Georgia High School Association Set to Begin Class 7A Inaugural Season

In November of 2015, the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) announced that they would be adding a new seven classification. Fast forward to present time and GHSA is approximately one month away from the start of the new 7A Class which was developed to address concerns of what some some viewed as "competitive advantages by city schools which have open enrollment. With the addition of the new classification, schools that receive more than 3% of their students from outside of their county would be moved up, while other schools either stayed in their current classification or even dropped to a lower classification based on the structure of the new threshold numbers. The new 7A class will include several of Gwinnett County schools including Mill Creek, (which has the largest student body count of 3,998), Norcross, Brookwood, Grayson, and Archer. Coach Rory Welsh, Head Boys Basketball Coach and Co-Athletic Director at Langston Hughes High School, who will remain in 6A, said this in response to the approaching start of the new season and classifications,

"The new 7A classification has absorbed all the schools with enrollments over 2,000 students." He continues, "Langston Hughes barely missed the cut with enrollment below 2K." He goes on to add, "We are extremely excited to compete in Region 5 of 6A and look forward to the new challenges that our classification will present." Hughes long time rival since their arrival in 2009, Westlake High School, rounded out 7A with a student count of 2092. The two schools will no longer have their two times a year meeting on the hardwood but will face each other on August 26 in football.