Wouldn’t teachers from 9th grade (with whom you remained closely in-touch throughout all HS years) be a better judge of your character and personality, as opposed to 11th grade teachers, whom you were only in school with for a year? Why do colleges prefer teacher recs from 11th grade teachers? Just curious.
Colleges assume you grow and mature over the years, and an 11th or 12th grade LOR is more current to your abilities, mindset, and level/quality of class participation.
I’ve heard of kids getting into colleges with freshman and sophomore LORs, so if those are the teachers who know you best, go for it. Just be sure to check each colleges requirements first, as some very selective schools do state particular preferences.
11th grade would be more reflective of your academic achievement in the recent past in more advanced courses, versus less recent past for 9th grade in less advanced courses. This would be the same reason that some colleges consider upward trends in GPA to be better than downward trends in GPA (for non-4.0 GPAs).
The teacher recommendation is primarily an academic recommendation – how you performed in the classroom, how you handled the rigor of the coursework. Hopefully you have grown in terms of your academic abilities since 9th grade so I would use the 11th grade teacher.
If you had your 9th grade teacher again as a junior or senior, they’d be able to provide a good summary of your evolution as a learner and as a person. However, who you used to be in the 9th grade isn’t of much interest to colleges who want to see who you are as a 17-18 year old wrt their own college community of 18-22 year olds.