Majority of ADs support adding another class of girls golf, tennis and swimming

Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com

AURORA — The overwhelming majority of athletic directors who responded to a CHSAA survey indicated they were in favor of adding additional classifications for girls golf, girls tennis and girls swimming and diving.

It may signal that each of those sports are ready to add a third classification as soon as 2016.

“It would give us a chance to provide more opportunities for our young ladies around the state,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Bethany Brookens, who oversaw the survey. “And this potential move could help schools add teams if they don’t already have one.”

The CHSAA office sent a survey to all athletic directors around the state on Dec. 11. As of Thursday, 151 had responded. When asked if they were “in favor of adding additional classifications” in girls golf, tennis and swimming, 74.2 percent responded yes, 9.3 percent said no, and 16.6 percent responded that they were unsure.

The question was asked in large part because of the new CLOC philosophy, which is seeking to evenly divide teams among classifications. That CLOC report is up for approval at January’s Legislative Council meeting.

“Part of the impetus of that (new CLOC philosophy) was there are sports that lend themselves to more classes than we currently have,” said CHSAA commissioner Paul Angelico. “Using the current method (of dividing classifications), we could never get there because there aren’t enough smaller schools.”

Currently, girls swimming and diving, girls golf and girls tennis each have two classifications. Should the CLOC report pass in January, it would leave the following splits for those sports:

• Girls golf: 154 teams, 77 in each class
• Girls tennis: 148 teams, 74 in each class
• Girls swim and dive: 122 teams, 61 in each class

It was those numbers which raised the possibility of adding additional classes. In fact, girls golf and girls tennis have the highest number of teams in each classification of any sport. The average number of teams per classification in other sports is 54.

Should each sport add a third classification, the breakdown would be as follows:

• Girls golf: 51 per class
• Girls tennis: 49 per class
• Girls swim and dive: 40 per class

Girls swimming used to divide its teams evenly back in the mid 1990s — “and I felt there was more competitive balance then than we have now,” Angelico said.

This move all hinges on the CLOC report passing in January, though. The three sports cannot seek to add a third classification unless that happens. Should the report pass, a league would need to then bring a proposal to add the classifications at the April Legislative Council meeting.

If that doesn’t happen, the three sports couldn’t add a class until the 2018-20 cycle because CLOC needs to set alignment for 2016-18 at its November 2015 meeting.

However, assuming the CLOC report passes in January, the three sports each adding a third class seems likely to happen beginning with the 2016-17 season.

“It should encourage those programs to grow because there will be more competitive balance,” Angelico said.

The last sport to add a classification was girls soccer, which added 2A. That begins this coming spring.