(Barry Smith)

Class 6A may once again be part of football’s future.

During their annual meeting on Thursday, the football committee voted to recommend the addition of an eighth classification. This recommendation will need to be voted upon and approved by the Legislative Council this spring in order to be implemented.

If approved there, 6A would join the other seven classes — 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A, 1A, 8-man, and 6-man — in the fall of 2022.

“I think it’s a start to the process,” said committee member Bruce Grose, the athletic director at Vista Ridge, during discussion. “It’s the start of creating classifications that are like programs, and not just [enrollment] numbers. All along, we’ve divided pretty much just by numbers, and I think we need to reevaluate that process. I think this is the right step forward to create more equity.”

CHSAA assistant commissioner Adam Bright mentioned that his overarching goal for football is to “figure out how we can have like programs competing against one another, and create some equity amongst our classifications.”

“It’s not simply about the number of kids that walk in the door,” Bright added. “Let’s look at programs, and like programs.”

Football has had a 6A classification before, from 1990-93, but this would look different for a number of reasons, most notable that it would be larger than it was back then, which will reduce the size of all classes — and not just large schools.

With 287 schools declaring that they will have football teams in 2022, it means each classification could be comprised of roughly 36 teams or so. Currently, they are in the 40-42 range.

Additionally, the membership has empowered the CHSAA office in recent years with the ability to classify schools with criteria other than just the traditional factor of enrollment. This includes factors such as on-field success of programs, participation rate, geography, enrollment trend, and socioeconomics of school’s population.

“Adding the 6A classification gives us the platform … to really reinvent football and allow for that competitive equity that we keep talking about. I think this is a step in the right direction,” said Steamboat Springs athletic director Luke DeWolfe, a committee member who is also on the CHSAA Board of Directors.

Said committee chair Chris Noll, the district athletic director for District 11 in Colorado Springs: “For the last 6 or 7 years, we continue to talk about the same problem, and we continue to kick the can down the road. … We’ve talked a lot today about Championship Weekend, and ‘state championship this,’ and ‘league champion that’ — I think we also have to focus a little bit of our time on those teams that struggle.”

Added committee member Ryan Goddard, the coach at Pueblo South: “Looking at this globally, I think our biggest problem across the state in each classification is our top-8 teams in each classification and the bottom-8 teams in each classification are nowhere near each other. Is it how we classify teams, or how our classifications are structured? I think ‘both’ answers that question.”

Other sports, such as basketball and volleyball, are also considering whether not to to add a Class 6A in the near future.

The idea of 6A football has been brought up a few times in recent years. Various proposals to add an eighth classification were shot down at Legislative Council in 2015 and again in 2019. It was also discussed in 2017, but no proposal materialized.

It is worth noting, however, that the 2015 and 2019 proposals looked much different than this current plan. In 2019, for example, the 6A classification would have been created solely for the postseason.

And, perhaps most notably, in both 2015 and 2019, the football committee not only did not endorse or recommend the plans, but instead actively spoke out against them.

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Postseason

The football committee made a series of moves that sets the sport up to have all championship games on one weekend. It also opens the potential for a single site to host all championship games in the future — something that was done this past fall for the first time in the sport’s history, and has been met with great enthusiasm around the state.

First, they voted to have a 10-week regular season in all classes, with each class having the option of playing 9 or 10 games. Then, they voted to have the same number of playoff qualifiers in each classification.

“I think they should all be equal,” said committee member Greg Jones, the athletic director at Monte Vista. “If everybody’s the same across the board, it goes along with what we just did with 6A.”

Following a long discussion, the committee voted to have each classification have 24 teams make the postseason.

“If we’re talking about kids, kids want that experience, kids want to be part of something,” said committee member Marty Tonjes, the athletic director at Horizon. “If it’s what’s best for kids, we should create opportunity for kids.”

Currently, 5A and 4A have 24 qualifiers, while 6-man through 3A have 16 teams make the postseason. In the past, there had been three weekends of state championship games.

Finally, the football committee also passed a motion to have semifinal games hosted by the higher seed in the semifinals, and championship games at neutral sites in all classes.

