News
New Sectional Assignments Approved by IHSAA Executive Committee | Board Approves Allowing Home-Schooled Students to Participate in Athletics
Earlier today, the IHSAA Executive Committee approved the sectional groups in eight team sports while the Board of Directors approved a proposal that would allow home-schooled students to participate in IHSAA sports under certain conditions.
The Executive Committee unanimously accepted the recommendations of the respective realignment committees which placed member schools into sectional groups in eight team sports for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years.
Three committees consisting of school administrators representing each IHSAA district and class were constructed to realign the sports. The baseball, basketball, softball and volleyball committee along with the soccer committee consisted of 12 individuals while the football committee totaled 18 members.
Baseball Sectionals | Boys Basketball Sectionals | Girls Basketball Sectionals | Football Sectionals
Softball Sectionals | Boys Soccer Sectionals | Girls Soccer Sectionals | Volleyball Sectionals
Classifications with enrollments for each school were announced on March 12.
The members of each realignment committee are listed below:
| Football Realignment Committee | ||
| Chairpersons: Commissioner Bobby Cox & Assistant Commissioner Robert Faulkens | ||
| Class 1A | District I | Debb Stevens, Athletic Director, Caston HS |
| District II | Dave Mahurin, Principal, Rockville HS | |
| District III | Jed Jerrels, Principal, North Daviess HS | |
| Class 2A | District I | Don Gandy, Principal, Wheeler HS |
| District II | Todd Salkoski, Athletic Director, Shenandoah HS | |
| District III | Joe Herrmann, Athletic Director, Evansville Mater Dei HS | |
| Class 3A | District I | Bill Sharpe, Athletic Director, Jimtown HS |
| District II | Pat McLaughlin, Principal, Eastbrook HS | |
| District III | Nick Sears, Principal, Indian Creek HS | |
| Class 4A | District I | Dave Preheim, Athletic Director, Concord HS |
| District II | Ed Niehaus, Athletic Director, Frankfort HS | |
| District III | Mike Whitten, Principal, Boonville HS | |
| Class 5A | District I | Dale Doerffler, Athletic Director, Fort Wayne North Side HS |
| District II | Jerry Galema, Athletic Director, Harrison (WL) HS | |
| District III | Mike Mossbrucker, Athletic Director, Bloomington North HS | |
| Class 6A | District I | Janis Qualizza, Athletic Director, Merrillville HS |
| District II | Brad Holsinger, Athletic Director, Avon HS | |
| District III | David Clark, Principal, Columbus North HS | |
| Baseball, Basketball, Softball and Volleyball Realignment Committee | ||
| Chairpersons: Assistant Commissioner Phil Gardner, Assistant Commissioner Sandy Searcy and Assistant Commissioner Sandra Walter | ||
| Class 1A | District I | Chuck Evans, Athletic Director, West Central HS |
| District II | Greg Martz, Athletic Director, Frontier HS | |
| District III | Ron Smith, Athletic Director, West Washington HS | |
| Class 2A | District I | Bruce Jennings, Principal, Bremen HS |
| District II | Jimmie Howell, Athletic Director, Lapel HS | |
| District III | Tim Grove, Superintendent, South Knox HS | |
| Class 3A | District I | Ralph Mundt, Athletic Director, Calumet HS |
| District II | Bryce Barton, Athletic Director, Crawfordsville HS | |
| District III | Sheila Huff, Principal, Evansville Bosse HS | |
| Class 4A | District I | Deborah Watson, Principal, Fort Wayne Snider HS |
| District II | Phil Ford, Principal, Jay County HS | |
| District III | Mike Broughton, Athletic Director, Jennings County HS | |
| Soccer Realignment Committee | ||
| Chairperson: Assistant Commissioner Sandra Walter | ||
| Class 1A | District I | Darlene Mathew, Athletic Director, Westview HS |
| District I | Nick Medich, Principal, Argos HS | |
| District II | Jim Puckett, Athletic Director, Benton Central HS | |
| District II | Ken Howell, Assistant Principal, Blackford HS | |
| District III | Bill Snyder, Principal, Lawrenceburg, HS | |
| District III | Otto Clements, Athletic Director, Sullivan HS | |
| Class 2A | District I | Ed Gilliland, Athletic Director, LaPorte HS |
| District I | Geoff Penrod, Athletic Director, Columbia City HS | |
| District II | Jon Regashus, Athletic Director, Danville Community HS | |
| District II | Victor Bush, Director of Athletics, Indianapolis Public Schools | |
| District III | Kevin Davis, Athletic Director, Boonville HS | |
| District III | Paul Neidig, Deputy Chief of Staff, Evansville Vanderburgh Schools | |
| ** IHSAA Executive Committee Chairperson Nancy Alspaugh sits on all realignment committees ex-officio. | ||
In a separate meeting, the IHSAA Board of Directors unanimously approved allowing home-schooled students to compete on athletic teams at the local public school serving their residence as long as certain criteria are met. The measure goes into effect with the 2013-14 school year. It was one of 20 proposals approved during the Board’s annual review of the Association’s by-laws.
