Baseball and softball will begin using the new format this Spring. Girls volleyball, as well as boys and girls soccer, will first use it this fall. Boys and girls basketball will make the switch starting with the 2026-27 winter sports season.
The SWDAB’s Board of Directors approved a motion during its Feb. 5 meeting to combine the North and South sections of the Southwest District into a single draw that will allow schools from both sections to immediately play one another in the opening rounds.
SWDAB Board of Directors President Paul Stone said evaluations have been made in how D-I and II schools are affected over the year and a half period since the seven-district format was implemented by the OHSAA in Fall 2024.
“Throughout this time, the SWDAB received consistent feedback from athletic directors, principals, and superintendents expressing a desire for an open draw,” he said in an email. “We sincerely appreciated the professionalism shown by these administrators during this lengthy evaluation process.”
The move is believed to be the pathway to create more accurate seeding and create “true” district champions.
Six Greater Western Ohio Conference schools —Beavercreek, Centerville, Fairmont, Springboro, Springfield, Wayne — have made up the North of D-I since the inception of the seven-division format by the OHSAA. Two other GWOC schools — Miamisburg and Northmont — and several Miami Valley League schools — Fairborn, Sidney Stebbins, Troy, Xenia — have mixed to comprise the five-team boys and girls groupings in D-II.
In basketball, there are 19 boys D-I schools in the South section and 15 girls. D-II South has eight boys schools and 12 in girls.
Lakota West athletic director Scott Kaufman put forward the motion, which was approved unanimously by the nine board members.
“Me making the motion was simply listening to the feedback from AD’s, Principals, Superintendents and also discussions with the Board,” he said in an email.
Representatives from the GWOC shared concerns regarding the split between the two areas during the meeting. Several D-I GWOC basketball coaches recently expressed their desire to see the North and South sections be combined so GWOC teams were not forced to play one another in their first district tournament games.
The desire to make the change and create the potential for new matchups in the postseason was unanimous among the D-I GWOC schools.
The decision to combine sections is not universally celebrated, however. Sidney athletic director Justin Foust said he is not in favor of combining the North and South. Sidney is the Northern-most located D-I or II school in the Southwest District and is roughly a 90-minute drive from several Cincinnati schools located near the Ohio River.
Most Sidney athletic teams compete at either D-I or II except for girls basketball, soccer and volleyball, which are at D-III.
“Traveling over 100 miles on a Tuesday evening is not going to be fun,” he said in an email. “Plus, in the Spring we deal with Graduations, Awards, Testing, and Prom. This is going to make it even more difficult to make all this happen for the kids and families.”
Using this year’s finalized girls basketball D-I RPI ratings as an example, Fairmont is the one-seed in the North and Milford in the South.
In the combined format, Fairmont would be the No. 1 seed due to having a higher RPI rating than Milford.
The seedings to this year’s basketball tournaments will not be changed.
Divisions III through VII in the Southwest District will remain separated using the North and South sections.
The move to begin using the combined draw format with the current calendar year’s Spring sports was based on ideal timing from Spring qualifying numbers currently being submitted to be able to create new brackets for both divisions, per Stone.
A similar motion was also unanimously approved for both divisions used in boys and girls tennis beginning in the Fall.
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