Seeding will be done by the CHSAA Seeding Index: CHSAA RPI, MaxPreps Rankings, Packard Rankings and the CHSAANow coaches poll. Teams can only be moved due to geography.

As with 6A, these recommendations need to be approved by the Legislative Council in order to take effect. If approved, these changes would take effect in 2022.

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Fall 2021 championship sites

Following overwhelming positive feedback about a single-site state championship, the committee moved to have the 6-man, 8-man, 1A and 2A title games at CSU-Pueblo for the fall 2021 season. Those games are scheduled for the weekend of Nov. 27.

“There was a lot of discussion and positivity about how each game had their own moment and their own spotlight,” Goddard said.

Added Regis Jesuit coach Danny Filleman, another committee member: “It just makes that state championship a little more special for those kids and players.”

The 3A game will remain at CSU-Pueblo the following weekend, on Dec. 4. And 4A and 5A are set to return to Mile High that same date.

Going forward, “we will explore all options” for a single-site state championship for all games, Bright said.

Earlier, the committee voted to add a 10th game in 6-man for the 2021 season, so that the alignment of championship games with 2A, 1A, and 8-man would be possible.

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Summer camps

With 48 schools set to play football this spring in Season C, the decision was made to change the usual 10-day summer contact camps to an extra week of practice in the fall.

There was concern from the national Sports Medicine Advisory Committee for states that are playing spring football seasons surrounding a lack of rest.

If approved, football teams would begin practice on Aug. 2 rather than Aug. 9, and ramp up their contact from there.

“This provides us to get the work in we would in the padded camps, but also provide our athletes who compete in the spring the chance to rest, and avoid any equity issues of some teams being allowed to have camps while others cannot,” Bright said.

The CHSAA Legislative Council met virtually for the first time in its 99-year history on Friday.

They voted on more than 50 items, and made a number of changes to the Association’s bylaws, which impacted things from alignment to the transfer rule. We have rounded up most of those changes here.

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Two classes of hockey

(PaulDiSalvoPhotography.com)

Hockey will split into two classifications, beginning with the 2020-21 season.

The two-class split, which was recommended by the hockey committee during its meeting in February, places 20 teams into Class 5A, and 17 in 4A. The committee used a variety of factors to place teams from bylaw 1500.21, including enrollment, geography, competitive history, competitive balance, participation rate, and the entry or selection process that places an athlete at a program.

The committee recognized the need for two classes because there isn’t much, if any, parity in the sport. Over the past four years, only 14 different schools have advanced to the quarterfinals of the state tournament. Hockey currently has 37 teams.

The alignments for the sport can be found in this story from February.

Hockey will use the CHSAA Seeding Index to seed its two state tournaments: RPI, MaxPreps, and the CHSAANow coaches poll.

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New seeding criteria for 5A basketball

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

An amendment during the meeting changed the seeding criteria that 4A and 5A basketball will use for their state tournaments: The two classes will now use a combination of the RPI standings, MaxPreps rankings and the CHSAANow coaches pool — bringing them in line with what a number of other sports are now using.

1A will also use the same criteria, but will also use the Packard Ratings.

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2A baseball changes postseason

(Lisa Hayes/StillOfTheMomentPhotography.com)

The 2A baseball postseason will now mirror what is done in 3A, 4A and 5A, with a 32-team regional bracket. All teams will qualify for the bracket via the RPI standings, and seeded by RPI. The top eight seeds will host regionals, and seeds Nos. 20-32 can be moved for geographic reasons.

The state tournament also got an overhaul, and will move to an eight-team single-elimination bracket. Previously, 2A had a 16-team bracket.

With this change, 2A schools can now schedule 23 games.

Baseball also created a game minimum to be able to qualify for the postseason: 12 games in 1A, 17 in 2A and 3A, 19 in 4A and 5A.

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New field hockey tournament

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

In an effort to help the growth of the sport, the state field hockey tournament will expand from eight teams to 12.

The top six seeds will receive a bye while the next six will compete in a play-in bracket.

In one of those brackets, No. 9 and No. 12 will play, with the winner playing No. 8. The winner of that game will face No. 1.

