(File Photo of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Indianapolis, IN) Almost 200,000 more high school athletes competed in high school athletics in 2024-2025 compared to the previous season, which is a record high. Pennsylvania is currently fourth in the country in participation of high school athletes, with a total of 333,123 athletes participating this past season. The top three states in athlete participation that season in the order of one, two and three are Texas, California and Ohio, while the rest of the top ten states for that athlete participation in that order from five to ten are Illinois, New York, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey and Minnesota. Across 51 National Federation of High School Associations member state associations, student athletes totaling just over 8.62 million showed their participation in sports during high school in 2024-2025 in the United States. According to figures obtained from the 51 National Federation of High School member state associations, which includes the District of Columbia, 4,723,907 boys and 3,536,984 girls participated in high school sports in 2024-2025, which are both record-high numbers.