Class sizes are determined by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association NYSPHSAA.

Classes are determined by the number of students in the school. The official NYS BEDS (Basic Educational Data System) numbers are used as the official count. The majority of sports are governed by a single set of “cut off ” numbers. Lacrosse along with football, volleyball and Cross Country are governed by different sets.

In 1977, when the first tournament was conducted there was only one class. In 1986 Class B was added and in 2000 Class C was added. In 2017 a fourth class (Class D) was added (Read Story on BLaxFive.NET.

The current cutoffs for Lacrosse are as follows:

• Class A schools - 1026 students and more
• Class B schools - 734-1025
• Class C schools - 431-733
• Class D schools - 430 and less
  
  

Moving on up

Procedures exist to allow schools in a smaller class to move up to a larger class.

Combined Teams

School teams can petition through the Section to combine with other schools when they can demonstrate a need. For example, Pittsford has, for many years, combined students from Mendon High School and Sutherland High School for one district team. Whereas Sutherland and Mendon are individually Class B teams, as a combined team they in some years are classified as a Class A team.

Information on the combining of teams can be found on the NYSPHSAA website.

Single Gender Teams

Schools that serve only one gender (like McQuaid Jesuit) have their student BEDS numbers doubled in order to determine their Class position.