The University Interscholastic League released its fall sports realignment last month for football and basketball. Last week, the group released the alignments for all spring sports.

There were not any changes for Wise County's smallest schools. District 9-2A will remain the same all year as Alvord, Boyd, Chico and Paradise will house with Brock, Peaster, Jacksboro, Millsap and Peaster for the next two years in all sports.

Brock and Peaster do not have football programs, so there will only be six teams in district play during that season. All eight teams in the district will compete in the remainder of the sports.

The spring realignment only affects Decatur as it is the only Class 3A and under school in Wise County that offers boys and girls soccer as well as swimming. There is not a classification for schools as small as Decatur so it has to be grouped with much larger programs.

The most interesting move is in swimming where the Eagles will compete in the water for the first time in school history. Ironically, Decatur will compete in the second biggest district in the state as it is one of 11 teams in District 5-4A.

The Eagles will match up with Argyle, Burkburnett, Denton, Denton Guyer, Denton Ryan, Iowa Park, The Colony, Wichita Falls, Wichita Falls Hirschi and Wichita Falls Rider for the next two years. The only district bigger is 10-4A and it features all of the Carrollton, Paris and Richardson ISD schools as well as Highland Park, Prosper and Bonham.

Doris Dennard, who has been hired to lead the first-year DHS swim program, said the UIL's placement was interesting but not as big as it may seem.

"There are a lot of schools in our district and some of them are big schools, but not all of them," she said. "There are a few schools like us, Argyle, Iowa Park and maybe even Burkburnett that are small with new programs that won't have a lot of kids. So I think it will even out at the district meet."

The swim season starts in the winter and lasts until spring. Dennard, who has a couple of experienced swimmers trying out, said she is still looking for more swimmers who want to swim competitively and already have a firm grasp of how to swim.

There was also a small change in the soccer alignment. The Eagles were placed in District 9-4A with some familiar foes such as Burkburnett, Gainesville, Wichita Falls, Wichita Falls Hirschi and Wichita Falls Rider who will be around for two more years.

The change, however, is the elimination of some driving time. Denison and Sherman are gone as they were moved to District 17-4A which is in Region II. The new district features just six teams on the boys side and five on the girls (Gainesville does not have a girls program).