Updated: GHSA doubles size of state swim meet, amends rules on spring games, coin tosses

The Georgia High School Association’s executive committee is meeting Monday in Macon to vote on proposals that got through committee meetings on Sunday.

The annual spring meeting won’t be as eventful as the most recent GHSA get-together last month, when the GHSA voted in Thomaston to accept the resignation of executive director Gary Phillips.

Among the proposals that the executive committee will consider today are tweaks in the GHSA power ratings, more practical ways of determining home teams in the playoffs, a requirement that all football games interrupted by weather be completed at a later date and an expansion of the state swimming meet to four from two team state championships.

Failing to get out of committee were proposals to go back to six classifications and to the two-year reclassification cycle.

Here are the surviving proposals:

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

1. Proposal to change the “Power Ratings” procedure in Football only beginning with the 2018-19 school year so that games between Class 7A teams and any team below Class 5A will NOT count in determining the power rating for the 7A school if power ratings are needed due to a Region having fewer than five teams in 7A. [Vote: 9-0]
2. Proposal that during Basketball state tournament games, the designated host school shall be required to provide 50% of the available seating to the visiting school spectators. [Vote: 10-0]
3. Proposal to increase the seating requirement by classification to host Basketball State Tournament games to the following minimums: 7A – 2,000; 6A – 2,000; 5A – 1,500; 4A – 1,200; 3A – 900; 2A – 700; 1A – 500. [Vote: 10-0]
4. Proposal that member schools compelled to play at a higher classification because of special stipulations in the reclassification process may petition the Executive Director for stadium / arena seating waivers by August 31 each year. A waiver would allow the school to use the smaller classification’s seating requirements in order to comply with playoff by-laws. [Vote: 10-0]
5. Proposal to revise By-Law 2.69 (b) on page 40 to read (new text in italic): At any given point in time, only one (1) coach in a sport may work with up to two (2) four (4)athletes in skill-building drills. [Vote: 8-2]
6. Proposal that Literary become an Area activity for all classifications with the Areas increasing the number of qualifiers so there is no reduction in State qualifiers. [Vote: 10-0]
7. Proposal that the GHSA office will conduct one (1) universal coin toss prior to the Quarterfinal Round and again prior to the Semifinal Round in all sports to determine the designated home team in ALL classifications (2A – 7A) where equal seeds are meeting in the next round. The toss would determine if the top or bottom of the bracket would be the host team (subject to other hosting requirements as specified in the GHSA by-laws for each sport). [Vote: 9-1]

BASEBALL COMMITTEE

1. Proposal to add new item “e” (and renumber existing items) to the “Pitching Restrictions” on page 58: In games vs. non-GHSA member schools, the GHSA pitching restrictions shall be adhered to, regardless of the pitch count policy of the host school affiliation or state association. When playing out of state, it is the school’s responsibility to report the pitch count information to the GHSA office. [Vote: 7-0]

ELIGIBILITY COMMITTEE

1. Proposal to modify By Law 1.58 on Page 18 (items “c,” “d” & “e”) so as to eliminate the 15-day credit recovery grace period at the beginning of the first semester. [Vote: 9-0]
2. Proposal to add Darlington to the list of schools (Riverside, Ben Franklin, Tallulah Falls) whose students are granted a one-time migratory waiver for eligibility upon enrollment in by-law 1.62 (L) on page 20. [Vote: 9-0]

FOOTBALL COMMITTEE

1. Proposal to add a new item “3” (and renumber existing items) under by-law 2.93 c-2 that reads “All scheduled GHSA varsity football games that have been either interrupted or postponed must be played to completion. Schools must decide when completion will take place in a timely manner. The team behind in score of an interrupted game will have the option not to complete the game and the score will be recorded as it was at the point of interruption. [Vote: 7-0]
2. Proposal that, beginning in 2018, the Spring Game culminating Spring Practice may be either a traditional team vs. team contest or a Jamboree type game with three teams playing a half against the other two teams. [Vote: 7-0]

RIFLERY COMMITTEE

1. Proposal that if a team has less than four (4) competitors, they forfeit the match and receive a loss. But, if both teams agree to compete anyway, the individual scores from both teams will count as GHSA official scores. [Vote: 5-0]

SOFTBALL COMMITTEE

1. Proposal to reword Softball GENERAL INFORMATION item No. 7, page 85. The tie-breaker procedure for extra-inning games will be used. At the beginning of the eighth inning 10th inning(and all subsequent half-innings) … Exception: In Invitational Tournament games with a “time limit” in place, the tie-breaker would start in the subsequent inning. [Vote: 5-0

SWIMMING COMMITTEE

1. Proposal to score the top 30 places in the finals (instead of the current 20) and award separate team championships for Class 6A and Class 7A and separate team championships for 1A-3A and 4A-5A for a total of four (4) swimming team champions instead of the current two (2). [Vote: 6-0]

VOLLEYBALL COMMITTEE

1. Proposal to allow Areas the option of using the best-of-five format for regular season Area matches, if all teams in the Area agree, provided that only one Area dual match is played per day. [Vote: 7-0]

WRESTLING COMMITTEE

1. Proposal to allow, but not require, alternates to weigh-in and be placed on the bracket at the Sectional Tournament if a wrestler representing the same Area cannot wrestle for any reason. [Vote: 7-0]
2. Proposal to allow a wrestler in the state tournament, who cannot wrestle for any reason, to be replaced by an alternate at the time of weigh-in. NOTE: The alternate must come from the same Sectional Tournament. [Vote: 7-0]