January 16, 2001
The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors acted on recommendations from eight Advisory Committees Tuesday (Jan. 16) at its regular January meeting.
"Our advisory committees meet on an annual basis, usually soon after the completion of the state series in that sport or activity," said IHSA Executive Director Dave Fry. "Each advisory committee assesses the terms and conditions for its state tournament series, and all other facets of the sport or activity which may apply to the site of its state final event, and which may apply during the regular season."
Following is a recap of Board action regarding each of the committee reports and Terms and Conditions recommendations:
Cross Country
1) Approved a recommendation to increase the number of sectionals in Class A from 4 to 5 and in Class AA from 5 to 6.
2) Approved a recommendation that in the event the 8th, 9th and/or 10th place overall finisher(s) in the sectional are not on a qualifying team, they shall advance from the sectional to the state final.
3) Approved a recommendation to combine the Award Ceremonies into a single event and to hold it at the Peoria Civic Center on an experimental basis. The Award Ceremony will be held in the Carver Arena beginning at 3:00 p.m. Starting times of the four races will be moved ahead 15 minutes each. They will be: Class A Girls at 9:00 a.m., Class A Boys at 10:00 a.m., Class AA Girls at 11:00 a.m. and Class AA Boys at 12:15 p.m.
4) Did not approve a recommendation to set an admission fee of $2.00 for the Award Ceremony.
Boys Football
1) Approved a recommendation to play the championship games in four sessions of two games each. Session 1 on Friday will be Class 1A and Class 2A with the games set for 10:00 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. Session 2 on Friday will be Class 3A and Class 4A with games set for 4:00 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Session 3 on Saturday will be Class 5A and Class 6A with games set for 10:00 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. Session 4 on Saturday will be Class 7A and Class 8A with games set for 4:00 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. In odd numbered years, the smaller class game in a session will be played first. In even numbered years the larger class game in a session will be played first.
2) Approved an admission fee of $9.00 per session or $36.00 for a season ticket for the championship games. Each session will include two games.
3) Approved a recommendation to increase the number of team field passes at the state final to 15 per team.
4) Tabled a recommendation to add more steps to the tiebreaker procedure in the playoff point system prior to the coin flip. Currently, a tie for the final berth in the field is first broken by the result of head-to-head competition (if applicable), and then by a coin flip.
5) Approved a recommendation to require that the school’s official roster be exchanged with game film/videotape, and that arrangements for the exchange be set by 6:00 p.m. Sunday.
6) Tabled a recommendation to use the actual enrollment for public schools and the greater of the actual enrollment or the football enrollment for non-public schools.
Boys/Girls Golf
1) Did not approve a recommendation for Class A Boys to advance 20 teams (four from each of five sectionals) to the state final.
2) Approved a recommendation for boys/girls golf to group no more than five players when conducting a playoff. Groupings will be drawn by lot. Players from the same school may be in the same grouping. When more than five players are tied, the groups will be split into as close to equal numbers as possible.
3) Did not approve a recommendation in boys golf to advance all players tied for 12th place in the sectional to the state final.
4) Approved a recommendation in boys/girls golf to use the same tiebreaker system utilized in the regionals and sectionals to determine team awards in the state final.
5) Did not approve a recommendation in boys/girls golf to award team trophies to the top four places at the state final. Also did not approve a recommendation in boys/girls golf to increase the individual medals in the regionals from five to seven, in the sectionals from seven to ten and in the state final from 10 to 15.
6) Tabled a recommendation to change the individual scoring procedure in boys golf to be the same as in girls golf, for action at the Board of Directors meeting in March.
Boys/Girls Tennis
1) Approved a recommendation in boys/girls tennis to eliminate lineup changes for sectional winning teams.
2) Approved a recommendation in boys/girls tennis to require that some school designation appear somewhere on the uniform of contestants.
Boys/Girls Volleyball
1) Approved a recommendation in girls volleyball to alternate the playing schedule at the state final between Class A and Class AA.
2) Tabled a recommendation in girls volleyball to play the Class AA regional matches on Wednesday and Friday.
3) Did not approve a recommendation in girls volleyball to increase the state final housing allowance for officials from two to three days.
Sportsmanship/Ethics
1) Approved a recommendation that IHSA continue with IESA to sponsor a series of Leadership/Sportsmanship Summits for junior high and high school students during the 2001-02 school term.
2) Approved a recommendation that IHSA produce a sportsmanship video for use by member schools in meetings with parents and students.
3) Directed staff to develop a plan for sportsmanship recognition at tournament levels below the state finals.
4) Approved a recommendation that IHSA develop, produce and distribute anti-hazing information for schools.
Sports Medicine
1) Approved a series of recommendations to revise the Pre-Participation Medical Examination required by all students who participate in IHSA athletics.
Officials
1) Approved a series of recommendations regarding the use of the Officials Center and the data contained in it by individual officials, member schools and assignors through the IHSA Web Site [www.ihsa.org].
2) Approved a recommendation to prepare a videotape regarding the rating of officials by coaches and other Certified officials. Also approved creation of a checklist for use by coaches when rating officials.
3) Approved a recommendation to provide multiple test dates for the Part II Exam taken for promotion, and to request from the National Federation a window of time in which to administer the test.
4) Approved a recommendation to establish procedures to allow officials to be promoted by the sport season in which they become licensed in a given sport rather than on the anniversary date of their becoming an official.
Other Action
1) The Board received the 1999-00 final audit from the firm Clifton Gunderson, L.L.C.
2) Directed staff to develop an implementation plan to expand recognition of scholar-athletes to teams as well as individuals.
Eligibility Rulings
Sustained the Executive Director’s ruling that a student is ineligible at Springfield (Ursuline Academy) for the 2000-01 school term for noncompliance with By-law 3.047. The student was expelled from Tamms (Egyptian) and was declared ineligible to participate in interscholastic athletics there.
Sustained the Executive Director’s ruling that a student is ineligible at Springfield (Sacred Heart-Griffin) for the 2000-01 school term for noncompliance with transfer By-law 3.043. The student is a senior transfer student from Bolivia and his parents remain there. He is not attending the school under an approved foreign exchange program. His sister has court appointed guardianship and he resides with her. There is no documentation of circumstances that have necessitated his transfer or the change in guardianship.
Sustained the Executive Director’s ruling that a student is ineligible at Aurora (West) for the 2000-01 school term for noncompliance with transfer by-law 3.043. The student is a senior transfer student from Florida where he was academically ineligible. He is residing with his aunt who does not have court appointed guardianship. There is no documentation of circumstances that have necessitated his transfer.
Sustained the Executive Director’s ruling that a student is ineligible at Ottawa (Marquette) until March 18, 2001. The student is a transfer student from Leland High School whose family did not move to a different school district in conjunction with his transfer.