He has done well enough at a D2 meet to hit the D1 qualifying score
Do you have to have a D1 qualifying score while competing D1? Or is a score a score?
This happened for my son too. In his case, he and coach decided he should continue to compete D2 this season as he barely made the D1 q score, and at only one meet so far. So while I wondered, I never found out the answer to your question. So it would be interesting to hear what your son's coach says about it.
Before this quad, in our state L5s and 6s (but not 4s) had to meet a qualifying score (set during each season) to go to State, and it was not super easy to qualify for State.
This year naturally there are very different State qualifying scores for each division. The q score this year for D2 is pretty low based on the D2 scores I am seeing, while I think the D1 q score is still fairly competitive, similar to what previous years state q score was, adjusted for new scoring rules. Unless I am missing something, the result will be that most D2s will go to State but many D1s will not. On the other hand, in our state only the D1s at State can possibly qualify for Regionals.
Maybe the D2 q score was set low in part to encourage more gyms to use the D2 option? So far, at every meet my son has competed at, large or small, the D2 group is so small it is always an all ages group while D1 is split between 2 or 3 age groups as usual. And I see lots of D1 scores lower than the higher D2 scores, even without event scratches. In other words, it does not appear D2 at least for Level 6 is being utilized as much as it could be. Maybe there will be more D2s at meets from now on, I think coaches had until January 31 to confirm if child was going to be D1 or D2 but that may just be here.
If your son is considered a D1 now, and there is no going back, (or he does not want to go back) do you have more meets before your State where he could still possibly qualify as D1?
I agree this year is very confusing!