In the other bracket, No. 10 and No. 11 will play, with the winner facing No. 7. The winner of that game will face the No. 2 overall seed.

During that same round, the No. 4 and No. 5 seed will play, with No. 3 and No. 6 also playing.

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The transfer rule

A number of proposals involved the transfer rule. Among the changes which passed:

• An adjustment to clarify that a student doesn’t have to transfer from a member school, in or out of state, in order for the rule to apply.
• A proposal better explained the transfer consequence for transferring to another school, and a return to the original school — also known as an A-B-A transfer. Specifically, a student who transfers from School A, transfers to School B and plays at School B, and the returns to School A, will only be eligible for sub-varsity competition at School A in the sports they participated in at School B for 365 days.
• A new bylaw passed allowing for students to participate with “restricted varsity eligibility during the regular season” if their high school does not offer a JV team, or if their school doesn’t allow seniors to play on sub-varsity teams.
• The definition of a hardship was rewritten to read: “‘Hardship’ means a situation, condition or event which must impost a severe non-athletic burden upon the student or his/her family and require a transfer of schools. This does not include the personal or initial choice of enrollment and/or participation.”

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Notables:

• The alignments for sports were finalized with the approval of each sports report. Those new alignments will be posted in the near future.
• The season of sport was changed in boys swimming, allowing for those championships to be moved up a week and have their own spotlight.
• 6-man and 8-man football will use the same four data points of seeding that was used in 1A-5A this season.
• In 5A football, all playoff games will be hosted by the higher seed.
• 1A girls volleyball will move from districts to regionals. The sport will also require that all teams play a minimum of 18 matches against member schools and varsity opponents in order to qualify for the postseason.
• Boys volleyball will have one classification during its inaugural season in spring 2021.
• Girls wrestling will use the same weight classes that were used in the pilot season.
• The 4A and 5A boys lacrosse state tournaments will each grow from 16 to 24 teams starting in spring 2021.
• The new format that will be used for a two-classification setup in girls lacrosse was approved. Find the structure for that format here.
• 2A soccer will increase its state tournament field from 12 teams to 16.
• The regional field in 3A softball will grow to 32 teams, bringing it in line with 4A and 5A.
• The requirements for qualifying for the state skiing championships were made more strict, to make the state field slightly smaller.
• The state spirit championships will move to a three-day format beginning this year. Schools will only be able to participate in one cheer category and one dance category at the state championships. Cheer and dance are now considered separate sports.
• Schools will be eligible to join CHSAA as activity-only schools, and not offer sports.
• The process for classifying programs was clarified with an amendment to bylaw 1510, which deals with the Classification, Appeals and League Organizing Committee (CLOC). Now, the CHSAA staff can offer adjustments “in extraordinary circumstances” that are based upon bylaw 1500.21 (the bylaw allowing for classification based upon factors other than enrollment) in even years. These adjustments will need to be voted on by CLOC. Typically in even years, the classifications are already set and ready to go for the following cycle, so there would be very few adjustments, if any.
• The amateur status bylaw was reworked, and now reads that student-athletes “must maintain his/her amateur status” and notes that they “may not sign a professional athletic contract.” A new note defines a professional as “being paid in any form for playing in an athletic contest, or if you sign a contract or verbally commit with an agent or professional sports organization.” Notably, student-athletes will be allowed to play with or against professionals in certain situations, such as in the Olympics or a World Cup.
• The coach ejection bylaw was updated to give it a more consistent level of suspension across all sports. Now, the first ejection is penalized by a suspension equal to 10% of that sports season, and a second ejection is 20%.
• All-Star games were added to bylaw 2300, allowing for “up to two All-Star Games after the completion of the state championship in that sport.” No all-star games are permitted in football.
• Middle schoolers from “feeder” schools will be permitted to practice with high school teams in volleyball, basketball, soccer and football “when they cannot field enough high school athletes to hold an intra-squad practice in game-type conditions.” There are a number of limitations guiding this new bylaw.
• The number of practices required for students to participate in prior to competition in contact sports was reduced from five to three in all sports but football, which will still require nine.
• Schools can now form a team with only one participant, if they choose to.
• Adding a new sport or activity will now require approval from the Budget Committee in addition to CLOC, Sports Medicine, Equity and the Board of Directors.
• The full membership of the following schools is now official: DSST – Byers, KIPP Northeast, Loveland Classical, Strive Prep – Rise, Strive Prep – Smart, and Thomas MacLaren. KIPP Northeast and Strive Prep – Rise play together are a co-op: Regis Groff.
• Officials’ fees increased with a 2% cost of living adjustment across the board, for all levels.
• The alignment of State Festival and State Tournament will now be permanent in speech.
• Student Leadership’s fall conference will move to a regional model beginning this year.

