Logan's Zach Rich (6) gets tackled by Timpview's Tyler Solarzano, Friday in Logan. (Eli Lucero/Herald Journal)

Utah’s high school athletic classifications and regions are now set for the next two years.

And the Utah High School Activities Association’s board of trustees wrapped it all up before lunch.

It was a relatively placid morning meeting Thursday, as the UHSAA finalized its plan for how the state’s schools will compete in sports for the near future. There were still some frustrations expressed about lost rivalries, travel and a lack of competitive balance, but nothing rivaling two years ago, when passions flared in some of the state’s most prominent schools.

Although the UHSAA was drawing lines for six classifications for football for the first time this year, the process went fairly smoothly. Schools such as Hillcrest and Herriman didn’t get exactly what they hoped for, but most seemed satisfied with the outcome.

“There are natural divisions that come up in alignment, and I think we were able to hit on those divisions,” board chairman Bill Boyle said. “We’re dealing with thousands of kids, so not everyone will be absolutely pleased. But I’m glad we focused on kids and did our best to get through this incredibly complex process.

For the next two seasons, football teams will compete in the 5A, 4A, 3AA, 3A, 2A and 1A divisions while keeping five for all other sports. The split comes in the middle division, where schools such as Hurricane and Juan Diego will play in a different division than smaller programs such as Carbon and Delta.

The bottom four classifications are now much smaller than they used to be: 1A has only nine teams. But the hope was that the competitive gap is much smaller between the remaining programs.

There are a handful of dramatic changes next year in sports other than football, particularly with Judge Memorial moving up to 4A to reduce its travel. It will be in a region with nearby schools East and Highland.

Herriman, Westlake and Hillcrest all move up from 4A to 5A after expanding enrollment numbers. Herriman was unhappy about being in a region with Utah County schools, ending with a compromise to lump rival Riverton with it.

Hillcrest was a late addition, brought up from 4A to even out 5A’s regions — but avoiding a region with powers Bingham, Alta and Jordan. Two years ago, the Huskies had been a poster child for the imbalance between the state’s biggest schools.

“We knew we were on the bubble this year, so we weren’t shocked about it,” Hillcrest football coach Casey Miller said. “We hope we’re going in the right direction, and we’ll be able to compete.”

Other knots the UHSAA untied included grouping Washington and Iron county schools back into a single region after the first proposal isolated Cedar City schools.

The board also dealt with complaints about private and charter schools without JV teams and with low gates at home games. Schools such as Layton Christian Academy, Rowland Hall and Waterford were all packed together in a single region.

The board came up with many creative ways of honoring individual schools’ requests, but often at a cost. Payson was perhaps the most illustrative of the trustees’ willingness to bend: the school moved down to 3AA in football, but was lumped in a region from Iron County and Washington County schools hundreds of miles away.

kgoon@sltrib.com

Twitter: @kylegoon

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UHSAA alignment for 2013-2015

Football

Class 5A

Region 1 • Davis, Fremont, Layton, Northridge, Syracuse, Viewmont, Weber

Region 2 • Cottonwood, Granger, Hillcrest, Hunter, Taylorsville, West

Region 3 • Alta, Bingham, Brighton, Copper Hills, Jordan, West Jordan

Region 4 • American Fork, Herriman, Lehi, Lone Peak, Pleasant Grove, Riverton, Westlake

Class 4A

Region 5 • Bonneville, Box Elder, Logan, Mountain Crest, Ogden, Roy, Sky View

Region 6 • Bountiful, Clearfield, Cyprus, East, Highland, Kearns, Woods Cross

Region 7 • Corner Canyon, Mountain View, Murray, Olympus, Orem, Skyline, Timpanogos

Region 8 • Maple Mountain, Provo, Salem Hills, Spanish Fork, Springville, Timpview, Wasatch

Class 3AA

North region • Bear River, Ben Lomond, Juan Diego, Park City, Stansbury, Tooele, Uintah

South region • Cedar City, Desert Hills, Dixie, Hurricane, Payson, Pine View, Snow Canyon

Class 3A

North region • Carbon, Emery, Grantsville, Judge Memorial, Morgan, Union

South region • Canyon View, Delta, Juab, Manti, North Sanpete, Richfield

Class 2A

North region • American Leadership, Gunnison Valley, Layton Christian, Millard, North Summit, South Summit, Summit Academy

South region • Beaver, Enterprise, Grand County, North Sevier, Parowan, San Jaun, South Sevier

Class 1A

North region • Altamont, Duchesne, Milford, Rich

South region • Diamond Ranch, Kanab, Monticello, Monument Valley, Whitehorse

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All other sports

Class 5A

Region 1 • Davis, Fremont, Layton, Northridge, Syracuse, Viewmont, Weber

Region 2 • Cottonwood, Granger, Hillcrest, Hunter, Taylorsville, West

Region 3 • Alta, Bingham, Brighton, Copper Hills, Jordan, West Jordan

Region 4 • American Fork, Herriman, Lehi, Lone Peak, Pleasant Grove, Riverton, Westlake

Class 4A

Region 5 • Bonneville, Box Elder, Logan, Mountain Crest, Ogden, Roy, Sky View

Region 6 • Bountiful, Clearfield, Cyprus, East, Highland, Kearns, Woods Cross, Judge Memorial

Region 7 • Corner Canyon, Mountain View, Murray, Olympus, Orem, Skyline, Timpanogos

Region 8 • Maple Mountain, Provo, Salem Hills, Spanish Fork, Springville, Timpview, Wasatch

Class 3A

Region 9 • Canyon View, Cedar City, Desert Hills, Dixie, Hurricane, Pine View, Snow Canyon

Region 10 • Juan Diego, Morgan, Park City, Uintah, Union

Region 11 • Bear River, Ben Lomond, Grantsville, Stansbury, Tooele

Region 12 • Carbon, Juab, North Sanpete, Payson, Richfield

Class 2A

Region 13 • Beaver, Delta, Enterprise, Kanab, Millard, Parowan

Region 14 • Layton Christian, Maeser Prep, Merit Academy, Rockwell, Rowland Hall, Waterford

Region 15 • Emery, Grand County, North Sevier, San Juan, South Sevier, Wasatch Academy

Region 16 • American Leadership, Gunnison Valley, Manti, North Summit, South Summit, Summit Academy

Class 1A

Region 17 East • Altamont, Duchesne, Manila, Rich, Tabiona

Region 17 West • Concordia Prep, Legacy, Oakley, St. Joseph

Region 18 • Dugway, Intermountain Christian, Mount Vernon, Tintic, Wendover, West Ridge Academy

Region 19 • Green River, Monticello, Monument Valley, Navajo Mountain, Pinnacle, Whitehorse

Region 20 • Bryce Valley, Cross Creek, Diamond Ranch, Escalante, Milford, Panguitch, Piute, Valley, Wayne