Oxford finished seventh in the nation for the MaxPreps Cup for the 2016-17 school year. Oxford finished as the top ranked “medium sized school” in the country. Oxford athletics had one of the best calendar years in its history. Oxford won a total of seven state championships, five in mens sports and two in women’s sports.

Oxford Athletic Director Mike Martin was excited that the program could leave Class 5A with a bang. Oxford is now in Class 6A for the 2017-18 school year. Martin doesn’t expect much to change with the jump, he sees comparisons that can be made from 5A to 6A.

“It’s really hard to judge what our overall program will do in a classification jump,” Martin said. “What I can do is compare apples to apples, golf would have won the 6A state championship each of the last two years because strokes are strokes in golf.”

Martin also mentioned that certain sports could see better chances of competing for state championships in 6A. Sports like tennis, softball, and football have been playing opponents from 6A for the past few seasons.

“5A softball is the toughest in the state, and our tennis team has played and beat 6A teams consistently,” Martin said. “Softball will not be quite as grueling in 6A as it was in 5A and our football team has been playing 6A teams to prepare them for this jump.”

Placing so highly in the rankings for the MaxPreps Cup speaks highly to the diverse population of students that Oxford High School has. It also speaks to the quality of communication that coaches have with each other, in order to manage athletes who play more than one sport.

“We pride ourselves on being a school that excels,” Principal Bradley Roberson said. “Our coaches do a great job at training young men and women to not only be great athletes, but train them to be great leaders.”

Roberson realizes their will be an adjustment period as Oxford jumps to 6A. He feels that the coaches have prepared the athletes for the transition in their scheduling. Roberson still expects a lot out of the students no matter the classification they are in.

“Even jumping to 6A, we are a school that excels,” Roberson said. “We will transition into 6A and we still expect to excel both in the classroom and on the athletic fields.”