Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association

Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA), is the association that oversees public high school sporting contests in the state of Maryland. Organized after World War II in 1946, the MPSSAA is made up of public high schools from each of Maryland's 23 counties and independent city of Baltimore City, which joined the association in 1993 when its public high schools withdrew at the orders of a new Superintendent of Public Instruction (schools) in the Baltimore City Public Schools from the earlier longtime  athletic league, the Maryland Scholastic Association (M.S.A.) which was founded in 1919. The MSA had been composed of public high schools in the City of Baltimore and private / religious / independent schools on the secondary level in the City of 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 (M.I.S.A.A. - for boys) and the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland]] (I.S.A.A.M. - for girls) which endured 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 Maryland State Board of Education establishes the rules and regulations governing the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association athletic programs and functions under the Division of Instruction of the Maryland State Department of Education. All qualified public high schools in Maryland in the 23 counties who qualify under rules and regulations may become members of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association.

The purpose of the Association 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

Fall
 * Field Hockey
 * Football
 * Soccer – Girls and Boys
 * Volleyball

Winter
 * Basketball – Girls and Boys

Spring
 * Baseball
 * Lacrosse – Girls and Boys
 * Softball

Individual sports

Fall
 * Cross-Country – Girls and Boys
 * Golf

Winter
 * Indoor Track – Girls and Boys
 * Swimming & Diving – Girls and Boys
 * Wrestling

Spring
 * Track & Field – Girls and Boys
 * Tennis – Girls and Boys

Past Presidents
1947-48....................William Brish 1949-50....................William Brish 1950-51............George Carrington 1951-52............George Carrington 1952-53 ..................Arthur Ramey 1953-54 ......................Ellery Ward 1954-55..............Crescent J. Bride 1955-56 ............Stephan A. Lerda 1956-57................Edward Semler 1957-58 ..............Charles Hudson 1958-59..............Warren R. Evans 1959-60 ..............Robert E. Pence 1960-61 ..............Charles R. Berry 1961-62....Vincent C. Holochwost 1962-63........William J. Callaghan 1963-64..G. Wayne Burgemeister 1964-65..........William E. Dykes Jr. 1965-66......................Jack Willard 1966-67..................Edward Finzel 1967-68..............Harold S. Martin 1968-69..............Crescent J. Bride 1969-70................Warren Squires 1970-71....................Marvin C. Joy 1971-72..........John E. Molesworth 1972-73 ................Robert Melville 1973-74......................Albert Cesky 1974-76 ........................Earl Hersh 1976-78..............Robert M. Foster 1978-80............Mildred H. Murray 1980-82 ..............Robert E. Pence 1982-84..........................Jim Heins 1984-86........................Roy Comer 1986-88............Clarence Johnson 1988-90..................W. Cecil Short 1990-92....................Chuck Brown 1992-94 ..................Patricia Barry 1994-96 ............Ronald J. Belinko 1996-98..............Donald E. Cooke 1998-00..............Mary Etta Reedy 2000-02 ..................Marlene Kelly 2002-04................Robert P. Wade 2004-06..........................Jay Berno 2006-08........................David Byrd 2008-10..................Andrew Roper 2010-12................William Beattie

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 197 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 4A (the largest), 3A, 2A, and 1A (the smallest).


 * 4A = Top 25 percent based on enrollment
 * 3A = Next 25 percent based on enrollment
 * 2A = Next 25 percent based on enrollment
 * 1A = Lowest 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

Anne Arundel County League

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

Baltimore City League

 * The Baltimore City College ("City")
 * The Baltimore Polytechnic Institute ("Poly")
 * Carver Vocational Technical High School
 * Digital Harbor High School (formerly Southern High School (Baltimore)
 * Paul Laurence Dunbar Community 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
 * 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 (PG) 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

Out-of-state teams

 * Musselman High School's Applemen, in Inwood, West Virginia, regularly plays teams in Washington County, even though Musselman is in Berkeley County.

Recent Champions (since 1993)
The following member schools have won state championships since the MPSSAA expanded in 1993:

Boys Basketball Champions
Since 1993, Baltimore City League members have won a combined 35 MPSSAA state boys basketball titles. During that time, Prince George's County ranks second among all MPSSAA leagues with 17 state championships. Baltimore County teams have won 10 titles, while Montgomery County League teams have won nine. Teams from the Eastern Shore have won eight state titles over the last 22 seasons, most in the 1A classification. MVAC members have earned three state title wins. Howard County and UCBAC teams boast two state championships each since 1993. The SMAC and Western Maryland-based Allegany have won the final two of the 88 state titles earners in the four classifications over the last 22 seasons. The Anne Arundel County League hasn't won a boys basketball state title since 1990 until 2015 when Meade High School defeated Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in the 4A State title game on March 14, 2015.