NEWS AND INFORMATION

District 3 Cross-Country Championships move to Big Spring HS in 2015 and 2016

December 8, 2014 By District III

The PIAA District 3 Committee unanimously approved Big Spring High School in Newville as the site for the District 3 M&T Bank Cross-Country Championships for the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 school years.

The move was prompted by construction of a new road that will bisect the Parkview Cross-Country Course that District 3 has used since 2002.  Construction on the road, which is a PennDOT project, is scheduled to start in July of 2015 .  Because of the uncertainty of the course condition as a result of that pending construction, the district committee felt it was prudent to move the site.

In addition, the committee also decided to move the date of the cross-country championships from its recent Wednesday date to Saturday.  In 2015, the date will be Oct. 31.  In 2016, the date will be Oct. 29.

PIAA Board of Directors meeting, July 23, 2014

July 23, 2014 By District III

District 3 will provide updates from the PIAA Board of Directors meeting.  It will not be a live blog per se, but will be updated periodically.  Scroll down for updates.

The BOD approved the addition of District 1’s Springfield Twp. to the list of schools that sponsor softball, correcting an oversight from earlier this year.  The upshot is that Springfield’s addition to the list of District 1 schools with softball now gives District 1 four Class AA softball teams instead of three.  By PIAA policy, District 1 is now entitled to a spot in the PIAA Class AA Softball Championship bracket.  The approved Class AA brackets for 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 did not include a spot for District 1; they have been revised.

BOD rejected a request by District 1’s Calvary Christian to withdraw its voluntary upgrade  in boys’ BKB from A to AA.  Calvary Christian will remain Class AA for the 2014-2015 school year.

Marian Catholic’s request to upgrade from Class A to Class AA in softball was rejected.  Only District 11 voted in favor of the move.

Moravian Academy’s request to upgrade to AAA in baseball, softball and boys and girls basketball was narrowly approved.  The other schools were rejected because the request came after the established deadline for voluntary upgrade requests.  But Moravian Academy is now a full member of District 11’s Colonial League after having been an associate member of the league for years, and District 11 argued that, under the circumstances, the request should be approved.

SPRING CHAMPIONSHIP SITES – 2014-2015 through 2017-2018

Baseball – Penn State’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Park

Softball – Beard Field at Nittany Lion Softball Park

Lacrosse – Hersheypark Stadium

Boys’ Tennis – Hershey Racquet Club

Boys’ Volleyball – Recreational Hall at Penn State University

Track & Field – Seth Grove Stadium, Shippensburg University

Only baseball had more than one bidder:  Coca-Cola Park in Allentown submitted a RFP, but Penn State was chosen primarily for its central Pennsylvania location

District 3 took a little swat on a proposed by-law change to allow a principal’s designee (often an assistant principal or athletic director), as well as the principal, to sign the certificate of eligibility, transfer waiver request and request for a decision of eligibility.  The proposal received 20 yes votes and 9 no votes with two members absent, one vote short of the 21 yes votes needed for a two-thirds majority.  Thus the proposal failed; only the principal may sign off on those forms.

UPDATE:  Well, a little redemption for the good guys.  During a presentation by PIAA CEO Mark Byers on entering eligibility lists to piaa.org, a new an excellent feature, District I chairman Mike Barber brought up whether athletic directors were prohibited from signing-off on the lists given the rejection of designee proposal.  At least a few BOD members saw the light on the by-law proposal.  But rather than re-visit the proposal in its entirety, a proposal was made to allow the principal’s designee to sign off on eligibility lists only.  The new proposal passed 21-7, but it did show that District III’s original proposal had far greater application than some previously believed.

As our chairman, Ron Kennedy, said, “We’ll take small victories.”

The BOD did unanimously approve new and improved language addressing the failure of a school to participate in a scheduled contest.  The approved language is here.

The Board unanimously approved a new PIAA Class AAA Field Hockey Championship bracket based on some significant changes from the last several years (District 3 losing its fifth qualifier, District 7 turning back its second qualifier).  The result is a state bracket that is radically different from recent years.  The bracket is here.

Recently, the NFHS rescinded its ban on jewelry in track and field and cross-country, essentially allowing all jewelry to be worn during competition.  But the BOD took issue with that decision and moved to keep PIAA’s jewelry ban in place for the 2014-2015 season.  So, District III X-C and track athletes  … NO jewelry of any kind for this year’s meets.

PIAA EXPANDS WRESTLING BRACKETS FOR 2014-2015

May 21, 2014 By District III

The PIAA Board of Directors provided the first expansion of the state individual wrestling brackets in 41 years by adding four wrestlers per weight class, expanding the previous 16-man bracket to a 20-man bracket.

The change passed on a 26-5 affirmative vote; District 3’s representatives – Chairman Ron Kennedy of Donegal and Vice-Chairman Doug Bohannon of ELCO – voted against the proposal.  While District 3 does not oppose opportunities for participation, it opposes the notion that the additional wrestlers that advance to the state tournament will do so by losing a place match, rather than winning that match.

District 3 has advanced 4 wrestlers from its Class AAA wrestling championships directly to states the last two years.  But the 3-AAA championships are also the PIAA’s Southcentral Region, and the PIAA’s proportional representation gave District 3 a fourth qualifying spot at states.  District 3 will advance four AAA wrestlers to states in 2014-2015 and five AAA wrestlers to states in 2015-2016.  District 3 and District 1 have the same number of Class AAA wrestling schools and will split the additional qualifier between those two seasons.

In addition, District 3’s Class AA wrestlers must qualify to states through the PIAA Class AA Southeast Region Tournament.  That region, which includes Districts 1 and 11, has advanced 5 wrestlers per weight to states for several years.  With the expansion, that region (along with the AA Southwest Region) will advance 6 wrestlers per weight class.  Wrestlers who place sixth at regionals lose three matches during the region tournament.

It is now possible for a District 3 Class AA wrestler to lose 11 matches in the post-season and still claim a PIAA medal.  A Class AA wrestler could place sixth in sections (3 losses), fifth in districts (2 losses), sixth in regions (3 losses) and either sixth or eighth in states (3 losses).

But that is an unlikely scenario, and District 3 welcomes the opportunity for its wrestlers to advance into state competition.