Early look at WIAA sectional placements

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>Edited: 6-26-26</em></strong><br><br>With the WIAA Advisory Council voting down on Tuesday a recommendation from the WIAA Coaches Advisory Committee to expand the WIAA State Tournament and thus significantly alter sectional placements, administrators from the WIAA wasted no time in releasing the sectional placements today in each of the five divisions for the 2025-26 season. <br><br>Here are some quick thoughts on sectional placements in each of the five divisions for the upcoming season:<br><br><strong>DIVISION 1</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sheboygan South,, Watertown and Waukesha South move to Division 2 while the Division 1 field adds Milwaukee South, Monona Grove and Racine Park. <br><br>Defending state champion Wisconsin Lutheran again is placed in Sectional 4 along with a few others programs expected to have stellar teams next winter, including West Allis Central, Franklin, Oak Creek and Racine Case, among others. Wisconsin Lutheran and West Allis Central, which annually petitions to play in Division 1 despite being a Division 2 school by enrollment, figures to enter the season ranked among the top five teams in the state at the Division 1 level. <br><br>Wisconsin Lutheran is led by senior [player_tooltip player_id='1552512' first='Zavier' last='Zens'] and junior [player_tooltip player_id='2140949' first='Kager' last='Knueppel'] while West Allis Central is led by Iowa State recruit [player_tooltip player_id='2045256' first='Yusef' last='Gray Jr.'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2194435' first='Max' last='Jones'].<br><br>Last year's Division 2 state runner-up, Racine Park, joins Wisconsin Lutheran and West Allis Central in Sectional 4. Also in Sectional 4 is the Division 1 state-champion from two years ago, Marquette High. <br><br>Top teams in Sectional 1 include Appleton North, D.C. Everest, Hudson, Kaukauna, Kimberly, Marshfield, Neenah and Superior.<br><br>Top teams in Sectional 2 include Arrowhead, Bay Port, Brookfield East, De Pere, Germantown, Homestead, Oshkosh North and Pewaukee.<br><br>Top teams in Sectional 3 include Beloit Memorial, Kettle Moraine, Madison La Follette, Madison Memorial, Monona Grove, Oregon and Waunakee. <br><br>Top teams in Sectional 4 include Franklin, Kenosha Bradford, Oak Creek, Racine Case, West Allis Central and Wisconsin Lutheran.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>DIVISION 2</strong><br><br>Defending champion Wauwatosa West enters the season as definitely one of the teams to beat and returns to Sectional 3. The Trojans, led by senior [player_tooltip player_id='1561869' first='Matthew' last='Kloskey'] and junior [player_tooltip player_id='2288469' first='Jalen' last='Brown'], figures to get some stiff competition in the sectional from Beaver Dam, Brookfield Central, Milwaukee Lutheran and New Berlin West in the upper half of the bracket along with a potential sectional-final against the likes of McFarland, Mount Horeb, Stoughton and Waukesha West. <br><br>Division 3 state champion Milwaukee Academy of Science gets bumped into Division 2 due to the WIAA's success formula and is placed in Sectional 4. Also moving to Sectional 4 is Whitefish Bay, which had previously been in Sectional 2 and figures to boast a very competitive team.<br><br>In addition to Milwaukee Academy of Science, others moving into Division 2 from Division 3 include Kewaskum and Catholic Memorial. <br><br>Top teams in Sectional 1 include La Crosse Central, Onalaska, Rhinelander, River Falls and West Salem.<br><br>Top teams in Sectional 2 include Nicolet, Notre Dame, Plymouth, Port Washington, Slinger and [program_tooltip program_id='2829078' first='West' last='DePere'].<br><br>Top teams in Sectional 3 include Beaver Dam, Brookfield Central, McFarland, Milwaukee Lutheran, Mount Horeb, New Berlin West, Stoughton and Wauwatosa West.<br><br>Top teams in Sectional 4 include Academy of Science, Catholic Memorial, Milwaukee Bradley Tech, Waterford, Whitefish Bay and Whitnall.