One of the biggest changes to come out of the April 26 Colorado High School Activities Association Legislative Council meeting was that the council would have one meeting a year instead of two.
That means all the changes we will be hashing out, debating and adjusting to will now just be announced once a year.
The CHSAA has 73 representatives from 36 CHSAA league who vote on the rules and regulations that the CHSAA operates under. The Legislative Council is also responsible for approving or changing playoff formats that were submitted by sports, activities and administrative committees.
Other news, and admittedly more significant, to come out of the April 26 Legislative Council session according to CHSAANow.com included the approval of the proposal to permit teams and individuals to participate in national events outside of the competitive sports season, but written permission from the school principal and CHSAA office is needed.
It used to be that teams and students could not be affiliated with their school at national competitions, so athletes would instead form a club but have the same coaches.
Last month, hockey teams from Valor Christian, Monarch and Regis Jesuit played in the USA Hockey national tournament but under club monikers.
There are also regional and national cross country, track, spirit, wrestling, and basketball and baseball events that Colorado high school athletes and teams enter.
The modified transfer rule passed by the Legislative Council that will go into effect June 1 means student athletes switching schools without a bona fide family move or hardship waiver will be ineligible for 365 days.
Under the previous rule, transfers could keep 50 percent of their eligibility the next season.
CHSAA legal counsel Alex Halpern told CHSAANow.com there were around 1,800 transfer requests this year. About 1,300 of those requests fell into the grouping of granting 50 percent eligibility and bona fide moves. Another 500 went to CHSAA Commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green, who had to rule on the transfers.
The Legislative Council hopes that approved tweaks in the way classifications are created will result in better competitive equity.
Enrollment will remain a factor when putting schools into classes for all sports but now there will be an emphasis on socioeconomics, demographics, safety, competitive success or non-success, geography and participation rates.
This process was used by the football committee when creating classifications last January for the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
The 800 medley relay, an event for girls only, will continue to be contested at the state championships. Colorado and Iowa are the only two states that currently have the event at their respective state meets. The track committee had proposed to drop the event at that girls state meet.
And finally, girls softball teams got the OK to have a maximum of 23 games next season, which goes along with baseball’s increase to 23 contests that was approved in January.
Lacrosse coming to Mountain Range
There will be a boys and girls lacrosse team in the north Denver metro area for the 2018-19 school year as Adams 12 Five Star Schools announced that Mountain Range will field a boys and girls district team of players attending Legacy, Horizon, Northglenn, Thornton and Mountain Range high schools.
All students in Adams 12 who wish to play lacrosse must compete for District 12. So Adams 12 athletes playing for other schools this season must play for Mountain Range next spring.
“We are excited to be bring lacrosse back to Adams 12,” said Mountain Range Athletic Director Bob Gorman
Adams 12 had planned to have a district boys and girls team for the 2016-18 cycle but changed plans reportedly because of limited planning time, preparation and funding.
Gorman said Adams 12 is in the processes of hiring head coaches for the two teams.
Jim Benton is a sports writer for Colorado Community Media. He has been covering sports in the Denver area since 1968. He can be reached at jbenton@coloradocommunitymedia.com or at 303-566-4083.
