IHSA Announcement

June 9, 2008

Board Approves Bass Fishing Terms & Conditions;
Acts on Recommendations in Other Sports & Activities

The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors at its regular June meeting on Monday (June 9) approved Terms and Conditions for the new Bass Fishing State Series to be inaugurated during the 2008-09 school term. Sectionals in the series will be held on Friday of Week 42 (April 24, 2009), with the state final being held on Friday and Saturday of Week 44 (May 8-9, 2009). Sites for the event have not yet been determined.

Schools will be allowed to enter up to two boats, with up to three students in each boat, although only two may fish at any one time. The competition will run for up to eight hours per day. Each boat may weigh five fish at the end of each day’s competition.

“We are excited about the new bass fishing tournament,” said IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman. "We believe it will be the first bass fishing tournament in the country sponsored by a state high school association. The tournament is a great way to reach out to high school students and give them an additional opportunity to compete in interscholastic activities."

The Board also took action to limit travel during IHSA state series competition in the face of ever-increasing fuel prices. In bracketed team sports, teams outside the Chicago area will be assigned directly to regional tournaments instead of sectional complexes or sub-sectionals. The change, which is intended to reduce the distance that teams and fans must travel to early rounds of competition, will affect boys & girls basketball, boys baseball, girls softball, girls volleyball, and boys & girls soccer.

“With the price of fuel continuing to escalate, it was important for the Association to take some steps to help schools, and their fans, reduce the cost of traveling to IHSA events," said Dr. Hickman. "The return to the regional format will undoubtedly save schools money and make it easier for fans to support their teams.”

Finally, the Board acted on recommendations from 16 Advisory Committees that regularly report to the Board in June. Following is a recap of Board action regarding each of the committee reports and Terms and Conditions recommendations:

Terms and Conditions Recommendations

Basketball

Approved a recommendation that the finals of the Happening, held at the state final tournament, be held between the semifinal games of each class.

Bowling

Approved a recommendation that a substitution be allowed during the middle of a game. Any bowler who is removed may not reenter any game until the start of the next game. Any bowler who do not compete in all frames of all games is ineligible for individual honors.
Approved a recommendation to move the start time for the boys and girls state finals to 30 minutes later in the day.

Competitive Cheerleading

Approved a recommendation that a maximum of four alternates be used by a team in any division.
Approved a recommendation that clarifies the process when a routine is halted by an official because of an injury. No one but an official may stop a routine. If a coach notices an injury, he or she must contact an official.

Gymnastics

Approved a recommendation that when a team substitution is made during a meet and the substitute has not warmed up on the meet equipment, that the athlete be given a 90-second touch warmup.

Soccer

Approved a recommendation setting the structure of the new three-class tournaments. All three classes will begin with regional and sectional tournaments and end with a four-team state final. Class 2A and Class 3A will also have super-sectional games between the sectionals and state final.

The Class 1A tournament will run during the traditional Class A weekend (Boys: Week 17, Oct. 31-Nov. 1, 2008; Girls: Week 47, May 29-30, 2009). The state final schedule will be as follows:
              Class 1A Semifinals: Friday, 5:30 pm and 7:30 pm
              Class 1A Consolation and Finals: Saturday, 5:30 pm and 7:30 pm

The Class 2A and 3A tournaments will run during the traditional Class AA weekend (Boys: Week 18, Nov. 7-8, 2008; Girls: Week 48, June 5-6, 2009). The state final schedule will be as follows:
              Class 2A Semifinals: Friday, 11:00 am and 1:00 pm
              Class 2A Consolation and Finals: Saturday, 12:00 noon and 2:00 pm (9:00 am and 11:00 am if North Central hosts a football game)
              Class 3A Semifinals: Friday, 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm
              Class 3A Consolation and Finals: Saturday, 5:30 pm and 7:30 pm (6:00 pm and 8:00 pm if North Central hosts a football game)
Approved a recommendation that extends the mercy rule used in the regular season to postseason games. If there is a seven-goal differential at the start of the second half or anytime during the second half, the time remaining is halved.

Swimming & Diving

Approved a recommendation adjusting the following qualifying standards:

BOYS STANDARDS 2008-09 Event	Time	GIRLS STANDARDS 2008-09 Event	Time
200 MR	1:40.23	200 MR	1:51.87
200 Free	1:46.59	200 Free	1:57.03
200 IM	2:00.68	200 IM	2:12.69*
50 Free	22.21	50 Free	24.84*
100 Butterfly	53.80	100 Butterfly	1:00.01
100 Free	48.69	100 Free	53.99*
500 Free	4:50.25	500 Free	5:13.93*
200 FR	1:29.58	200 FR	1:40.19*
100 Back	55.07	100 Back	1:00.59
100 Breast	1:02.19	100 Breast	1:08.49
400 Free Relay	3:16.96	400 Free Relay	3:39.90

* Indicates the use of last year’s qualifying standard

Approved a recommendation eliminating the requirement that coaches attend the sectional seeding meeting. It remains highly recommended that they do so.

Wrestling

Approved a recommendation outlining the structure of the first three-class individual wrestling state finals.

The Class 1A and Class 2A meets will follow the same format at the current Class A meet (12-person bracket, with a follow-the-leader wrestleback to the finals, with four medalists). The top three from each sectional will qualify for the state finals.

The Class 3A meet will use a 16-person bracket with a follow-the-leader wrestleback to the semifinals, with six medalists. The top four from each sectional will qualify for the state finals.
Approved a recommendation to seed the sectional champions qualifying for the individual state finals using on an objective point-based system. The remaining qualifiers will be placed on the bracket according to a formula that distributes the number of 1st-, 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-place finishers evenly throughout the bracket.
Approved a recommendation changing the admission fee for a regional meet to either $6 for an all-day pass or $4 per session.
Approved a recommendation allowing for 24 hours after the conclusion of a regional meet for scoring errors to be corrected.