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>DIVISION 3</strong><br><br>Division 4 state champion Aquinas, moves up to Division 3 thanks to the WIAA's success formula and the Blugolds figure to be one of the stronger teams in their new division. <br><br>Led by senior [player_tooltip player_id='1890447' first='Logan' last='Becker'] and junior [player_tooltip player_id='2140896' first='Calvin' last='Bahr'], Aquinas is placed in Sectional 3 along with another former Division 4 school that moves up to Division 3 because of the success formula, Mineral Point. The Pointers lost several key players to graduation and also lost its long-time head coach as Dan Burreson stepped down in the spring after 30 seasons. <br><br>Besides Aquinas and Mineral Point, newcomers to Division 3 include Ashland, Brillion, Delavan-Darien, Lancaster, St. John's Northwestern, Saint Thomas More, Westby and Westfield. <br><br>Sectional 3 is loaded with very strong teams. In addition to Aquinas and Mineral Point, other schools with anticipated strong squads include Beloit Turner, Edgerton, Lake Mills, Lakeside Lutheran, Lancaster, Lodi, Platteville and Wisconsin Dells. <br><br>Top teams in Sectional 1 include Amery, Northwestern, Prescott and Somerset.<br><br>Top teams in Sectional 2 include Freedom, Little Chute, Seymour, Winneconne and Xavier. <br><br>Top teams in Sectional 4 include Brookfield Academy, Brown Deer, Kettle Moraine Lutheran, Lake Country Lutheran, Oostburg, Racine Lutheran and Racine St. Catherine's.<br><br><strong>DIVISION 4</strong><br><br>With Aquinas moving to Division 3, the Division 4 field looks pretty wide open. Lots of good teams and some significant newcomers in Augusta, Brodhead, Clayton/Prairie Farm, The Lincoln Academy, Prairie du Chien, Spring Valley and Wayland Academy. <br><br>Sectional 4 is the strongest with several teams expected to be in the Top 10 for D4 at the start of the season, including Dominican, Milwaukee Juneau, Roncalli and The Prairie School. Any one of those squads have enough firepower to make a deep tournament run. <br><br>Top teams in Sectional 1 include Clear Lake, Fall Creek, Grantsburg, Luther, McDonell Central Catholic and Regis.<br><br>Top teams in Sectional 2 include Algoma, Auburndale, Bonduel, Crivitz, Hurley, Iola-Scandinavia, Marathon, Neillsville and Saint Mary Catholic. <br><br>Top teams in Sectional 3 include Cambridge, Darlington, Lomira, Marshall and Pardeeville. <br><br>Top teams in Sectional 4 include Cedar Grove, Dominican, Howards Grove, Kohler, Living Word Lutheran, Manitowoc Lutheran, Milwaukee Juneau, Roncalli and The Prairie School.<br><br> <strong>DIVISION 5</strong><br><br>Sheboygan Lutheran, with an enrollment of 184, and Reedsville, with an enrollment of 183, rank near the top of the enrollment ladder for Division 5 and their chances of capturing a state championship out of the Big East Conference are high for 2025-26.<br><br>Sheboygan Lutheran, which finished second to Cochrane-Fountain City at the D5 level last March, has a very talented frontline with the return of senior [player_tooltip player_id='2224503' first='Brennen' last='Hackbarth'] and junior [player_tooltip player_id='2382133' first='Marion' last='Boyland']. <br><br>Reedsville, which plays in the Big East North while Sheboygan Lutheran is in the Big East South, has one of better point guards on its roster in senior [player_tooltip player_id='1561897' first='Ben' last='Prochnow'], the son of long-time Reedsville coach Ron Prochnow. <br><br>Boscobel, Cashton, Milwaukee Lifelong Learning, Reedsville, Sevastopol and Washburn move to Division 5 from Division 4 while D5 also welcomes tournament newcomers Greenwood/Granton, Providence (Green Bay) and Potosi/Cassville. <br><br>Top teams in Sectional 1 include Columbus Catholic, Drummond, Loyal, Mellen, Prentice, Rib Lake, Turtle Lake and Washburn.<br><br>Top teams in Sectional 2 include Elkhart Lake, Reedsville, Suring, Tigerton and Wabeno/Laona.<br><br>Top teams in Sectional 3 include Assumption, Blair-Taylor, Cochrane-Fountain City, Hillsboro, Kickapoo, North Crawford, Potosi/Cassville, River Ridge and Southwestern.<br><br>Top teams in Sectional 4 include Barneveld, Oakfield, Pecatonica and Sheboygan Lutheran. <br><br><br><br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->