(Dustin Price/dustinpricephotography.com)

AURORA — Seeking to continue to spark growth in their sport, and create more competitive balance, the ice hockey committee on Wednesday recommended that the sport split into two classifications.

The recommendation, as with all recommendations from committees, will need to be approved by the Legislative Council at its April meeting in order to go into effect for the 2021-22 season.

Their proposal is to place 20 teams into a Class 5A, and 17 in 4A. The group used a variety of factors to split the teams from bylaw 1500.21, including enrollment, geography, competitive history, competitive balance, participation rate, and the entry or selection process that places an athlete at a program.

“I believe the hockey committee has a great opportunity to place like competition against one another,” said Cheyenne Mountain athletic director Kris Roberts, who submitted the proposal to the committee for consideration.

The committee voted unanimously to forward the recommendation, which includes three leagues in each classification. The proposed alignment is listed at the bottom of this story.

With 37 teams, hockey has more than gymnastics — which, at 32 programs, has two classifications of 16 teams each. The committee also recognized the potential for growth of programs is greater with the addition of a 4A classification, something girls lacrosse has seen with its recent addition of a second class.

“Over the past four years, the same fourteen schools have advanced to the quarterfinals of the ice hockey tournament. Parity in the sport is non-existent,” said Justin Saylor, the CHSAA assistant commissioner who oversees hockey. “The addition of the 4A classification allows more programs the opportunity to be successful, and with that, the hope is it opens the sport up to a larger portion of the state.”

The committee also adjusted the postseason format. Leagues would play one another twice, and the champion would automatically qualify for the state tournament. In 4A, that tournament would be 10 teams, with the top two seeds receiving a bye. In 5A, the bracket would be a 12-team field, with byes for the top four seeds.

To seed those brackets, the sport would use the new CHSAA Seeding Index, which combines data from the RPI, CHSAANow coaches poll and the MaxPreps rankings.

In other work, the committee also recommended stricter penalties for fighting, which has seen an uptick in recent years. On a first offense, a player would be suspended for two games. On a second offense, the player would be suspended for four games. Currently, it is a one-game suspension for the first offense, and a two-game suspension for the second.

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Proposed hockey alignment

CLASS 5A

CLASS 4A

(Chris Fehrm/Chris Fehrm Photography)

AURORA — As girls lacrosse prepares to head into a new two-classification setup in 2021, the sport’s committee created the structure for that new format this week.

The Legislative Council voted to approve a second classification of girls lacrosse last April, so Wednesday’s meeting was spent determining how exactly to accomplish that, including the actual task of classifying teams. The committee’s main aim was to continue to help the sport grow, which was also the goal of the creation of a second classification.

So the committee did its best to put similar teams in each classification, and they primarily used the criteria as laid out in bylaw 1500.21 to do so, while keeping an eye on geography.

“We tried to pair like schools as opposed to traditional enrollment numbers,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Adam Bright, who oversees girls lacrosse. “We looked at three-year RPI and three-year winning percentage. In the data we looked at there was a clear dividing line once you got it around 20-25 schools.”

The end result was 21 teams in Class 5A and 38 in 4A.

The committee also created a league alignment structure and a postseason format.

“We had our lacrosse roundtable meeting last fall, so it was a collaborative process not only with the community but representatives from a majority of the lacrosse schools,” Bright said.

