sports@piedmontnewsonline.comPiedmont, which just a few years ago was entrenched in Class 4A, continues its climb toward 6A, as indicated by the latest average daily membership numbers released by the Oklahoma Secondary Activities Association for the 2018-2019 school year.
Piedmont High School’s ADM of 1,042.28, makes it the 44th largest school in the OSSAA’s membership, 12 slots and roughly 250 students away from the bottom half of 6A-2. The school’s ADM is up from 954.96 in 2017-2018.
The average numbers are used by the OSSAA to classify most sports for the upcoming school year. Classifications for football, Class 6A-4A spring baseball and soccer have already been determined based on last year’s ADM.
Athletic director Layne Jones has said previously he anticipates continued growth and that PHS will likely jump to 6A in four or five years.
For now, Piedmont will compete as 12th largest school in 5A. Del City is at the top of 5A with an ADM of 1,260.77. Next is Capitol Hill at 1,257.04 and Tulsa Edison Prep at 1,196.60.
Comparing PHS to its district football foes, only Carl Albert – by one student – and Northwest Classen, which has an ADM of 1,165.54, have a higher enrollment than Piedmont. Guthrie is fourth at 972.02
District rival Bishop McGuinness slipped to 68th with an ADM of 704.50. The Irish will compete in Class 4A in sports because they have not met the private-school rule requirements that push it to a larger class based on success.
Locally, Deer Creek has an ADM of 1,609.79. Yukon is now the eight largest high school in the state with an ADM of 2455.52. Its arch rival Mustang checked in at fourth on the list at 3,033.77, and has the highest ADM on the west side of the state.
That’s still significantly behind Tulsa-Area giants Jenks, Union and Broken Arrow, which boasts the state’s largest ADM of 5,074.53. Union (4,623.49) is second followed by Jenks (3,385.84).
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Victory Life Academy is the smallest OSSAA member, with an ADM of 19. Sweetwater (20.19), Lone Wolf (21.48) Yarbrough (25.42) and Fort Supply (25.95) round out the bottom five.
All ADM numbers are tentative until finalized at the OSSAA’s next board meeting schedule for Aug. 8.
