to school sports. Previously, Gordon also was named Oakland County Athletic Director of the Year for 2018-19 by the Oakland County Athletic Directors Association, served as the OCADA president in 2014-15 and on its board from 2010-16, and also served as vice president of the Kensington Lakes Activities Association and president of the Kensington Conference. He has been a member of the MIAAA since 2008 and National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) since 2010, and was named a Regional Athletic Director of the Year by the MIAAA in 2018.
“Being a recipient of the Nate Hampton Award – Nate has made such a difference in educational athletics in our state for so long, that it’s truly an honor to represent him in this award,” Gordon said. “I’m really proud of the fact that we’ve been able to make a difference in the state, just like he did, with Unified Sports.”
Gordon graduated from Clawson High School in 1985 and earned his bachelor’s degree at Central Michigan University – where he also played baseball – and master’s in sports administration and school leadership from Wayne State University. He earned his certified athletic administrator (CAA) designation from the NIAAA.
Prioritizing education and students has been a family focus for the Gordons; Brian’s wife Jill Gordon also is a retired teacher. They have two children – daughter McKenzie Ribbing and son Zachary Gordon, and retirement has allowed for more time with both as well as son-in-law Mike Ribbing and granddaughter Isabel.
The first Nate Hampton Champion of Progress in Athletics Award was presented in 2024.
Past recipients
2024 – Nicole Carter, Novi
2025 – Arnetta Thompson, Wyoming
(Photos courtesy of Brian Gordon.)