The 5A bracket will be a 16-team format, and 4A’s will be 20 teams. Of the 20 postseason qualifiers in the 2019 single-classification state tournament, 14 will be in 5A, and six in 4A.

“The overall goal is to see an increase in student participation, and by pairing like schools and creating more opportunities for postseason success, the hope is that it will be one key factor in growing the sport,” Bright said.

Already, the addition of a 4A classification has led to the addition of four new varsity programs.

To seed the tournaments, each classification will use the new CHSAA seeding index, combining rankings from the RPI standings, the MaxPreps rankings and the CHSAANow coaches poll. A wide swath of sports have moved to the new seeding philosophy, including volleyball, soccer, field hockey and boys lacrosse. Football started the movement by using a similar approach this past fall.

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Proposed girls lacrosse league alignment

Class 4A

Note: In the Mountain East and Mountain West leagues, Mountain East has guaranteed Mountain West two crossover games.

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Class 5A

(Chris Fehrm/Chris Fehrm Photography)

AURORA — The boys lacrosse committee recommended an expansion of the playoff fields in both 5A and 4A during the annual meeting this week.

Both fields currently qualify 16 teams to the postseason, but the committee voted to expand the bracket to 24 teams for two main reasons:

• First, it brings the sport more in line with other sports, such as hockey, basketball and soccer, in terms of percentage of teams that qualify for the postseason.
• And second, the new recommended league alignment has grouped a bunch of traditional powers together in order to help competitive balance during the regular season, similar to hockey’s approach to leagues, and schools in the tougher leagues agreed to the new alignment on the condition that the field would be expanded.

“The big thing was lacrosse’s percentage, at 16 teams, was the lowest percentage of the qualifiers,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Justin Saylor, who administers lacrosse.

With a 24-team bracket, the top eight seeds will receive first-round byes.

The committee also changed how the playoff bracket will be seeded, and will use the new CHSAA seeding index, which combines rankings data from the RPI standings, MaxPreps and the CHSAANow coaches poll. The same seeding criteria has been adopted by field hockey, volleyball and soccer this winter. Football led the way as a model when it used four criteria to seed its bracket last fall.

Among other changes is a semifinal event which will bring 4A and 5A together for both of their games. Those will now be played at one site, Legacy Stadium, on May 23 this coming season. The championship games are scheduled for May 26 at DU. That change was announced in November.

“I think the 4A/5A semifinal will be a huge event,” Saylor said.

Higher-seeded teams will host playoff rounds through the quarterfinals, which is a change for 5A. Previously, the quarterfinals were hosted at a neutral site.

The proposed league alignment, which will be used in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, was given a vote of approval by the committee. It culminated months of work on the league structure, which began during a meeting of dozens of athletic directors at Grandview High School in December.

“A lot of the work was done in meetings and discussions with athletic directors,” Saylor said. “We had a great discussion at Grandview in December which really made it easy to get their work done at the meeting in January.”

As is the case with all committee reports, the recommendations from the boys lacrosse committee must be approved by the Legislative Council during its April meeting.

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Proposed boys lacrosse alignment

Class 4A

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Class 5A

(Aidan Hicks/aidanhicksphotography.com)

The soccer committee met last month, and made some big changes in Class 2A.

Each of the changes sought to address some issues within the classification, while also helping to align it more with how 3A, 4A and 5A are setup.

“When 2A soccer came on board, the intention was to increase program participation in the sport at our smaller member schools, while at the same time, maintaining programs at our smaller member schools currently offering the sport. We have been successful in achieving this goal,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Justin Saylor, who administers the sport. “The next step in ensuring the success of 2A soccer is aligning it with our other classifications, regarding alignment of leagues and playoff qualification — while at the same time, addressing the travel and host site issues unique to the classification.

“I believe we have achieved this with the changes made by the committee.”

For starters, the state tournament bracket was expanded from 12 to 16 teams, which bring the classification more in line in terms of percentage of teams qualifying for the postseason. 2A will have 32 teams in the 2020-22 two-year cycle.

