11/15/24 – Board of Control Approves Alignment for Lacrosse, Boys’ Volleyball; Revisions to Alignment for Field Hockey, Regions 6-7 Basketball, Region 1 Soccer

November 15, 2024 2024-2025 News Releases

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NOV. 15, 2024

The KHSAA Board of Control conducted its third regularly scheduled meeting of the 2024-25 academic year this week in Lexington, approving alignments for the upcoming inaugural seasons of lacrosse and boys’ volleyball, as well as a handful of alignment revisions across the sport of field hockey, Regions 6-7 of basketball and in Region 1 of soccer.

Lacrosse was approved for an eight-region format and an eight-team postseason state tournament, with the semifinals and finals of both the boys’ and girls’ tournaments culminating at Shelby County and Collins in Shelbyville on May 19-21. Both of these schools have unified lacrosse field markings, which gives the Association tremendous scheduling flexibility to assist with the contests in this first season.

Boys’ volleyball was also approved for an eight-region geographically based alignment with the winner and runner-up of each region advancing to a 16-team state tournament. The semifinals and championship match are scheduled for May 20 at George Rogers Clark in Winchester.

Additional, more detailed information regarding lacrosse and boys’ volleyball will be sent to member schools and available on the KHSAA website in the coming days.

Field hockey’s four-region alignment, which was largely based on its originally adopted format 10 years ago, was revised slightly to balance the number of teams and reflect the growth of the sport with the recent participation by Oldham County Schools. As a result, Francis Parker will move from Region 1 to Region 4, Mercy Academy will move from Region 2 to Region 3 and Highlands Latin will move from Region 3 to Region 2. This, in combination with the likely addition of another competing school next season, would leave each region with an equal number of teams.

In the alignment of sports determined by basketball (including baseball, soccer, softball and girls’ volleyball), W.E.B. DuBois and Portland Christian will be on the move starting with the 2025-26 school year. W.E.B. DuBois will relocate from District 26 in Region 7 to District 24 in Region 6, while Portland Christian will move across Region 7 from District 25 to District 28. These moves were necessary because of the geographic movement of the central school location in the last few years, and the alignment of those regions will be continually reviewed as other schools move to new locations.

After a one-year experiment with its postseason format, Region 1 soccer schools’ approved proposal to return to their regular postseason format included the relocation of Marshall County from District 2 to District 1 in order to balance the region’s districts at four teams apiece.

“The issues at this meeting, particularly around lacrosse and boys’ volleyball, while ending the first phase of considerations around these new sports, represent a great beginning, as well,” said Commissioner Julian Tackett. “We have worked side by side with our athletic directors and school administrators to try to determine an accurate list of schools that were going to take part in these two great offerings so our staff could get to work executing both regular season and postseason considerations. Our staff has immersed themselves into these offerings and dealt with many of our other state partners about best practices so that we could hit the ground running.

“We know that for some of the individuals around these sports, this will be a change from an inconsistent environment on managing the sports in differing areas to a much more structured and standardized approach that lines up with all other KHSAA championships,” Tackett said. “The entire staff has worked extremely hard to ensure the experience for the students is at a higher level than they ever imagined before while ensuring that each one of our participating athletes and teams has a quality championship experience. There will be growing pains, for certain, and likely continual adjustments over the next few years, just as there was any time a new sport has been added. But, we are prepared to address any issues.

“In addition, several bits of fine-tuning were necessary at this meeting, both within our regulations and a few things within our other championships, particularly alignment,” said Tackett. “Our Board did a fantastic job ensuring that all perspectives were heard and considered in dealing with each of these issues. Now, the great work around interscholastic athletics continues.”

Thursday’s meeting included discussions for review and possible action at a later meeting regarding issues surrounding teams withdrawing from the football postseason after pairings are determined, discussion of potential amendments to Bylaws 4 and 6, the limitation of seasons in the sport of track & field and potential alterations to the postseason event schedules of soccer and field hockey.

The Board also approved recommendations on the following items:

• Necessary technical amendments to Bylaw 10 in compliance with state statute  around name, image and likeness after the NCAA’s elimination of its national letter of intent;
• The selection of Bowling Green, the University of Louisville and Scott as first-round sites in the 2025 Swimming & Diving State Championships and the authority of the Commissioner’s office to revise those sites in case of conflicts;
• The elimination of the experimental 285-pound weight class in girls’ wrestling postseason competition, which will allow the tournament to more closely align with NFHS playing rules;
• An experimental postseason tournament format for Region 6 baseball and softball with revisions in the district championship awards and a revised regional postseason bracket;
• A revision to pole vault postseason requirements for athletes to eliminate the need for specific regular-season required participation but continue to require specific training in that event for coaches; and
• A revision to diving postseason requirements for athletes to eliminate the need for specific regular-season required participation but continue to require specific training in that event for coaches, as well as requiring each diver to have successfully completed all optional dives on the entry form prior to attempting those dives in a postseason championship meet.

Additionally, the Board reviewed and accepted the following reports:

• The status of Bowling Green in compliance with the June 2022 agreed order;
• An officials division update;
• Feedback on other sports and sport-activities, which can help provide information as the event managers within the KHSAA office execute final plans;
• Feedback from Association membership meetings; and
• A regular update on the transition of the school data system.

 

– 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 290 member schools, both public and non-public. The KHSAA awards 229 state championships to 59 teams and 178 individuals in 13 sports and six sport-activities, funds catastrophic insurance coverage for its more than 109,000 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.

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