By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Burlington Christian Academy is moving to a higher classification in athletics because of larger enrollment and also into a new conference beginning with the 2026-27 school year.
The Royals will compete in the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association’s Class 3-A. They’ll be in the Piedmont Triad Athletic Conference.
“It’s kind of a ‘Welcome Back,’ ” athletics director Rene Neff said of connections with schools that BCA were tied to in the past.
Other schools in the PTAC are Caldwell Academy, Calvary Day School, Forsyth Country Day School, Greensboro Day School, High Point Christian, Wesleyan Christian Academy, and Westchester Country Day School.
It’s also a move of convenience for BCA, which initially announced the upcoming changes in October. The Central Carolina Athletic Conference had been reduced to three schools that regularly fielded teams. One of those schools is The Burlington School, which is going down to Class 1-A.
The NCISAA requires teams to play a certain percentage of competitions against teams in the same classification.
“It’s because our classification,” Neff said. “We’re moving up to 3-A. It’s all based on the 3-A thing.”
Being in a conference with more schools should alleviate some challenges in finding games in some sports.
“Basically, my schedule is made,” Neff said.
Steve Murr, Head of School at BCA, said it’s a positive development with conference members mostly within an hour’s drive.
The league members that join BCA as Class 3-A schools are Calvary Day School, Forsyth Country Day School and High Point Christian. Greensboro Day School and Wesleyan Christian Academy are in Class 4-A and Caldwell Academy and Westchester Country Day School are in Class 2-A.
Neff said competitions against TBS will remain on BCA schedules.
“We want to continue that,” she said.
BCA is also exploring adding softball. A middle school program began during the past school year and that could lead to varsity, Neff said.