In addition, the dates of the first and second round of the 2A tournament have been moved to a Friday/Saturday format, with four-team pods each traveling to the top four seeds in the tournament and playing the games at one site. This past season, the rounds were played on Wednesday and Saturday.

“This will help us eliminate travel and missed school times, because of how spread out the classification is,” Saylor said.

Finally, every 2A team was placed into a league, doing away with a format which allowed some teams to play independently, and certain leagues to have schedules where not every team in a league played one another.

These committee proposals, like all recommendations, must be approved by the Legislative Council in April 2020.

Of note, the committee last year passed a game minimum in 2A which is set to begin in the fall of 2020. Teams must play a minimum of 12 games in order to qualify for the postseason, 10 of which must be against schools which belong to state associations that are members of the NFHS.

All classes of soccer have also adopted a new seeding criteria, one that uses a combined formula from the RPI standings, MaxPreps rankings, and CHSAANow coaches poll to seed the fields after they are determined. Other sports, such as volleyball and field hockey have followed football’s lead in this area in doing the same during their committee meetings this fall.

(Kevin McNearny)

AURORA — All playoff games in Class 5A football will now be hosted by the higher seeded team, a major change in the sport’s postseason format.

The football committee voted to approve the change during its annual meeting on Thursday.

“This recognizes the hard work that it takes over the course of a season to obtain a high seed, and the minimal travel involved in 5A enables those who have earned a higher seed the opportunity to host throughout the playoffs,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Adam Bright, who administers football.

Previously, the classification had used a formula to determine who would host games after the first round, where the team with the fewest home games would host the quarterfinals and semifinals.

Now 5A playoff games will be hosted by the higher seeds, regardless of a the number of home games a team has. The exception, of course, is the championship game, which is held at Mile High.

The committee decided that because the travel wasn’t that great in 5A, the rationale behind the original rule — which centered around teams having to travel in back-to-back weeks, and the expense involved — wasn’t as applicable to the classification as it had been.

“In 5A, you’re talking Fort Collins to Colorado Springs,” said committee chair Chris Noll, the district athletic director of District 11. “You’re talking the I-25 corridor.”

The vote also sparked a discussion among the other classes where they considered doing the same thing. The other classes are going to bring it to their communities to find out their thoughts, specifically in 2A, 3A and 4A, where the championship games are played at neutral sites.

All recommendations from the football committee will need to be approved by the Legislative Council during its meeting in April 2020.

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On drones.

The committee had a long discussion about equal facilities, and a big chunk of it was spent talking about the use of drones at games.

Drones are allowed to be used, so long as the host school district approves them. There was a season-long conversation around drones, and that if one team was using it, whether or not they should be forced to give the other team the feed to create “equal facilities.”

However, the committee decided that drones do not fall under the “equal facilities” requirement listed in the football bulletin.

“I think there’s a difference between facility and technology,” said committee member John Sullivan, the athletic director and coach at Vista PEAK. “And, to me, drones are a technology.”

Added committee member Autumn Sereno, the athletic director at Green Mountain: “You can also take that to another stadium. To me, that’s not a facility.”

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No neutral site for 1A championship.

The committee discussed having the 1A title game at a neutral site, potentially at CSU-Pueblo where it would become a double-header with the 2A game on that day.

They heard feedback from the gallery that the 1A crowds would be more inclined to travel to a home site as opposed to a neutral site in Pueblo, and they also felt that the atmosphere of the game would be hurt.

No one on the committee proposed doing so, and so the game will remain at a home site.

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Discussion around minimum number of players.

The committee had a good discussion about requiring programs to have a minimum number of players in order to field a team.

One thought was to require programs to have 150% of the players that they play with on the field. That would be nine players for 6-man teams, 12 players for 8-man, and 17 players for 11-man.

The thought was that it would help address forfeits that happen late-season, as well as programs who drop their teams in the middle of the season.

According to NFHS rules, teams must begin with the minimum number of players at kickoff — six in 6-man, eight in 8-man, and 11 in 11-man — but are allowed to play with less than the minimum after a game has started.

There have been situations where teams have put a player on the field for kickoff in order to begin play with the minimum number of players, and then don’t play them the rest of the game because they are hurt.

