# Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association

The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA) is the association that oversees public high school sporting contests in the state of Maryland. Formed in 1946, the MPSSAA is made up of public high schools from each of Maryland's 23 counties and independent city of Baltimore, which joined the association in 1993 when its public high schools withdrew from the earlier longtime athletic league, the Maryland Scholastic Association (MSA) which was founded in 1919. The MSA had been composed of public high schools in Baltimore and private/religious/independent schools on the secondary level in Baltimore and its metropolitan area and the surrounding central Maryland region. It was one of the few state-level interscholastic athletic leagues in the nation composed of both public and private/religious/independent secondary schools. After the Baltimore City public high schools withdrew from the MSA, the remaining private/religious/independent schools conferred and organized two parallel regional/state-wide athletic leagues with sports competition and exercise activities with one for young men and the other for young women. These were the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association (MISAA—for boys) and the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland (ISAAM—for girls), which still exist today. All three state-wide athletic leagues, two for private/religious/independent secondary schools and one for co-ed public high schools exist today marrying on the proud traditions, memories and championships of the old Maryland Scholastic Association (MSA)—one of the oldest state athletic leagues for secondary schools in the country.
The current MPSSAA includes nearly 200 public high schools, with more than 110,000 student-athletes participating in 24 sports. The Association is governed by the Division of Instruction of the Maryland State Department of Education. All public high schools in Maryland in the 23 counties who qualify under the established rules and regulations may become members of the MPSSAA.
The stated purpose of the MPSSAA is "to promote, direct, and control all interscholastic activities of high school students; to establish, maintain, and enforce regulations to assure that all such activities are part of and contribute toward the comprehensive educational program of the state of Maryland; to work with the state department of education in the development of the program to safeguard the physical, mental, and moral welfare of high school students and protect them from exploitation."

## Sponsored sports

Team sports
Individual sports

## Member high schools

Due to the state's unique geography, Maryland high school athletics is divided into nine districts by the MPSSAA for purposes of organizing athletic activities and postseason tournaments. MPSSAA member schools compete within geographic regions (jurisdictions) and are divided into leagues across the state. In total, there are five conferences and six counties competing together to form a league, but remaining independent.

### Classifications

The MPSSAA's 199 member schools are arranged by classification to ensure that schools compete on a regular basis with other schools in the geographic area of a similar size. The classifications are 1A (the smallest), 2A, 3A, and 4A (the largest).
* 1A = Lowest 25 percent based on enrollment
* 2A = Next 25 percent based on enrollment
* 3A = Next 25 percent based on enrollment
* 4A = Top 25 percent based on enrollment

### District Alignment

* District 1 – Allegany, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, and Washington counties
* District 2 – Montgomery County
* District 3 – Prince George's County
* District 4 – Charles, Calvert, and St. Mary's counties
* District 5 – Anne Arundel and Howard counties
* District 6 – Baltimore County
* District 7 – Cecil and Harford counties
* District 8 – Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne's, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico, and Worcester counties
* District 9 – Baltimore City

### Conferences
#### Appalachian Mountain Athletic Conference

| Allegany | Garrett |
| Allegany High School | Northern Garrett High School |
| Mountain Ridge High School | Southern Garrett High School |
| Fort Hill High School | |

#### Bayside Conference

| Caroline | Dorchester | Kent | Queen Anne's | Somerset | Talbot | Wicomico | Worcester |
| Colonel Richardson High School | Cambridge-South Dorchester High School | Kent County High School | Kent Island High School | Crisfield High School | Easton High School | James M. Bennett High School | Pocomoke High School |
| North Caroline High School | North Dorchester High School | | Queen Anne's County High School | Washington High School | St. Michaels High School | Mardela High School | Snow Hill High School |
| | | | | | | Parkside High School | Stephen Decatur High School |
| | | | | | | Wicomico High School | |

#### Monocacy Valley Athletic League

| Carroll | Frederick | Washington |
| Century High School | Brunswick High School | Boonsboro High School |
| Francis Scott Key High School | Catoctin High School | Clear Spring High School |
| Liberty High School | Frederick High School | Hancock High School |
| Manchester Valley High School | Governor Thomas Johnson High School | North Hagerstown High School |
| | Linganore High School | Smithsburg High School |
| South Carroll High School | Middletown High School | South Hagerstown High School |
| Westminster High School | Oakdale High School | Williamsport High School |
| Winters Mill High School | Tuscarora High School | |
| | Urbana High School | |
| | Walkersville High School | |

