09/22/21 – Board of Control Approves Changes to Wrestling Alignment for 2021-22

September 22, 2021 2021-2022 News Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 22, 2021

The Board of Control held its second meeting of the 2021-22 academic year on Wednesday at the KHSAA offices, during which it approved a draft wrestling alignment that will go into effect for the 2021-22 season.

After considering multiple options and reviewing past participation information, the Board approved a Final Alignment Map of Teams to be implemented for 2021-22. The KHSAA website will be updated in the coming days to reflect the adopted alignment.

“We have had the good fortune of great communication with the current leadership of our wrestling coaches association and know that not only were they ready for realignment, but they also wanted it implemented for this school year,” said KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett. “Their excellent communication and gathering of information helped aid the process of realignment. Clearly important to the coaches and match managers was a balancing of sorts in terms of the number of competitors in each region to help with competition logistics. Their input was invaluable.”

The Board also made a final decision on not to conduct a championship in boys’ and girls’ lacrosse this school year with the Board deferring that consideration to the May Board meeting for a possible 2022-23 implementation.

“We have communicated with our schools repeatedly to accurately gauge their interest, and at this point, there simply are not 50 schools desiring a championship,” said Tackett. “We know it is growing, but we also know our school athletic administrators are stretched extremely thin right now scheduling and re-scheduling, and the timing for adding something new probably isn’t the best.”

The Board had asked staff to remind member schools of the requirements for sports sanctioning at its last meeting in July. Since then, the data had not changed with 40 girls’ schools and 39 boys’ schools reporting a desire to participate, short of the 50 required per Board of Control policy.

“The 50 requirement represents less than 20 percent of the membership, and it is our obligation to continue to monitor their interest as we do with other sports,” said Tackett. “We will still have staff assigned to facilitate both boys’ and girls’ lacrosse as it continues to grow.”

A list of the sports offered (including several that do not have a championship due to their numbers) is listed on the KHSAA website.

A date was set for the Fall Draw Show, which will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 12. The Board accepted a report on the procedures for soccer and volleyball conducting random draws for the semi-state rounds with Regions 1-8 and 9-16 in random pods. The Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) standings will play a role in those sports with the highest-rated team being the home team. The draw for field hockey will also be completed, with region winners being drawn to host region runners-up in the eight-team state event.

Staff gave updates to the Board on the ongoing fall seasons, highlighting that championship play is quickly approaching.

• The state golf championships return to Bowling Green Country Club with the girls playing Oct. 5-6 and the boys’ Oct. 8-9.
• Cross Country returns to the Bourbon County Cross Country Course in Paris on Oct. 29-30.
• Field Hockey’s Oct. 23 semifinals and Oct. 25 finals are at Christian Academy of Louisville.
• Soccer’s Oct. 27 boys’ and Oct. 28 girls’ semifinals and Oct. 30 finals are at Frederick Douglass in Lexington.
• Volleyball will play its quarterfinals through finals at George Rogers Clark in Winchester on Nov. 5-6.

In other action Wednesday, the Board:

• Accepted a report on COVID-19 related cancelations following reminders that there is no waiver of forfeits for games unable to be played due to the virus for 2021-22. This includes the postseason as any withdrawal after the Friday before the postseason begins will be a bye/forfeit and the team will not be replaced.
• Accepted a report about potential revisions to the Kentucky Medical Association’s (KMA) Return to Play protocol that is currently under review and expected to be finalized by the end of September.
• Heard a report on new member schools with Highlands Latin being in its first year of postseason eligibility this school year. Five others – Trinity Christian, Somerset Christian, North Hardin Classical Christian, Foundation Christian, and CornerStone Prep – will be eligible in 2022-23. The newest member, Heritage Christian, will be eligible for postseason play in 2023-24.
• Accepted a report on the status of officials licensing. Numbers are still extremely low compared to the 2019-20 season, and it was emphasized that it will take a team effort between assignors, school administrators, coaches and staff to recruit new officials, retain officials and get those who haven’t renewed to come back to officiating.
  
  

-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 285 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.