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WIAA to eliminate summer baseball; SW Wisconsin football realignment passes first consideration

03/06/2018, 12:45pm CST
By WIAA

The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Control voted to discontinue the State Summer Baseball Tournament Series following the 2018 season at its March meeting in Madison last Friday. 

Given the steady decline schools offering baseball in the summer, the Board voted to end the summer baseball program. The projected number of schools sponsoring summer baseball by the 2019-20 season would decline to fewer than 30. There are 50 programs sponsoring the sport in 2018. In its peak, the number of summer baseball programs reached 110 in 1990. The WIAA has conducted a State summer baseball tournament since 1965.

The Board voted to advance four amendments for a membership vote at April’s Annual Meeting, including two Constitutional items and two in the Rules of Eligibility.

One amendment to the Constitution would update the requirements for all new schools interested in joining the association to sponsor one independent program for both girls and boys, and mandate a three-year probationary period requiring attendance at the Annual and Area Meetings. The second amendment to the Constitution would permit schools that miss the varsity cooperative program deadline to participate as a co-op for the regular season only.

One of the proposed amendments to the Rules of  Eligibility would align the residency rule with the transfer rule in identifying the sixth consecutive semester for non-varsity eligibility. The second amendment would clarify that a student-athlete reporting late to the school team because of nonschool competition forfeits their opportunity to utilize the two school-approved nonschool opportunities during the season.

Addressing conference realignment, the Board gave its final approval of a proposal that moves Alma/Pepin into the Dairyland Conference for all sports beginning in the fall of 2019.

The Board also gave initial approval to a football-only realignment consideration for southwest Wisconsin that was amended at its January meeting. The plan impacts seven conferences and 48 schools. Membership rules require a 40-day window for schools involved in realignment plans to appeal the first consideration of the Board before it takes final action. Thus, schools have until April 11, 2018, to file an appeal of the initial vote. The Board will give final consideration of the plan at its meeting on April 24, 2018. See the full Plan here.

Among the other action items receiving approval were the renewal of the 2018 fall season cooperative programs. 

Topics shared in executive staff reports to the Board included a lengthy dialog on the status of the Rural/Urban competitive equity proposal the Board voted against advancing to the membership at the Annual Meeting in January. In addition, the Board received an outline for the Annual Meeting and an update on the winter tournaments in progress.

The Board received liaison reports from John Ashley of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards and Jeremy Schlitz of the Wisconsin Athletic Directors Association. In addition, Andrew Engel of the Hamilton Consulting Group made a presentation to the Board.

The membership of the WIAA oversees interscholastic athletic programs for 512 senior high schools and 43 junior high/middle level schools in its membership. It sponsors 27 championship tournament series for boys and girls in 2017-18. For more information, please contact the WIAA office at (715) 344-8580.

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