WIAA adds girls wrestling

The WIAA’s Board of Control approved the addition of a girls individual state tournament last week beginning with the 2021-22 season. The vote was unanimous. It marks the first addition of a girls sport since 2001 when girls hockey was added. According to WIAA bylaws, 5% of the membership must offer a sport before the organization recognizes it and 10% of the membership needs to have a sport in order for there to be a state championship. Girls wrestling doesn’t currently meet either of those percentages, but there is a growing support around the state. Girls and boys will be permitted to wrestle each other during the regular season, but the postseason will be gender exclusive. Sixteen other states offer girls wrestling state championships and 35 other states offer girls wrestling as a sport. Several details still need to be figured out, including the weight class structure. But girls individual state wrestling champions will be crowned for the first time in 2022. While individual champions will be crowned, there won’t be a team state tournament for the sport until the number of teams increases. The Board also did the following: • The Board voted unanimously to allow a school option to defer academic eligibility grade requirements for all students until the first grading period of the 2020-21 school year. That comes in recognition of the challenges many students may have experienced with access and adapting to virtual schooling last spring following school closures because of COVID-19,  • In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board extended the window one week to use the coaches’ five unrestricted coaching days for this summer only. This allows 11-player football coaches unrestricted contact through Aug. 1 and all other coaches through Aug. 8. The extended period reflects a heightened emphasis on acclimatization for the health and safety for student-athletes.  • In an effort to address the impact on the operational budget following the cancellation of revenue-producing tournaments during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board approved a number of Executive Staff recommendations to increase revenue and contain expenditures in 2020-21. All regional, sectional and State Tournament ticket prices will be increased $1.  In addition, State Tournament school mileage reimbursements for team and individual travel will decrease 50 cents per mile for 2020-21 only, and the regional and sectional host revenue sharing percentage will be decreased by 5 percent for one year only. Furthermore, Sports Advisory Committee meetings and all sport Coaches Advisory Committee meetings will be conducted virtually in 2020-21, and mileage reimbursement for board, staff, committees and officials will be reduced 5 cents per mile.  • For boys and girls basketball, the Board approved implementing a computerized seeding system for the State Tournament Series. The system will be developed by the WIAA with the goal to have it available in 2020-21, and no later than 2021-22. This action will require members designated as the home team to enter the scores of all their regular-season games into the WIAA Score Center database purposes starting in the 2020-21 season. • In hockey, the Board approved retaining a two-division State Tournament Series indefinitely by eliminating the experiment language from the existing regulations. Also approved was a recommendation for the State Boys Hockey Tournament to involve the head coaches of qualifying teams for both divisions to determine seeds for each division beginning in 2021. The Board also implemented an eight-minute, sudden victory overtime period in hockey followed by a five minute, three-on-three period during the regular season. If no winner is determined after the two overtime periods, the game is recorded as a tie.  In a tie following regulation during the tournament series, an eight-minute sudden victory overtime period will be played. If no victor is determined, the ice will be resurfaced followed by a 17-minute sudden victory overtime period. If a winner is still not determined, a five-minute, four-on-four sudden victory period will be played and then a five-minute, three-on-three sudden victory period if necessary. If a winner remains undecided, a 17-minute, three-on-three sudden victory period will be played.