WHSAA Fall #2 2017 Board Of Directors Meeting Results
Practice start dates for basketball and wresting, and the 3A soccer clock, and were some of the topics of discussion at the second fall 2017 meeting of the Wyoming High School Activities Association Board of Directors.
3A Soccer Time:
The proposal was that 3A be like 4A and that the clock on the scoreboard, if available, would be used to keep the official time during a game. This would start in spring 2018. Motion passes on second reading making it official (10 for, 6 against, 1 abstained), although in the district meetings, the northwest was against this proposal.
4A State Golf:
The proposal was in order to qualify for the state meet, a participant must have a tournament scoring average of 95 or under for boys, and 120 or under for girls. The rationale is it would allow host courses to have a more manageable state meet, and make it more meaningful for those who qualify. Coaches fell it will make golf programs around the state better, by forcing golfers to spend more time working on their game. Motion defeated.
Basketball and Wrestling practice:
The proposal is to allow practice to start on the Monday of Thanksgiving week, instead of the week after, with no practice on Thanksgiving Day and Friday. The idea is to give players more time to meet the practice requirement before the first game of the season, especially if weather forces a school to close for a day and cancel practice, or if there's a large illness outbreak. The start date of the regular season would not change. Whether a team actually starts practice on Thanksgiving week is up to them. This would start in the 2018-19 school year. Motion passes on second reading 10-7, making it official.
2A Golf:
The proposal was to push back by 1 week the start of practice and the state golf meet. The rationale was that it's easier to get 9-hole courses in the golfing season, no trouble getting courses on Friday/Saturday, not as much missed school time compared to 4A and 3A, and avoiding Sturgis Rally week for the northeast teams, which is about the time practice starts. Motion defeated.
Lyman Soccer:
Lyman will have a soccer program starting in 2018. The Eagles will play a JV program for 3 years, and probably join the varsity level in 2021.
Combination School Agreements:
The Board is discussing bringing up a motion for the Winter 2018 meeting, that in combination school agreements, the larger school must be the host school. The current rule is when determining which class a combination school would be in, you take the enrollment of the host school (regardless if it's the larger or smaller of the 2), and add in either the male or female population of the other school, depending on the sport. If the larger school is forced to be the host, this could cause some combination teams to possibly move up 1 class. This could affect current combinations such as Upton-Sundance in football, Greybull-Riverside in wrestling, and Pine Bluffs-Burns in cross country. No action taken.