At some point this year…
a coach, athletic director, athlete,
parent or fan will ask you about the
IHSA’s postseason assignments. This
presentation is designed to show you
how that process works.
ONE CLASS
 Boys & Girls Bowling
 Boys & Girls Gymnastics
 Boys & Girls Swimming
& Diving
 Boys & Girls Tennis
 Boys Volleyball
 Boys & Girls Water Polo
 Girls Badminton
 Competitive Dance
 All other activities
TWO CLASS (A, AA)
 Girls Golf
 Scholastic Bowl
THREE CLASS (1A, 2A, 3A)
 Boys & Girls Cross Country
 Boys Golf
 Boys & Girls Soccer
 Boys & Girls Track & Field
 Boys Wrestling
FOUR CLASS (1A, 2A, 3A, 4A)
 Baseball
 Boys & Girls Basketball
 Cheerleading
 Softball
 Girls Volleyball
EIGHT CLASS (1A – 8A)
 Football Playoffs
INDIVIDUAL
 Girls Badminton
 Boys & Girls Bowling
 Boys & Girls Cross
Country
 Boys & Girls Golf
 Boys & Girls Gymnastics
 Boys & Girls Swimming &
Diving
 Boys & Girls Tennis
 Boys & Girls Track & Field
 Boys Individual Wrestling
TEAM BRACKETED
 Baseball
 Boys & Girls Basketball
 Football
 Boys & Girls Soccer
 Softball
 Boys & Girls Volleyball
 Boys & Girls Water Polo
 Dual Team Wrestling
TEAM
 Cheerleading
 Dance
INDIVIDUAL
 Regional
i
 Sectional
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 State Final
or
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Sectional
i
State Final
TEAM BRACKETED
 Regional (32 sites)
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 Sectional (8 sites) *
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 Super-Sectional (4) **
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 State Final
* Some start at Sectionals
** No Super-Sectionals for
Water Polo, Boys Volleyball
or Dual Team Wrestling
GEOGRAPHIC PRINCIPLE
 1. The State Series is designed to determine a State
Champion. The State Series is not intended to necessarily
advance the best teams in the state to the State Final.
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2. Representation in an IHSA State Final Tournament is
determined on a geographic basis — that is, schools
advancing to the State Final Tournament (or in Boys Football,
the State Final Game) qualify from given geographical areas
of the state. Pairings for the State Final Tournament are
determined every year in a drawing that is open to the
media/public.
3. The number of schools in a State Final Tournament, and
levels of competition in the State Series, are determined by
the number of schools entered in the series.
ELEMENTS THAT FACTOR INTO ASSIGNING
 1. Number of schools entered in state series and their
locations; and,
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2. Classification of schools in the state series.
3. In individual state series tournaments/meets, the
number of schools with full teams assigned to the
beginning competition is balanced as much as possible.
Travel distance to the tournament/meet site could justify
an imbalance in the number of schools assigned to a
site.
ELEMENTS THAT DO NOT FACTOR INTO ASSIGNING
 1. Won-lost records of the schools;
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2. Strengths or weaknesses of the schools in a
geographic area;
3. Anticipated or potential revenue; and
4. Individual, private requests of schools and/or
coaches.
IHSA MAPPING PROGRAM & HOW WE ASSIGN
 Blank map
 Clicking hosts and schools to assign
ASSINGING SECTIONALS
 Assigning backward, Sectional first
 Numerical balance, must stay within two schools in each
Sectional to assure contest balance.
I.E 171 Schools = (1-23, 1-22, 6-21 or
4-22, 3-21, 1-20, )
 Assign central placeholder site, then review data to see
who is willing and able to host.
Completed Map
 Human Element
ASSINGING REGIONALS
 Four Regionals per Sectional in team bracketed sports
 Try to keep balance (20 team Sectional, equals 4
Regionals of 5), but other factors could force
unbalanced, Policy 19 provides autonomy for
administrator to choose
 Take our time, play with assignments…once set…assign
CHOOSING HOSTS
 Host factors (history, facility, ability to host)
 Host sites change geography and travel,
 But can’t change assignments or numbers become
unbalanced
INDIVIDUAL SPORT NOTES
 The goal when assigning for individual sports is to try
and bring balance to the number of team entries and
individual entries assigned to each site.

