First crack at it with 7A and 8A. Niu, after doing this I definitely appreciate more the flexibility in bumping schools up or down a class... just hard to do so in a objective way.
8A wasn't too bad outside of the 3 StL area schools. The furthest 3 north schools also had a bit of an odd cluster, though not nearly as bad, obviously. 7A south suburban and south side schools nearly broke me. I ended up making a few subjective calls there like keeping CPS schools together and putting MC with west suburban schools where they'd match up with two other catholic schools in Naz and Benet. An earlier version was a little more geographically true, but just didn't sit right with me.
With my setup you'll see classes float around the 62-68 range depending how the 5/6 districts fall. That alone could cause countless iterations and computer algorithm optimization of district layouts. For simplicity though, I'm pre-setting as alternating classes of 62 and 68.
Class 8A- 12 Districts, 62 Teams
District 1 (5): Gurnee (Warren), Waukegan, Zion-Benton., Lincolnshire (Stevenson), Winnetka (New Trier)
District 2 (5): Evanston, Park Ridge (Maine South), Skokie (Niles West), Wilmette (Loyola), Niles (Notre Dame)
District 3 (5): Barrington, Carpentersville (Dundee-Crown), Glenview (Glenbrook South), Palatine (Fremd), Palatine
District 4 (5): Elgin, Hoffman Estates (Conant), Huntley, Roselle (Lake Park), South Elgin
District 5 (5): Bartlett, Carol Stream (Glenbard North), Elmhurst (York), Glen Ellyn (Glenbard West), Lombard (Glenbard East)
District 6 (5): Aurora (West), Downers Grove (South), Naperville (Central), Naperville (North), St. Charles (East)
District 7 (5): Aurora (East), Aurora (Metea Valley), Aurora (Waubonsie Valley), Bolingbrook, Naperville (Neuqua Valley)
District 8 (5): Berwyn-Cicero (Morton), Chicago (Taft), Chicago (Lane), Franklin Park (Leyden), Oak Park (River Forest)
District 9 (5): Chicago (Brother Rice), Chicago (Curie), Chicago (Marist), Hinsdale (Central), LaGrange (Lyons)
District 10 (5): Chicago Heights (Bloom), Frankfort (Lincoln-Way East), Homewood-Flossmoor, Orland Park (Sandburg), Palos Hills (Stagg).
District 11 (6): Lockport, Oswego, Oswego (East), Plainfield (East), Plainfield (North), Plainfield (South)
District 12 (6): Belleville (East), Edwardsville, Joliet (Central), Joliet (West), Minooka, O’Fallon
Class 7A- 13 Districts, 68 Teams
District 1 (5): Moline, Rockford (Auburn), Rockford (East), Rockton (Hononegah), Rockford (Guliford)
District 2 (5): Algonquin (Jacobs), DeKalb, Round Lake, Fox Lake (Grant), McHenry
District 3 (6): Buffalo Grove, Highland Park, Lake Zurich, Libertyville, Mundelein, Northbrook (Glenbrook North)
District 4 (5): Arlington Heights (Hersey), Des Plaines (Maine West), Mount Prospect, Park Ridge (Maine East), Skokie (Niles North).
District 5 (5): Addison (Trail), Elk Grove Village, Chicago (Lincoln Park), Hillside (Proviso West), Maywood (Proviso East)
District 6 (6): Elgin (Larkin), Hoffman Estates, Rolling Meadows, St. Charles (North), Schaumburg, Streamwood.
District 7 (5): Batavia, Geneva, West Chicago, Wheaton (North), Wheaton (Warrenville South).
District 8 (5): Downers Grove North, LaGrange Park (Nazareth), Lisle (Benet), Villa Park (Willowbrook), Chicago (Mount Carmel)
District 9 (5): Romeoville, Plainfield (Central), New Lenox (Lincoln-Way Central), New Lenox (Lincoln-Way West), Lansing (T.F. South)
District 10 (5): Blue Island (Eisenhower), Chicago (Von Steuben), Chicago (Hubbard), Summit (Argo), Chicago (Schurz)
District 11 (6): Oak Lawn (Community), South Holland (Thornwood), Tinley Park (Andrew)., Palos Heights (Shepard)., Harvey (Thornton), Burbank (Reavis)
District 12 (5): Bradley-Bourbonnais, Quincy, Normal (Community), Pekin, Yorkville
District 13 (5): Alton, Belleville (West), Collinsville, East St. Louis, Granite City