The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors met at its regularly scheduled meeting at the IHSA office in Bloomington on Monday, February 13, 2017, where the Board approved the Terms & Conditions for the IHSA’s newest sports, Boys and Girls Lacrosse.

As a part of approving the Terms & Conditions, which will govern the IHSA Boys and Girls Lacrosse postseasons when they debut in the spring of 2018, the Board also set the dates for the inaugural state championships.

Both state finals, which will be held jointly at one site, will fall during Week 48 of the IHSA’s standardized calendar, meaning the first State Finals will be held on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, May 31-June 2, 2018.

The State Finals will be a three-day event, with two boys’ semifinals being played on Thursday evening and two girls’ semifinals following on Friday evening. Saturday will feature an afternoon session with the boys’ and girls’ third-place games, followed by an evening session with both state title games. Saturday’s session order will rotate each year, with the girls’ games being played first in even years and the boys’ games first in odd years.

“This is another important step in the process of starting a new sport,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson. “We are appreciative of the time and effort that our advisory committees have put into this process, as well as the guidance and feedback that coaches have provided via the IHSLA and IHSWLA. There is still a lot of work to be done, but we are excited to bring our state final offerings to over 30 sports come next spring.”

After approving the Terms & Conditions, the Board also made a motion to officially begin accepting proposals to host the State Final tournaments. State Final hosting proposal information will be posted on IHSA.org later this week. Hosting proposals are due to the IHSA by May 1, 2017, while the Board intends to select the host at its meeting on August 21, 2017. For IHSA Lacrosse State Final hosting information, click here.


ACTION ITEMS
1. The Board approved a recommendation to sign a five-year state final hosting contract for the sport of Competitive Dance with the Bloomington-Normal Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Bloomington-Normal Sports Commission to host at the Coliseum in Bloomington.

Executive Director Craig Anderson:
“The first five years of the IHSA Competitive Dance State Series have really been amazing in terms of participation and growth. A big part of that has been the state final experience that we have been able to provide because of the great partnership that we have with the Bloomington-Normal Convention and Visitors Bureau, Sports Commission, the Coliseum, and the local community as a whole. The Coliseum is a perfect fit as a venue, and with this contract extension, we look forward to ushering in the first decade of the sport there.”

2. The Board approved a recommendation to set the Board meeting dates for the 2017-18 school year. The meeting dates are as follows:
Monday, August 21, 2017
Monday, September 11, 2017
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Monday, December 11, 2017
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
Monday, February 12, 2018
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Monday, June 11, 2018


ADVISORY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
Minutes from all Advisory Committees can be viewed by clicking here.

1. The Board approved the consent items from the Advisory Committees from the following committees: Golf, Cross Country, Tennis, Volleyball, Football, Sports Medicine, Sportsmanship.

Consent items are recommendations that received approval from the sport/activity advisory committee, the Athletic Administrators Advisory Committee and the IHSA staff. Consent items can be viewed by clicking here.

Non-consent items are recommendations from sport or activity committees that did not receive a majority vote from the Athletic Advisory Committee or IHSA staff. No non-consent items were approved on February 13.

Some consent items of note include:

Boys & Girls Cross Country
1. In Regionals and Sectionals, for purposes of advancement of teams from regional to sectional and sectionals to the State Final, ties for all team places with the exception of the last qualifying spot will be broken per NFHS Rule 8-2-4 (i.e. comparing the 6th runner from the tied teams).

Boys & Girls Golf
1. For the entire State Series, the head coach and one assistant coach will be allowed to coach anywhere on the course until his/her player steps on the putting green.

Girls Volleyball
1. Sectional Semifinals moved to Monday and Sectional Finals to Wednesday. Super-Sectional matches moved to Friday.

Boys Volleyball
1. Friday State Final time schedule adjusted to the following:
Session 1 (Quarterfinals)
Match 1:  10:00 a.m.
Match 2:  11:00 a.m.
Session 2 (Quarterfinals)
Match 3:  4:00 p.m.
Match 4:  5:00 p.m.


APPEALS & HEARINGS
1. The Board sustained the Executive Director’s ruling on a student from Urbana (H.S.). The student was ruled ineligible for non-compliance with IHSA By-laws 2.010, 3.030, 6.010 and 6.021.

2. The Board sustained the Executive Director’s ruling on a student from Urbana (H.S.). The student was ruled ineligible for non-compliance with IHSA By-laws 2.010, 3.030, 6.010 and 6.021.

3. The Board tabled a request for a review of the eligibility of a student at Columbia High School.


DISCUSSION ITEMS
At each meeting of the Board of Directors, there are certain items the Board discusses, but upon which no action is taken. The following is a report of those items from the February 13, 2017, agenda:

1. The Board reviewed potential new changes to the IHSA’s Transfer Concurrence Form, as well as drafts of two new potential transfer forms designed to be complete by the parents of transferring student-athlete and coach(es) at the receiving school of transferring student-athlete.

2. The Board discussed IHSA State Final trophies and a potential redesign of the state final trophy due to cost prohibitive issues with the casting and metal figurines that currently accompany the IHSA state final trophies.

3. The Board heard a report from the Executive Director that all member schools on probation have met the requirement of attending an annual IHSA Principals Rules Meeting via a make-up meeting at the IHSA office on January 10, 2017.

4. The Executive Director recognized the IHSA's nominee for the NHFS Heart of the Arts Award, Buffalo Grove's Sabrina Kenoun.

5. The Executive Director recognized the IHSA's nominee for the NFHS Spirit of Sport Award, Bloomington Central Catholic's Joey Malinowksi.