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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTGOMERY – The AHSAA announced reclassification and new areas, regions and sections for winter sports on Thursday, March 14, and while many of the changes reflect where fall sports teams moved, the announcement brings big changes for many local schools.

Chelsea and Spain Park returned to Class 6A, Montevallo moved up to Class 5A in all sports, Briarwood went down to Class 5A, Indian Springs rose to Class 4A and Oak Mountain, Thompson, Calera, Helena, Pelham, Shelby County and Vincent remaining in their respective classifications.

The Class 7A basketball areas differed from the ones announced for volleyball in the fall, with Thompson now grouped against Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa, Prattville and Tuscaloosa County in Area 5 and Oak Mountain to face Hewitt-Trussville, Hoover and Vestavia Hills in Area 6.

The Warriors and Eagles were previously announced to share a volleyball area with Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa, Hoover and Tuscaloosa County.

The Class 6A areas, however, echoed the volleyball areas as Chelsea, Helena, Pelham and Spain Park will compete in an all-Shelby County Area 8 and Calera will match up with Benjamin Russell and Chilton County in Area 5.

Montevallo’s first basketball season in Class 5A will find the Bulldogs in Area 5 grouped with Demopolis, Jemison and Selma, which was the same as what was announced for volleyball.

Briarwood was the lone private school to move down in multiple sports as the Lions will now compete in Class 5A in basketball and indoor track and field.

Briarwood will join Class 5A, Area 8, which was previously a three-team area with Shelby County, Sylacauga and Central-Clay and will now be a four-team area with those teams.

In the fall, the Lions also moved down to 5A in football and volleyball while remaining in Class 6A for cross-country.

Vincent and Westminster OM saw a shake-up in their basketball areas after previously sharing a five-team area.

The Jackets will compete in Class 2A, Area 8 against Central-Coosa, Horseshoe Bend and Ranburne while the Knights will share Class 2A, Area 9 with Alabama Aerospace & Aviation Academy, Cornerstone Schools of Alabama and Holy Family Catholic.

Westminster at Oak Mountain moved down to Class 1A-3A in indoor track and field after competing in Class 4A-5A in the last reclassification cycle but will remain in Class 2A for basketball.

Indian Springs was promoted to Class 4A in basketball and indoor track and field after previously competing in Class 3A for both sports.

While indoor track and field will be grouped in Class 4A-5A, basketball will compete in Class 4A, Area 7 against Fairfield, Oak Grove and Pleasant Grove.

The wrestling changes fell in line with the changes for other sports.

Thompson and Oak Mountain will share Class 7A, Section 2 in boys wrestling and Class 6A-7A, Section 2 in girls wrestling.

Both schools will share Class 7A, Region 3 in boys wrestling duals with Hewitt-Trussville, Hoover, Tuscaloosa County and Vestavia Hills, which echoes the new football region apart from the exclusion of Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa and Prattville in wrestling.

Chelsea, Helena, Pelham and Spain Park will compete in Class 6A, Section 1 for boys wrestling and share Region 3 in duals with Chilton County, Homewood and Mountain Brook. The Hornets will also compete in Class 6A-7A, Section 1 in girls wrestling.

Montevallo and Shelby County will compete against each other in Class 5A, Section 1 in boys wrestling and take part in duals Region 2 alongside Elmore County, Holtville, John Carroll, Marbury and Ramsay. Montevallo will also take part in Class 1A-5A, Section 1 for girls wrestling.

Indian Springs remains in Class 1A-4A, Section 1 for boys wrestling and will match up with Aliceville, Cordova, Dora, Fultondale, Oak Grove and Thomasville in Region 3 for duals.

In both boys and girls bowling, Calera, Chelsea, Helena, Oak Mountain, Pelham, Spain Park and Thompson will share Region 4 with Hoover and Vestavia Hills.

Indian Springs girls bowling will take part in Class 1A-5A, Region 5 alongside Corner, John Carroll, Oak Grove and Ramsay. The boys bowling region includes those same teams as well as Tarrant for a six-team region.