Georgetown Lady Eagles basketball — along with most of the school’s other sports –will be going in an entirely different direction for at least the next two school years courtesy of the University Interscholastic League’s biennial realignment announced Monday. Instead of playing in a Southeast Texas-focused Region III-5A and a seven-school District 18-5A located along the toll road with arch-rival East View, Hutto, Elgin, Manor, Bastrop and Bastrop Cedar Creek, GHS will move to Region IV-5A, which is composed mainly of schools from the San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Rio Grande Valley areas and an eight-team District 25-5A with East View, Cedar Park, Leander, Leander Rouse. Leander Glenn, Liberty Hill and Marble Falls.
“We are going into a very hard district and the proximity of the teams will make for some big rivalries, I’m sure,” Georgetown girls athletics coordinator and head basketball coach Ronda Farney said. “We will welcome the challenge. As for Region IV, it will be tough because our district will have to play through Dripping Springs and Kerrville Tivy to even advance to regionals. (San Antonio) Veterans Memorial will be tough too. Alamo Heights will be tough as well for tennis. “BUT GEORGETOWN WILL BE READY.” The average round-trip mileage in the new eight-team alignment will be approximately 23 miles shorter than in the current version of 18-5A. The longest round trip in 18-5A is 120-mile round-trip to Bastrop, while the longest in 25-5A will be 91.2 to Marble Falls. Six of the seven round trips in 25-5A will be 45 miles or less. Only two of the six round trips in 18-5A are under 60 miles.
How tough is Region IV in girls basketball? Counting Georgetown and Clear Park there are 10 teams currently ranked in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Class 5A poll. How tough will bi-district be? Two members of the 26-5A alignment are currently listed in the TABC poll — Kerrville Tivy and San Antonio Veterans Memorial. Not to mention that Dripping Springs is listed in the Texas Girls Coaches Association poll. And, of course, let’s not forget football. Georgetown will play in an eighth-team District 11-5A in Region III-5A Division I with Austin Anderson, Cedar Park, Leander, Manor, Pflugerville, Pflugerville Hendrickson and Pflugerville Weiss. East View will play in Region IV-5A Division II in eight-team District 13-5A with Bastrop, Bastrop Cedar Creek, Brenham, Elgin, Leander Glenn, Leander Rouse and Pflugerville Connally. The enrollment limits for 5A are 1,230 to 2,199. There are 252 schools competing in 5A basketball, 253 in volleyball and 251 in football.
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Class 5A realignment district assignments of interest to Georgetown area readers (with the exception of football districts):
REGION IV-5A
25 (8 teams) — Georgetown, Georgetown East View, Cedar Park, Leander, Leander Glenn, Leander Rouse, Liberty Hill, Marble Falls.
26 (9 teams)– Boerne Champion, Buda Johnson, Comal Canyon, Dripping Springs, Kerrville Tivy, Kyle Lehman, San Antonio Alamo Heights, San Antonio Veterans Memorial, Seguin.
27 (9 teams) — San Antonio Brackenridge, San Antonio Burbank, San Antonio Edison, San Antonio Highlands, San Antonio Houston, San Antonio Jefferson, San Antonio Kennedy, San Antonio Lanier, San Antonio Memorial.
28 (8 teams) — Castroville Medina Valley, Eagle Pass Winn, Floresville, San Antonio Harlandale, San Antonio McCollum, San Antonio Southside, San Antonio Southwest, San Antonio Southwest Legacy.
29 (9 teams) — Corpus Christi Carroll, Corpus Christi Flour Bluff, Corpus Christi King, Corpus Christi Moody, Corpus Christi Ray, Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial, Gregory-Portland, Victoria East, Victoria West.
30 (6 teams) — La Joya Palmview, Laredo Cigarroa, Laredo Martin, Mission Veterans Memorial, Rio Grande City, Roma.
31 (8 teams) — McAllen, McAllen Memorial, McAllen Rowe, Mission Sharyland, Mission Sharyland Pioneer, Pharr Valley View, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Memorial. Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Southwest.
32 (8 teams) — Brownsville Lopez, Brownsville Pace, Brownsville Porter, Brownsville Veterans Memorial, Donna, Edcouch-Elsa, Mercedes, Weslaco East.
REGION III-5A
REGION 3
17 (9 schools) — Austin Anderson, Austin Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders*, Austin Crockett, Austin LASA, Austin McCallum, Austin Navarro (formerly Lanier), Austin Northeast (formerly Reagan), Austin Travis, Lockhart. (* — denotes volleyball only).
18 (8 schools) — Bastrop, Bastrop Cedar Creek, Elgin, Manor, Pflugerville, Pflugerville Connally, Pflugerville Hendrickson, Pflugerville Weiss.
AREA FOOTBALL REALIGNMENTS
CLASS 5A DIVISION 1
REGION III
11 (8 schools) — Austin Anderson, Cedar Park Georgetown, Leander, Manor, Pflugerville, Pflugerville Hendrickson, Pflugerville Weiss.
CLASS 5A DIVISION II
REGION IV
13 (8 schools) — Bastrop, Bastrop Cedar Creek, Brenham, Elgin, Georgetown East View, Leander Glenn, Leander Rouse, Pflugerville Connally.
14 (7 schools) — Austin Crockett, Austin McCallum, Austin Navarro (formerly Lanier), Austin Northeast (formerly Reagan), Austin Travis, Liberty Hill, Marble Falls.