Photo by Jeff Bargas.
UIL officials released district realignments this morning, and Lake Highlands High’s 7-6A will include a new member in 2022 and 2023.
Highland Park High (enrollment 2,245.5) will join LHHS (2,852), Richardson High (2,806), Pearce (2,454), Berkner (2,408), Dallas Jesuit (2,288), Irving (2,905), Irving Nimitz (2,625) and Irving MacArthur (2,859). The change reunites the Wildcats with HPHS, a district foe in 2014-15.
HPHS barely made 6A this year, with just 20 students above the cutoff of 2,225. Playing as a big team in 5A, they won three of the last four UIL Lone Star Cups based on combined academic and athletic achievements.
Adding HPHS creates an unusual 9-school district, but 7-6A girls’ teams have been competing in a 7-school district since Jesuit enrolls only males. The addition of a competitive small school virtually guarantees that LH will compete with powerhouse large schools in playoff situations.
You may view the full realignment list for football and basketball here and for volleyball here. Go Cats.