#### Southern Maryland Athletic Conference

| Calvert | Charles | St. Mary's |
| Huntingtown High School | Henry E. Lackey High School | Chopticon High School |
| Northern High School | La Plata High School | Great Mills High School |
| Calvert High School | Maurice J. McDonough High School | Leonardtown High School |
| Patuxent High School | North Point High School | |
| | Thomas Stone High School | |
| | Westlake High School | |
| | St. Charles High School | |

#### Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference

| Cecil | Harford |
| Bohemia Manor High School | Aberdeen High School |
| Elkton High School | Bel Air High School |
| North East High School | C. Milton Wright High School |
| Perryville High School | Edgewood High School |
| Rising Sun High School | Fallston High School |
| | Harford Technical High School |
| | Havre De Grace High School |
| | Joppatowne High School |
| | North Harford High School |
| | Patterson Mill High School |

### Independents
#### Anne Arundel County League

* Annapolis High School
* Arundel High School
* Broadneck High School
* Chesapeake High School
* Crofton High School
* Glen Burnie High School
* Meade High School
* North County High School
* Northeast High School
* Old Mill High School
* Severna Park High School
* South River High School
* Southern High School

#### Baltimore City League

* Baltimore City College ("City")
* Baltimore Polytechnic Institute ("Poly")
* Carver Vocational Technical High School
* Digital Harbor High School (formerly Southern High School)
* Paul Laurence Dunbar High School
* Edmondson-Westside High School
* Frederick Douglass High School
* Forest Park High School
* Lake Clifton Eastern High School
* Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School ("Mervo")
* Northwestern High School
* Patterson High School
* Reginald F. Lewis High School
* Southwestern High School
* Western High School

#### Baltimore County League

* Catonsville High School
* Chesapeake High School
* Dulaney High School
* Dundalk High School
* Eastern Technical High School
* Franklin High School
* George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology
* Hereford High School
* Kenwood High School
* Lansdowne High School
* Loch Raven High School
* Milford Mill Academy
* New Town High School
* Overlea High School
* Owings Mills High School
* Parkville High School
* Patapsco High School
* Perry Hall High School
* Pikesville High School
* Randallstown High School
* Sparrows Point High School
* Towson High School
* Western School of Technology and Environmental Science
* Woodlawn High School

#### Howard County League

* Atholton High School
* Centennial High School
* Glenelg High School
* Guilford Park High School
* Hammond High School
* Howard High School
* Long Reach High School
* Marriotts Ridge High School
* Mount Hebron High School
* Oakland Mills High School
* Reservoir High School
* River Hill High School
* Wilde Lake High School

#### Montgomery County League

* Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School
* Montgomery Blair High School
* James Hubert Blake High School
* Winston Churchill High School
* Clarksburg High School
* Damascus High School
* Albert Einstein High School
* Gaithersburg High School
* Walter Johnson High School
* John F. Kennedy High School
* Colonel Zadok A. Magruder High School
* Richard Montgomery High School
* Northwest High School
* Northwood High School
* Paint Branch High School
* Poolesville High School
* Quince Orchard High School
* Rockville High School
* Seneca Valley High School
* Sherwood High School
* Springbrook High School
* Watkins Mill High School
* Wheaton High School
* Walt Whitman High School
* Thomas Sprigg Wootton High School

#### Prince George's County League

* Bladensburg High School
* Bowie High School
* Central High School
* Crossland High School
* Frederick Douglass High School
* DuVal High School
* Fairmont Heights High School
* Charles Herbert Flowers High School
* Friendly High School
* Gwynn Park High School
* Henry Alexander Wise Jr., High School
* High Point High School
* Largo High School
* Laurel High School
* Northwestern High School
* Oxon Hill High School
* Parkdale High School
* Potomac High School
* Eleanor Roosevelt High School
* Suitland High School
* Surrattsville High School