CHAPEL HILL — No Robeson County high school is likely to change its North Carolina High School Athletic Association classification next academic year after the association informed its member schools of its preliminary draft for realignment Friday.

The realignment will designate which classification schools will compete in from the fall of 2021 until the spring of 2025.

Lumberton and Purnell Swett are tentatively set to remain at the 4A classification and Fairmont, Red Springs and St. Pauls are set to remain 2A.

The initial reclassification released Friday is just the first draft. There will be second and third drafts released in the coming months, with opportunities for schools to appeal each draft. The official realignment will be approved in March before going into effect Aug. 1, 2021.

Among the members of the Sandhills Athletic Conference, in which Lumberton and Purnell Swett compete, Jack Britt, Hoke County, Richmond and Pinecrest would also remain 4A, while Scotland and Seventy-First would drop to 3A.

Whether conference alignment also changes or the same schools remain in each conference is still to be determined. It is possible the Sandhills could keep its existing eight schools and operate as a split conference with both 3A and 4A members.

The Three Rivers Conference is already a split conference, with 1A and 2A schools. Fairmont, Red Springs and St. Pauls are TRC members; fellow members East Bladen, South Columbus, West Bladen and Whiteville are set to remain 2A and East Columbus and West Columbus are set to remain 1A.