“We often times had a coach in a difficult position, where he has to make a decision on who is healthy enough to play, and putting them out there just for a kickoff, then pulling him,” Bright said.

Additionally, there have been a number of programs who have forfeit games late in the season due to a lack of numbers, or outright cancelled programs mid-season for the season reason.

“We are getting teams that are cancelling in the middle of the season, we are getting forfeits that are causing homecomings to be cancelled, senior nights to be cancelled,” Bright said.

Ultimately, no one on the committee made a motion to bring the proposal up for a vote, so no minimum will be imposed.

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Notables:

• The leagues for the 2020 and 2021 seasons were approved by the Board of Directors in June, and were not discussed at the football committee meeting on Thursday.
• At that same meeting, the Board approved a 24-team playoff for 4A ahead of its 2020 and 2021 seasons. This means they will move to the same schedule as 5A, with no bye week during the regular season.
• 6-man moved to be in line with 1A-5A in how they seed their state playoffs, using the Coaches Poll, RPI, MaxPreps and Packard Rankings in a combined format. 8-man is going to examine doing the same thing and possibly amend the report at Legislative Council after reaching out to its schools.
• Rifle coach/AD Damon Wells proposed expanding the 2A bracket to 24 teams from 16. It sparked a conversation about 1A and 3A doing the same in order to have all 11-man classifications aligned. The proposal will be re-examined at next year’s committee meeting for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
• The committee will explore further addressing competitive equity over the course of the next year. “We’ve got to find a way to get like schools playing each other more often,” Noll said.
• There will no longer be an at-large berth in the 5A football playoffs. League champions will automatically qualify, and the remainder of the field will qualify through the RPI standings. There are two exceptions: The Metro 1 and Metro 2 leagues will only be able to qualify their league champions into the playoff field. And, if the 4A team in the 5A Southern League, Pine Creek, wins the league, the highest-rated 5A team in the final RPI standings of the regular season will automatically qualify for the 5A bracket.
• The committee decided to not require all fields to have a physical play clock.

(Lisa Hayes/StillOfTheMomentPhotography.com)

During its annual meeting, the baseball committee proposed changes to the postseason format, with the most significant coming in Class 2A.

There, the committee has recommended the classification change from a district format to a 32-team bracket with regionals — the same format used in 3A, 4A and 5A.

The proposal, like all that come from committees, will need to be approved by the Legislative Council in April.

In the 2A proposal, all teams will qualify for the bracket via the final RPI standings of the regular season, and also be seeded by the RPI. The top eight seeds will host regionals, and seeds Nos. 20-32 can be moved for geographic reasons. Where possible, the committee will try to avoid first-round matchups with league opponents.

Once at state, the teams would not be reseeded, and instead would play out in bracket order.

That state tournament, too, is proposed to get an overhaul with an eight-team single-elimination bracket. Four first-round games would be played on Thursday, two semifinals on Friday and the championship on Saturday. The classification currently has a 16-team bracket after districts that is played out over two weekends.

The tournament would remain at Runyon Complex in Pueblo.

If 2A were to get rid of districts, they would be able to play 23 regular season games.

The committee also recommended the following changes in other classes:

• Class 1A: A five-district format with the top two teams from each district qualifying for regionals, and the next six selected by RPI. That would make a 16-team regional and state tournament bracket. District champs would be ranked Nos. 1-5, with the top four seeds hosting regionals. The tournament would be seeded by RPI. Currently, 1A has four districts.
• Class 3A: Only league champions would automatically qualify to regionals. To host a region, league champs would need to be in the top 16 of RPI. Single schools from mixed-class leagues must qualify through RPI. Seeding would remain by RPI.
• Class 4A: Each league with more than seven schools would qualify its top two teams to regionals. Each league with six or fewer teams qualify only their league champion. The remainder of the bracket would filled by the RPI standings. Mixed-class leagues with three or fewer teams would have to qualify for regionals through RPI. Seeding would remain by RPI, and the eight regional hosts are determined by using RPI rankings. All league champs in the top 10 get to host a regional tournament. If not all league champions are in the top 10, then next highest-ranking team would host a regional.
• Class 5A: The league champions automatically qualify, and the top eight seeds host regionals, which is not a change. The only change is that mixed-classification leagues can only qualify automatically if they win the league outright.

