MICHAEL KIRAL

BATON ROUGE – The majority of the items expected to cause controversy were voted down as the Louisiana High School Athletic Association held its General Business Meeting Friday morning at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center. An amendment that would have given principals more say in the transfer of students was defeated by a 104-98 vote. In the amendment, if a student had established an athletic record at the sending LHSAA school, the sending principal had the authority to approve or disapprove the commissioner’s office conducting a bona fide change of residence investigation. If the principal did not authorize the investigation, it would not conducted and the student would be ruled ineligible at the receiving school for one year. If the investigation was authorized, it would be conducted. There was no discussion at the meeting on the item before it was defeated. Three items pertaining to classification were also defeated. In the first, schools would have been required to play in the classification in which they were placed according to their enrollment. In the second, the schools could play up in class but only in the class immediately above the one in which they were placed. And in the third, if a school elected to play up in a class at least two classifications higher than it was placed, it had to play all the way up to the highest classification. An amendment did pass that authorizes the Executive Committee to conduct a study prior to the 2002 Annual Convention on the feasibility of dividing football-playing schools into five classifications in football and in four in all other sports. One heated issue that passed was one that only teams that finished first or tied for first in the district in football would automatically qualify for the state playoffs from that district. In completing the playoff bracket, all other teams qualifying for the state playoffs shall be selected on the basis of the established power rating scheme. The motion passed 111-77. The member principals also approved a change in the state volleyball tournament. Playoff games in the bi-district round will be played on a “home and away” basis in a plan to be developed by the commissioner. Previously, all rounds were held during the state tournament at the Pontchartrain Center. A number of rule changes were made for the state golf playoffs. In order to compete in the girls’ state golf tournament, girls must now first compete in a regional tournament. In both boys’ and girls’ golf, the scores of the two golfers (girls’ golf) and four golfers (boys’ golf) posting the lowest legal scores will be totaled from each days’ round to determine the team’s score for the tournament. In the regionals, the number of qualifying teams for the state tournament will now be based on the number of teams entered in that regional, not the number of teams participating. If a team does not qualify for the state tournament but qualifies four or five medalists, those golfers shall be allowed to compete for team honors at the state tournament. All individuals participating at the state tournament, no matter how they qualified, shall be allowed to compete for medalist honors at state. All tied teams who posted a complete score for first or second shall select a golfer to represent the team in a sudden-victory playoff beginning with the first hole. Lutcher head coach Tim Detillier received the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s Casey Kozminski award Thursday for aiding the media.