WHSAA Fall 2013 #2 Board of Directors Meeting Results

The Wyoming High School Activities Association recently met to finalize reclassification, as well as start discussion on possibly changing the rules for school co-oping.

Reclassification: The board finalized the plan for reclassification for the 2014-15, and 2015-16 school years. Lovell will move up to 3A in all sports, except football, and Lyman will move down to 2A in all sports (The Eagles are already in 2A football-wise). As far as volleyball, basketball and track are concerned, 3A will remain with 8 teams in the east and 8 in the west. Worland will stay in the east (plays in the west for football and soccer), while Lovell will replace Lyman in the west. Lyman moves down to 2A and will be placed in the southwest, which will force Shoshoni to move from the 2A Southwest, to the 2A Northwest. Lovell would also be in the 3A west for wrestling, and Lyman to the 2A Southwest.

Football: Beginning fall 2014, the classifications would change in the smaller classes. 4A and 3A would be unchanged from the past 3 years. 2A would shrink from 16 teams to 14...meaning Moorcroft and Tongue River would downgrade to 1A, and Thermopolis would shift from the 2A East to the 2A West. Saratoga and Wyoming Indian would return to 11-man football, and Rock River would enter a varsity team in 6-man. The 1A 11-man East would have Lingle-Ft. Laramie, Moorcroft, Lusk, Pine Bluffs, Southeast, Tongue River and Upton-Sundance. The 1A 11-man West would have Burlington, Cokeville, Riverside, Rocky Mountain, Saratoga, Shoshoni, Wind River and Wyoming Indian. The 6-man East would have Guernsey, H.E.M., Hulett, Kaycee, Midwest, Normative Services, and Rock River. The 6-man West would have Dubois, Farson-Eden, Little Snake River, Meeteetse, St. Stephens, and Ten Sleep.

H.E.M. Moves East: The board with the support of 1A schools, approved a move that would have H.E.M. shift from the 1A Southwest to the 1A Southeast in all sports except football, starting in the 2014-2015 school year. This creates an imbalance between the southeast and southwest, but the schools were ok with it.

Gender Identity: The Board unanimously passed on first reading, a motion that any student thinking about changing his/her gender, will have an appeal hearing by an eligibility committee, to determine if that person can participate in certain events. The committee will be minimum 3 people, chosen by the WHSAA commissioner, and one must be a physician and one must work in the mental health profession. The committee will then forward its decision to the commissioner. The main purpose is affirm a gender-changing athlete's eligibility.

Co-Op Rule Change Discussion: The board did not take action on this issue, but opened discussion regarding possible rule changes for co-ops. A co-op is when 2 schools join forces to form a team, or athletes from one school go to another to practice and compete, because the school they go to, does not offer that particular sport/event. Some ideas being tossed around that if a co-op is to happen, it must occur between schools in the same school district if possible. For example, this past season, Glendo had cross-country runners, running for Douglas, but Glendo is in the same school district as Wheatland, which now has a cross-country team. Another idea is that if a school from one classification co-ops with a school from a smaller classification, the larger school, must serve as the host. If the larger school does not offer a particular sport/event, yet the smaller school had athletes/participants, then the smaller school must co-op with the next closest school geographically. This could put the Upton-Sundance football co-op in question, as Upton is the host, yet Sundance has more enrollment. Other questions arise in Greybull-Riverside wrestling and Pine Bluffs-Burns cross country. Another idea is that one school can not co-op with different schools in different sports/events, rather it must be with the same school in all sports/events, unless that sport/event is not offered. In other words, school A co-ops with school B in one event, and co-ops with school C in another, even though school B does have the event that A and C are co-oping in...the discussion is that this would no longer be allowed.