HELENA — The Montana High School Association executive board took action on a bevy of items at a regularly scheduled meeting Monday and Tuesday.
The MHSA announced its latest actions Thursday, including the reclassifications of three schools, effective in 2025-26:
- Plentywood will move from Class C to Class B and is tentatively assigned to District 2B for basketball, volleyball and track and field. The Wildcats will continue to play 8-Man football and will remain in the Eastern Division.
- Fort Benton will move from Class C to Class B and is tentatively assigned to District 1B for basketball, volleyball and track and field. The Longhorns will continue to play 8-Man football and will remain in the Northern Division.
- Superior will move from Class B to Class C and is tentatively assigned to District 13C for basketball, volleyball and track and field. The Bobcats will continue to play 8-Man football and will remain in the Western Division.
- Park City will move from Class B to Class C and is tentatively assigned to District 6C for basketball and track and field, and District 4C for volleyball. The Panthers will continue to play 8-Man football and will remain in the Southern Division.
- Butte Central (Class A) and Cascade (Class C) successfully petitioned the board to remain in their current classifications, though both schools met enrollment guidelines to change classifications.
(Note: This story has been updated to include Park City's reclassification from Class B to Class C.)
The board also approved changes to high school wrestling. The boys and girls divisions will both expand to 14 weight classes. Girls will wrestle at 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140, 145, 155, 170, 190 and 235 pounds. Boys will wrestle at 103, 110, 118, 126, 132, 138, 144, 150, 157, 165, 175, 190, 215 and 285 pounds.
Beginning with the 2024-25 school year, the state wrestling tournament will expand to three days. The tentative schedule for the 2025 tournaments begins with boys first-round matches and girls first- and second-round matches on Thursday, Feb. 13. Wrestlers will compete throughout Friday, Feb. 14, and the championship bouts are slated for Saturday, Feb. 15. The all-class wrestling tournaments will continue to take place in Billings.
Other dates and sites for state events in 2025 and 2026 were also announced. The all-class volleyball tournaments will continue to be played in Bozeman, and Billings, Bozeman and Missoula will each host state basketball tournaments in both 2025 and 2026. All state basketball tournaments will continue to feature the boys and girls playing at the same site.
Billings will host the State A tournaments in 2025 and the State AA in 2026; Bozeman gets State AA in 2025 and State B in 2026; and Missoula will host State B in 2025 and State C in 2026. Butte has the State C tournaments in 2025, and Great Falls has the State A in 2026.
Click for the dates and sites of state events: 2024-25 | 2025-26
Esports and girls flag football will take the next steps in their efforts to become MHSA-sanctioned sports. The board approved both as emerging sports to pilot the new sports in the MHSA for two years.
The board also made significant changes to the cooperative (co-op) sponsorship language. The three-year contract language has been removed, making all co-ops continuous unless an application for dissolution is submitted. The MHSA may still terminate co-ops based "upon valid reason as determined by the MHSA."
The MHSA will also start to recognize official co-op names such as North Country, which encapsulates the Saco-Whitewater-Hinsdale co-op.
For a complete list of MHSA executive board actions, click here.
