Kinue Miller | SL

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Kinue Miller | SL

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WAIKOLOA, Hawaii — The 65th annual Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association conference got underway Tuesday afternoon at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Kohala coast of the Big Island. 

Athletics administrators from all five members leagues, representing nearly all 100 member schools of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association are gathered at the 62-acre oceanfront resort to address a list of 69 proposals/concerns over the course of the three-day conference. 

The athletic directors are split into four groups, with each group tasked to lead discussion of and voting upon approximately 15 proposals. Following the opening general assembly of the conference, ADs met in their initial breakout sessions to introduce each concern brought to HIADA. They conducted a straw poll vote in committee, then gathered by league later that evening. 

The groups will reconvene Wednesday for another round of voting. Any measures that pass out of committee will be brought to the floor of the final general assembly Thursday morning, where it will be voted upon by the entire HIADA body. Any items that gain HIADA recommendation will then be forwarded that afternoon to the HHSAA Executive Board, which can approve, deny or amend any HIADA recommendations. 

Three of the proposals of note are assigned to Group 3, including two that pertain to track and field. Item 3.13, brought forward by the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, seeks to remove the per-school entry limit for individual events in favor of accepting the top 24 overall entrants. 

Under the current format, each school is permitted to enter up to three athletes in a single event, provided his or her mark/time qualifies among the top 24 statewide. However, if a fourth individual from the same school is within the top 24 qualifying mark, he or she would not be eligible to participate in the state championship meet. 

According to one athletic administrator involved in the closed-door meeting, the proposal was not well-received by most of the group during the straw poll. 

Another measure, introduced by the HHSAA, seeks to implement a tie-breaking procedure for the final team standings. Under the proposal, the team with the most first-place finishes would earn the tiebreaker. If the teams remain tied, then the team with the most individual runner-up finishes would win. 

Currently, the HHSAA state championship meet does not utilize a tiebreaker, which came into play at last month's Island Movers/HHSAA State Championships. Punahou and Mid-Pacific each finished with 62 points to finish atop the final girls' team standings. The Buffanblu and Owls subsequently were tabbed co-champions. 

The only other instance of a shared team state title came in 1994, when Kalaheo and Moanalua finished as co-state champions in the final girls' standings. 

The National Federation of High Schools does not have specific guidance with regard to tiebreakers, but rather defers to each state association to determine a tie-breaking procedure. 

Two measures pertaining to girls' flag football, both introduced by the HHSAA, were also discussed in Group 3. Item 3.2 seeks to allow for the kicking of field goals, which is currently not permitted as teams are required to either go for it on fourth down or declare its intention to punt (fake punts are not allowed). The other measure, Item 3.3, proposes the expansion of the playing field from the current dimensions of 80 yards by 40 yards to 100 yards in length by 160 feet in width. 

The ILH also introduced a proposal to essentially flop the timing of the swimming and diving and girls' water polo seasons. That is, to move swimming and diving from the winter to the spring and realign girls' water polo from the spring to the winter. In its rationale, the league cited the decreased participation in girls' water polo as a result of the addition of sports such as surfing and girls' flag football, both to the spring season. The shift would align Hawaii more closely with much of the rest of the nation, which largely conducts girls' water polo during the winter season. 

One item in Group 2 seeks the implementation of the so-called "designated runner" procedure — otherwise known as the international tie-breaker — that is utilized in Major League Baseball regular-season games that go to extra innings to be used for all HHSAA baseball state tournament games. 

Also, the ILH introduced a proposal — Item 1.12 — that would lead to the creation of an eight-team Division III state tournament for the sport of girls volleyball.

Aside from the second day of voting in groups, Wednesday's agenda includes a panel discussion, two workshop speakers, as well as an awards dinner that traditionally recognizes longtime contributors to prep sports.