The criteria includes: 1) the student, in conjunction with the school, provide proof to the IHSAA that the spirit of the eligibility rules will not be compromised including passing a physical examination and participating in the required number of practices in a given sport; 2) the student must have been home-schooled for the previous three consecutive years; 3) the student completes all state-wide examinations as authorized by the Indiana Department of Education; 4) the student’s family must submit grade information to the school to affirm the student is passing all courses and; 5) the student must be enrolled in the school for which the student is participating for a minimum of one class per day.
“Today, the IHSAA Board of Directors expanded the opportunity for additional high school-aged students in our state to experience the values of education-based athletics,” said Commissioner Bobby Cox. “New rule 12-5 now allows a non-public, non-accredited student the prospect of presenting themselves as a candidate for an interscholastic team under specific conditions. I am very pleased that the Board of Directors has embraced this concept as our Association continues its pursuit of becoming more inclusive while maintaining appropriate academic standards.”
All proposals are considered in the order that the affected rule appears within the current by-laws. The Board of Directors has four options on each proposal: affirm, deny, table or amend. A simple majority is necessary to act on any measure. A copy of the current by-laws is available here. All other approved measures are effective immediately.
Other significant items from today’s meeting are highlighted below:
Formally ratified (19-0) the Tournament Success Factor which was approved by the Executive Committee last June. It calls for a point system to be used by which a school would move up a class in any given sport based on their tournament success and accumulation of points over a two-year window.
Approved 19-0 an amendment to Rule 18-1 (Minimum Course Enrollment and Grades for Participation) requiring a minimum of four (4) full credit subjects to address situations where a student’s maximum course load is not specified or is a reduced course load, especially in instances where a student is coming from a home school.
Approved 19-0 a pair of amendments to clarify that a foreign exchange student qualifies for full eligibility under the foreign exchange rule only when the student attends a school for one year or less. Any continued attendance at any school will result in the student qualifying for limited eligibility during the subsequent year.
Unanimously affirmed an amendment clarifying limiting the number of boys and girls tennis matches to “a maximum of five tourneys and total matches not to exceed 22”.
Amended 19-0 the wrestling rule on the maximum number of contests to clarify that if a team competes in the seven tournaments allowed, schools may also use four of those as two double-duals or two dual meets or any combination thereof to get four dual meets.
The only proposal that was defeated (12-7) on the agenda was one from Jay County Principal Phil Ford which would have allowed the length of quarters in boys and girls JV basketball games to also be played at seven minutes. Quarters are currently six minutes long in those contests. Further discussion on this rule is expected.
The elections for next year’s leadership of the Board and Executive Committee also were held. Columbia City Athletic Director Geoff Penrod was voted president of the 2013-14 Board of Directors and Tim Grove, Superintendent of the South Knox School Corporation was selected as vice president. Phil Ford, Principal at Jay County, was named chairman of the 2013-14 Executive Committee and Debb Stevens, Athletic Director at Caston, was confirmed as vice chair.
About the Board of Directors
The IHSAA is governed by its legislative body, the Board of Directors. Composed of 19 individuals elected by member school principals from three legislative districts, they serve staggered three-year terms. Twelve board seats are filled by any qualified individual (open seats), and seven board seats are filled by two qualified female representatives, two qualified minority representatives, two qualified urban school representatives and one qualified private school representative. The Board of Directors meets annually with the responsibility of establishing the Association’s By-Laws and regulations.
| District, Seat | Board Member | Term Ends |
| District I, Class A | Debb Stevens, Caston | June 2014 |
| District I, Class AA | Don Gandy, Wheeler | June 2015 |
| District I, Class AAA | Nathan Dean, Baugo Community Schools | June 2014 |
| District I, Class AAAA | Geoff Penrod, Columbia City | June 2015 |
| District II, Class A | Ken Howell, Blue River Valley** | June 2015 |
| District II, Class AA | Jimmie Howell, Lapel | June 2014 |
| District II, Class AAA | Steve Cox, Beech Grove | June 2015 |
| District II, Class AAAA | Phil Ford, Jay County* | June 2014 |
| District III, Class A | Jed Jerrels, North Daviess | June 2014 |
| District III, Class AA | Tim Grove, South Knox School Corporation | June 2015 |
| District III, Class AAA | Mike Whitten, Boonville | June 2014 |
| District III, Class AAAA | Mike Broughton, Jennings County | June 2015 |
| North District, Female | Nancy Alspaugh, Manchester | June 2013 |
| North District, Minority | Deborah Watson, Fort Wayne Snider | June 2013 |
| North District, Urban | Janis Qualizza, Merrillville | June 2013 |
| South District, Female | Rae Woolpy, Richmond | June 2016 |
| South District, Minority | Victor Bush, Indianapolis Public Schools | June 2013 |
| South District, Urban | Paul Neidig, Evansville Vanderburgh Schools | June 2013 |
| Private School | Dave Worland, Indianapolis Cathedral | June 2016 |
| * President | ||
| ** Vice-President | ||
***
About the Indiana High School Athletic Association, Inc. (IHSAA)
Founded in 1903, the purpose of the Indiana High School Athletic Association, Inc. (IHSAA) is to encourage, regulate and give direction to wholesome amateur interschool athletic competition between its 410 member schools. The Association provides state championship tournament series in 20 sports, 10 for girls and 10 for boys. Approximately 160,000 student athletes participate in IHSAA sports on an annual basis.