Saginaw wins appeal at UIL realignment hearing; Kennedale, Lake Worth denied
The UIL District Assignment Appeals Committee heard 11 appeals regarding 2020-22 reclassification and realignment on Tuesday, including from Tarrant county schools Saginaw, Kennedale and Lake Worth.
After the UIL released its biennial reclassification and realignment data on Feb. 3, all schools were given the opportunity to appeal their district and conference assignments.
Saginaw’s basketball and volleyball teams were the only ones to win their appeal. Kennedale basketball and volleyball, and Lake Worth football programs were denied.
The UIL reclassified Saginaw’s basketball and volleyball teams into District 6-5A with Colleyville Heritage, Denton, Denton Ryan, Grapevine, Lake Dallas, Richland, Birdville and Justin Northwest.
After winning their appeal, the Rough Riders will compete in District 7-5A with Fort Worth ISD schools Arlington Heights, North Side, Polytechnic, South Hills, Southwest, Trimble Tech and Wyatt.
Kennedale was appealing to get out of District 10-4A with Carrollton Ranchview, Fort Worth Harmony School, Oak Cliff Faith Family, Uplift North Hills Prep, Uplift Summit Prep and Uplift Williams Prep.
The Wildcats were attempting to join District 11-4A with Alvarado, Ferris, Godley, Hillsboro, Midlothian Heritage, Venus and Waxahachie Life.
Kennedale’s girls basketball team beat North Hills Prep, 94-5, on Feb. 17 during the bi-district round. Its volleyball team beat Faith Family, 25-4, 25-3, 25-8 in the first round in November before reaching the state tournament.
The UIL realigned Lake Worth’s football team into District 4-4A Division I with Burkburnett, Decatur, Gainesville, Springtown and Wichita Falls Hirschi.
Burkburnett, Gainesville and Hirschi are all more than a two-hour commute for Lake Worth.
The Bullfrogs appealed to join Benbrook, Carter-Riverside, Dunbar, Eastern Hills, Western Hills, Diamond Hill-Jarvis, Kennedale and Castleberry.
Lake Worth had been in the same football district with Kennedale, DHJ and Castleberry since 2012, and the latter two for the better part of the past 20 years. Castleberry and Lake Worth are six miles apart while DHJ is seven.
