5 October 2023
Boys volleyball will be played in the spring when it joins the Minnesota high school sports calendar in the 2024-25 school year, the Minnesota State High School League board of directors voted Thursday.
That’s the same season during which the club version of the sport was played before it was added as an official MSHSL sport in the spring.
Sustainability and growth potential were cited as two of the primary reasons for the decision to put boys volleyball in the spring. The fall season was the other option considered. That’s when the high school girls season is held.
The MSHSL board also approved a change to the team state tournament seeding setup. Previously, team sports with eight state tournament teams in a class were seeded No. 1-5, with the other three teams assigned first-round opponents by random draw.
That’s still a possibility under the new seeding setup. Each sport can select from one of the three following seeding options:
— Teams are seeded No. 1-5, with random draw for the other three teams’ first-round opponents (the current setup).
— Teams are seeded No. 1-8.
— Teams are not seeded, and will be matched up at state according to a scheduled yearly rotation that matches up certain section winners against one another.
The latter is the setup used by football in every class except Class 6A. The smaller football classes attempted to change their seeding setup, as well, proposing that once state tournament teams reached the semifinals, the four remaining teams be seeded No. 1-4 to determine semifinal opponents. That motion failed by a 10-9 vote.
Briefly
— Track and field will add a 400-meter race in the wheelchair division at the section and state levels, starting in 2024. The sport also will use a new method to calculate qualifying standards for the state meet. The new standard will be determined by taking the average of the performance of the ninth-place finisher in the state prelims over the previous three seasons.
— The state softball tournament will now be conducted over three days instead of two.
— The state cross country meet featured free admission at its previous site, St. Olaf College. This year, the meet will be held at Les Bolstad Golf Course on the University of Minnesota campus, and admission will be charged — $13 for adults, and $8 for students. The pricing mimics that of the state track and field meet.
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