Chess

Approved a recommendation stating that if only one team remains in the highest score group entering the final round, it will be paired with the highest-seeded team that it is in the next pair group and that it has not already played.
Approved a recommendation changing the number of team tie-break points subtracted for a minor violation to one and for a major violation to up to five.
Approved a recommendation clarifying the penalties for a cell phone going off or being used in the playing area.
            Players' cell phone in use: minor violation and possible forfeiture of game.
            Players' cell phone vibrating or ringing: minor violation.
            Coaches' cell phone ringing or in use: minor violation. (No violation for a phone vibrating.)
Approved a change that recommends that team members wear apparel or patches that display the school name.
Approved a recommendation that plaques be awarded to all teams with six wins (out of seven rounds) that do not receive one of the three trophies.
Approved a recommendation changing the criteria for individual awards on Boards 2 to 8 to any player who scores at least six points (removing the qualification that he or she be undefeated).

Journalism

Approved a recommendation changing the date of the state final tournament to Friday of Week 43 (May 1, 2009).
Approved a recommendation that withdrawal by a school after March 30, 2009, will result in a school being liable for payment of its event fees ($10 per event) plus a $100 late withdrawal penalty.
Approved a recommendation that withdrawal by an entrant after March 30, 2009, will result in a school being liable for payment of its event fees ($10 per event) plus a $25 penalty per event.
Approved recommendations adding live prompts to both the feature writing and news writing events.

Music: Solo and Ensemble

Approved a recommendation requiring that all vocal soloists sing scales from memory.

Music: Organization

Approved a recommendation that eliminates the provision allowing the group to sing through the music one time before beginning the sight reaading competition.
Approved a recommendation setting a time limit of 20 minutes in the orchestra competition.
Approved a recommendation eliminating the five-minute critique period for coaches at the end of each sight reading performance.
Approved a recommendation establishing a penalty for failing to adhere to the posted time schedule.

Scholastic Bowl

Approved a recommendation emphasizing that, prior to the conclusion of competition, no coach should have access to any questions his or her team might have to answer.
Approved a recommendation clarifying the procedure when it is discovered a player has entered the game with an illegal uniform.

Debate

Approved a recommendation changing the deadline for submitting the List of Participants to Wednesday of Week 35 (March 4, 2009).
Approved recommendations allowing judges to share oral critiques with debaters after the Policy, Lincoln-Douglas, and Public Forum competitions.
Approved a recommendation extending the prep time from three to four minutes in the Lincoln-Douglas Debate competition.

Drama & Group Interpretation

Approved a recommendation setting the dates of the state finals for the next four years: March 27-28, 2009; March 26-27, 2010; March 25-26, 2011; and March 23-24, 2012.
Approved a recommendation changing the deadline for submitting the List of Participants to Wednesday of Week 34 (Feb. 25, 2009).
Approved a recommendation clarifying that original material may be used in the Group Interpretation competition.
Approved a recommendation establishing a sportsmanship/teamwork award in the Drama and Group Interpretation competitions.

Speech Individual Events

Approved a recommendation adding an Informative Speaking event for the 2009-10 school term.
Approved recommendations changing the split of events for the final round at the state finals. The 1:30 finals will include Dramatic Duet Acting, Humorous Intepretation, Impromptu Speaking, Oratorical Declamation, Original Oratory, Prose Reading, and Original Comedy. The 3:00 finals will include Humorous Duet Acting, Dramatic Interpretation, Extemporaneous Speaking, Special Occasion Speaking, Verse Reading, and Radio Speaking.
Approved a recommendation describing changes in the Impromptu Speaking event.

Officials

Approved a recommendation requiring an official to score 90% on the Part Two examination to move from the Recognized to the Certified level.
Approved a recommendation raising the registration fee to $50 ($45 if competed online), effective with the 2009-10 school term.
Approved a recommendation raising the mileage fee to 30 cents per mile, effective with the 2009-10 school term.
Approved a recommendation raising the base rate for officials’ pay (the fee for a state final contest) to $140, effective with the 2009-10 school term.

The Board also accepted the reports of the Equity, Sportsmanship, Sports Medicine, and Athletic Directors Advisory Committees. The Board also accepted the report of the Bass Fishing Ad Hoc Advisory Committee.

Other Action

The Board approved a change in the Boys Golf Terms and Conditions to add a fourth regional to each sectional in Class 1A. With the change in the way classifications are determined in the three-class system, an extra regional is required to reduce the number of competitors at each site.
The Board approved changes to the IHSA Mission Statement, Belief Statement, and Strategies recommended by the Strategic Planning Committee that took met on April 30, 2008. The new mission statement reads: “The IHSA governs the equitable participation in interscholastic athletics and activities that enrich the education experience."

Eligibility Rulings

Overturned the Executive Director’s ruling that a student at Hinsdale (Central) is ineligible for non-compliance with Attendance By-Law 3.051.

Discussion Items

At each meeting of the Board of Directors, there are certain agenda items that the Board discusses, but upon which it takes no action. Following is a report of those on the June, 2008, agenda:

Distinguished Service Award: The Board heard a report from Executive Director Marty Hickman about the second annual IHSA Distinguished Service Award banquet, to be held June 9 in Bloomington. Recipients this year are: John Bailey, Jr., Blaise Blasko, Jerry Bretag, Al Cornish, Geza Ehrentreu, John Elder, Carol Koszola, James “Jimmie” Lewis, Jr., Joe Pedersen, John Polka, Phil Salzer, and Jean Walker.

Lightning Detection Devices: The Board heard a discussion on lightning detection devices and their use at IHSA state series events.