By SCOTT NOVAK
Niles Daily Star

The anticipated results of the Michigan High School Athletic Association classifications for the 2010-11 season are in and nothing has changed for the schools that Leader Publications cover.

In fact, only three schools in southwest Lower Michigan were affected by the numbers that were released late last week.

There were some thoughts that Niles would drop back down to Class B, however, the Vikings remain in Class A despite a drop of 29 students from last year.

Niles is now the second largest school in the Big 16 Conference’s West Division behind only Mattawan.

Niles’ enrollment has them with 985 students. Mattawan is the biggest school in the division with 1,125 students.

Benton Harbor, which lost 181 students from the previous count, is now third at 968. St. Joseph (929) and Lakeshore (925) round out the division.

The Lancers increased its student numbers by eight, while St. Joseph lost 57.

Dowagiac remains the smallest school in the Wolverine Conference.

The district lost 11 students from 2009-10 and is now listed with 600 students in the high school.

Gull Lake remains the biggest school in the conference with 929 students, down from 955 last year.

Over in the Lakeland Conference, Edwardsburg is still the biggest school in the league and Bridgman is still the smallest.

Edwardsburg’s enrollment grew by 40 since last year and now stands at 766 students.
Coloma, Berrien Springs and Buchanan remain in Class B, while the other three schools are Class C.

The Bucks are inside of Class B by a mere four students. Cassopolis is pretty much in the middle of Class C with 338 students, while Brandywine is closer to the top end with 423 students.

The class breakdown for the current school year were Class A (987 and up), Class B (488-986), Class C (224-487) and Class D (233 and below).