Denton Independent School District athletic teams will be split into two separate districts as part of the bi-annual University Interscholastic League District realignment for football and basketball. The UIL announced its state-wide process of placing schools in athletics districts by student enrollment figures Thursday, Feb. 2.
Ryan will be joining Coppell and the four Lewisville ISD 5A high schools: Lewisville, Hebron, Flower Mound and Flower Mound Marcus in District 5-5A. Ryan last competed at the 5A level between 2006 and 2008.
Guyer and Denton will be gaining new opponents in District 5-4A, with Lake Dallas, Wichita Falls and Wichita Falls Rider joining Azle, Trophy Club Byron Nelson and White Settlement Brewer as new district playing partners.
“Travel will be negligible for both districts outside of our 4A schools annual trek to Wichita Falls. And in the playoffs, the first few rounds should be against Metroplex teams so that’s great for our fans,” said Ken Purcell, director of athletics for Denton ISD.
The cutoff point for Class 5A enrollment was set at 2,090, an increase of 25 students from the current alignment of 2,065. That jump in enrollment forced Ryan – which submitted an enrollment of 2,124 students to UIL officials – to move up in classification to District 5-5A.
Guyer, which submitted an enrollment of 2,064, finished just under the cutoff point for Class 4A and will join Denton High in District 5-4A. UIL officials set the 4A classification cutoff at 1050.
“We expected Ryan to move up and Guyer to move down because that’s what the numbers were telling us. Where you end up doesn’t really matter because you must play wherever you go,” said Purcell.
All district realignments are tentative until approved by the UIL on Feb. 19.
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