1/22/21 – Swimming & Diving Postseason Updates

January 22, 2021 Swimming Blog Updates

After yesterday’s Board of Control meeting, the KHSAA would like to update swimming and diving member schools on the process and goals to develop a revised plan for postseason competition during the ongoing pandemic.

The Board has asked staff to gather data and information and formulate alternative structures and plans for the 2021 postseason meets. These alternatives are to be reviewed, at this point, solely for 2021 only, as everyone attempts to balance the desire for championship competition and the public health needs and requirements surrounding the pandemic.

An alternative plan(s) is to be presented at the Board’s February 17th meeting. It is to include consideration of the feasibility of accomplishing the following objectives (if possible) in priority order:

1) Maintain the full complement of 40 state meet qualifiers in each event advancing from nine regional competitions, even if the field is subdivided differently than past practice;
2) A focus on ensuring, at minimum, parental attendance, as permitted within current approved state and local health department guidelines, with additional attendance considerations being reviewed if public health considerations warrant such;
3) Anything discussed and eventually implemented is planned at this point to be a one-year, one-time plan to get through the pandemic;
4) Be mindful of the limited attendance in holding events at locations where costs can be minimized but public health standards are upheld.

Keep in mind we have to maintain a global view in executing the postseason in all championships and balance all public health considerations during the ongoing pandemic. There are also financial elements that would likely be impacted concerning facility availability. We also need to make any plan fluid in the event that local or statewide circumstances change.

The Board previously scheduled the postseason to be as follows:
First Day of Postseason: Week of April 5
State Competition: Week of April 19
(Keep in mind if an altered state schedule is needed, dates the week of April 12 could be considered)

Specific dates and a detailed schedule are not finalized at this time and may change with plan revisions. The final competition dates won’t be final until after that meeting. We will continue to work with regional managers and hosts as well as possible state-level sites to develop alternatives for postseason competition during this review.

Should you wish to provide feedback to the staff, please use the email address that has been distributed in direct school communication. It will automatically be routed to the appropriate individuals and recorded for distribution to the board of control members.

Thank you for your feedback and patience as we navigate through this ongoing process.

– KHSAA –

About the Kentucky High School Athletic Association
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association was organized in 1917 and is the agency designated by the Kentucky Department of Education to manage high school athletics in the Commonwealth. The Association is a voluntary nonprofit 501(c)3 organization made up of 284 member schools both public and non-public. The KHSAA awards 215 state championships to 51 teams and 164 individuals in 13 sports and 6 sport-activities, funds catastrophic insurance coverage for its more than 106,000 rostered member school student-athletes, provides coaching education and sports safety programs for more than 12,000 coaches, and licenses and facilitates the distribution of training material for over 4,000 contest officials.