Classification Changes Among Approvals at Legislative Council

LONE TREE – The Colorado High School Activities Association held its first of two Legislative Council meetings at the DCSD Legacy Campus on Tuesday, and the biggest changes to come from the meeting were proposed by the Classification and League Organization Committee (CLOC).

The CLOC met in December to put together proposals for this next two-year cycle (2026-28). The changes put forward by the committee through CR 2 were all approved by the Legislative Council today:

A second classification for both esports and unified bowling, giving both a 5A and 4A classification.
Formal classification splits were set for all sports, with the group adjusting the splits for three sports/activities in the process: speech & debate, basketball and soccer.
Primary league placement, the overwhelming majority of which was set by member schools, got a stamp of approval.
The group also approved secondary league placement in the sport of football.
Vanguard Classical School (East) was approved for full CHSAA membership status.
Seven schools were moved to Probationary Status: Arma Dei Academy, St. John Paul the Great, Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Victory, DSST: Elevate, DSST: Cole, DSST: Aurora School of Science & Technology, and Ascent Classical Northern.

Individual sport changes include:

Baseball: Remove district playoffs for 1A, change the format for the 2A-5A state championships, and move the end of the regular season from Tuesday to Monday.
Esports: Change to two classifications system for both fall and spring games.
Golf: Remove Double Par and Model Local Rule E-5 from the state championships; other adjustments to the details of the state championship events.
Gymnastics: Qualifiers out of regionals to state may vary based on the number of teams in each classification
Soccer: Change the overtime period from 15 minutes to 10 minutes and extend the girls soccer regular season by one additional week, adding that week to the end of the season.
Swimming & Diving: Add the use of backstroke ledges at the state championships (not mandatory for the regular season), and move the start of the girls swimming and diving season to the Monday of Week 19 in the NFHS Calendar (ATH 1).
Tennis: Realign regionals based upon the preliminary classification numbers for the 2026-28 cycle.
Unified Bowling: Change to two classification system.
Volleyball: Allow for boys volleyball teams to use a non-smooth (textured) ball for competition

These additional changes were also approved:

Athletic Transfer: Clarify and strengthen the definition of “coach” within the context of athletic-motivated transfers.
Budget: Membership dues and participation fees will increase by 2% next school year and for each of the next three years.
International Transfer Students: Ensure that international students who are not part of an approved educational exchange program are held to the same eligibility standards as domestic transfer students.
Member School: With the development of more online, hybrid and multi-school districts, utilize verbiage and school types already defined by the CDE to define what a member school may/may not be.
Restricted Varsity: Replace the calendar-based standard for restricted varsity to a consistent, competition-based measure (specifically, designate a certain number of contests or meets).
Scrimmage Dates & Foundation Games: Clarifies language around Foundation Games and Scrimmage Dates to align with the intent of the original bylaw and current practices.
Video Appeal for Ejection Due to a Physical Act: Allow officials organizations to review ejections based on any physical act to ensure the call was correct.

The meeting concluded with a nomination of four new CHSAA Board of Directors members to replace those with terms expiring this year: Gregg Hawkins (Palisade, District 1), Karl Buck (Centaurus, District 2), Kevin Bendjy (District 5) and Rock Lovato (Alamosa, District 8). Votes will be tallied for approval of these nominations during the April Legislative Council.