“Overall, the baseball committee has been pleased with their playoff formats, but felt with an increase of schools in 1A and 2A, both formats needed to be tweaked,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Bert Borgmann, who administers the sport. “The change in 2A is more significant, with the elimination of districts, the 2A schools can now play 23 regular season games.”

If approved, all changes would go into effect starting with the spring 2021 season.

(Tim Bourke/TimBourke.com)

AURORA — The softball committee is recommending some changes to regionals, namely an expansion of the Class 3A field, and a new seeding criteria.

During their meeting this week, the committee proposed an expansion of the 3A regional field from 24 to 32 teams, which would bring it in line with the bracket size in 4A and 5A. The 3A classification is growing to nearly 50 teams next cycle, up from 37 this past cycle.

“CLOC bylaws allowed us to better balance the schools in each of softball’s three classifications,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Bert Borgmann, who oversees softball. “The committee determined that a 32-team bracket served that classification better than the previous 24-team bracket, and aligns it with 4A and 5A.”

The committee also proposed a change to automatic qualifiers, where only teams that win their leagues outright will automatically qualify for the field. This includes teams in mixed-classification leagues.

For example, in the Denver Prep League, there are two 5A teams and seven 4A teams. If one of the 5A teams win the league, they will automatically qualify for the 5A bracket, and no 4A team will be an automatic qualifier. This is similar to a process that is used in volleyball.

Previously, both a league champion and runner-up had automatically qualified if a league had more than six teams. 

“The committee wanted to establish a consistent philosophy for qualifiers in all three classifications,” Borgmann said. “In doing so, they addressed multi-classification leagues, and established the same qualifying format for all three classes. In order to be an automatic qualifier, a school must win their league outright.”

And the committee also recommended a change to how regional seeding is done, and proposed moving toward a three-pronged approach by using the RPI standings, MaxPreps rankings and the CHSAANow coaches poll in a combined formula where each data point is equally weighted.

Field hockey, volleyball and 1A basketball have all recommended a similar approach during their recent committee meetings, and football used four data points to seed its 1A-5A playoffs this past season.

“The committee felt strongly that additional information outside of RPI was necessary for seeding, and is recommending the same seeding format being recommended by volleyball,” Borgmann said.

After the automatic qualifiers are determined, the rest of the 32 regional qualifiers will continue to be set by solely the RPI standings.

The state seeding criteria remains the same, with the regional champions each earning a top eight seed, and seeded according to their pre-regional seed. The eight second-place finishers at the regions will be seeded Nos. 9-16 based upon their pre-regional seed.

All changes need to be approved by the Legislative Council at their meeting in April.

(David Harvey/ImageProPhotography.com)

AURORA — The cross country committee is recommending a new scoring format for the Class 2A state meet, one where teams can get points for their top four runners.

Currently, 2A teams can run six athletes with three of them scoring. The proposal is to run six and score four.

The recommendation, which was unanimous, came out of the committee meeting which was held last week.

This is the third time since 2016 that the committee has voted in favor of the proposals. The past two recommendations have been voted down at Legislative Council.

This approved proposal, too, needs to be approved by Legislative Council when it meets next April.

“We encourage the 2A schools to continue the conversation and outreach to ensure the Legislative Council can make an informed decision on what’s best for 2A,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Jenn Roberts-Uhlig, who oversees cross country.

“This time around, the scoring proposal sparked a second conversation around whether or not it is time to add a 1A classification of cross country,” she added.

Additionally, the committee voted to extend the Norris-Penrose Event Center/Bear Creek Park as the site of the state meet for an additional four years, which would keep the event there through at least 2023.

“We are excited to partner with the Cheyenne Mountain and Colorado Springs communities for the next four years,” Roberts-Uhlig said. “Norris-Penrose and Bear Creek Park continue to elevate the event and be an outstanding venue to showcase student-athletes, schools and the sport of cross country.”