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Polk County now knows for certain where and with whom its athletic teams will play with for the next four years.

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association Board of Directors officially approved Monday the realignment plan for the 2025-29 school years, formalizing the conferences and classifications in which all schools will play.

Polk County will return to the Western Highlands Conference, where it played for a number of years before being placed in the Mountain Foothills 7 Conference in the most recent alignment. The WHC will be a 2A/3A league, with 2A schools Avery and Mitchell joining 3A schools Hendersonville, Madison, Mountain Heritage, Owen and Polk County.

The Board of Directors spent some 10 hours Monday listening to final appeals from more than two dozen schools before voting on each appeal. Of the 27 appeals that were made, the board approved just three.

Two schools – Thomas Jefferson Classical and North Carolina School of Science and Math-Morganton – asked to be moved into the Western Highlands Conference. Those schools have been placed in a 1A/2A conference with Bonnie Cone, Carolina International, Jackson Day, Mountain Island Charter, Queens Grant, Sugar Creek and Piedmont Community Charter.

Thomas Jefferson, though, will compete in a football-only conference with Albemarle, Gray Stone Day, Mountain Island Charter, North Rowan, South Stanly, North Stanly, Union Academy and Bonnie Cone.

Both schools cited concerns with travel times, but both appeals were denied, as were two others relating to the football-only league.

Enka and North Buncombe also each made appeals, looking to shuffle around 5A and 6A teams in Western North Carolina. Both of those appeals were unanimously rejected. Of note that Enka’s proposal reportedly would also have included a new 3A/4A conference, which likely would have impacted the Western Highlands schools.

The NCHSAA will officially release the new conferences and classifications on Thursday. Those will go into effect starting with the fall season.