Anomalies will exist where a certain geographic area
will contain significantly more individuals than teams or
vice versa. The Policy allows each administrator some
leeway to work through those situations.
OUTLIERS & EXCEPTIONS
 Some sports only have smaller numbers of participating
schools, many of which are generally located in the
same geographic area, such as water polo, gymnastics
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Less schools, still not easy or less controversial
In four class sports, the southern Sectional is often made
up of just 16 teams.
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Only IHSA sport that requires postseason qualification.
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256 qualifiers – 8 classes – 32 teams per class
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All teams with six wins or more qualify. Some 5-4
teams will not qualify based on tiebreakers.
1st tiebreaker is combined total of all nine opponents
wins during the regular-season.
2nd tiebreaker is combined total of victories from the
five teams that your school defeated.
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“Why am I in a different Sectional for Softball than I am
for Volleyball?”
“I want to schedule teams from my Regional and
Sectional during the regular-season. Will the group of
schools I am assigned with change from year to year?”
“Why does my Regional have four teams with 20 wins
and the best team in that other Regional is barely
.500?”
“Why did my school travel north for Regionals &
Sectionals last year, but this year is assigned to go
South?”
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All seeding conducted online
Records, rankings, other information taken into
account at this time.
Seeded at the lowest level of the tournament in all
team bracketed sports in Class 1A and 2A sports
In Class 3A & 4A, in the Chicago suburban area, all
tournament State Series will begin with a Sectional
Complex.
In all other cases, team bracketed sports begin with
true geographic Regionals.
POWER RATING ATTRIBUTES
 License Level
 Exam Score
 Annual Rules Change Meeting Credit
 Previous State Series Experience
 Ratings by coaches and officials
 Top 15 lists from schools and officials
 Clinic attendance and level
 Varsity games worked
“The IHSA serves member schools by providing
leadership for equitable participation in
interscholastic athletics and activities that enrich the
educational experience.”
Presi link
The IHSA offers state
series in 37 sports and
activities and governs the
interscholastic
competition of all
emerging sports and
activities.
IHSA activities such as music (solo &
ensemble and organizational contest),
speech (individual events),
drama/group interpretation, debate,
journalism, chess, bass fishing,
scholastic bowl, and spirit
activities (sideline cheerleading,
dance, poms, drill, & flags) are where
young people learn lifelong lessons.
At a cost of only approximately 3
% (or less in many cases) of an
overall school budget, high
school activity programs are one
of the best bargains around!
There are no entry fees for our
activity state series and only a
few have minor event fees to
cover the cost of judges.
Activities foster
citizenship.
 Activities support the
schools mission.
 Activities are inherently
educational.
 Activities develop success
later in life.

Students who spend no time
in extracurricular activities
are 57% more likely to drop
out of school, 49% more
likely to use drugs, 37% more
likely to become teen parents
and 27% more likely to be
arrested.
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Students involved in
interscholastic activities stay
more involved in the
community after graduation.
Students are more socially
involved.
Interscholastic participation is
correlated to a positive impact
on female and minority
students.
 Interscholastic
activities
provide:
• Boundaries for students
• Achievement motivation for
students
• Planning and decision
making skills for students
 Each
activity home page
contains specific contest
terms and conditions and
competition information
 Questions
can be
addressed to the
specific administrator
 Entry
questions can
be addressed to Tammy Craig
at tcraig@ihsa.org
 Check
the activity tracker
to follow your entries
“The IHSA serves member schools by
providing leadership for equitable participation
in interscholastic athletics and activities that
enrich the educational experience.”
• All State Academic Team Sponsor
26 student-athletes recognized each year
Member schools can nominate one boy and one
girl
Applications are posted online through the
Schools Center and will be available in early
December
All-State
Academic Team
Banquet
• April 20th
• DoubleTree Hotel, Bloomington

Recognizes students who in the classroom while
participating in IHSA sponsored sports or activities
• The student must currently be a junior or senior in an IHSA
member school.
• The student must have completed at least one full season in an
IHSA interscholastic activity in good standing.
• The student must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 on a 4.0
scale, or the equivalent on an alternate scale, after the 5th or
7th semester.
Each member school principal or official representative
should notify the IHSA office in writing as to the number of
eligible students they have in their school. The IHSA will
send member schools a certificate of recognition for each
eligible student.

When one of your qualifying teams achieves a 3.0 grade
point average for their entire season, a representative at
your school will simply have the sport and year engraved
on the plate and attached to the plaque. A seasonal report
will be submitted to the IHSA informing the IHSA on the
number of teams recognized during each season.

1st and 2nd Quarter Grades: All Fall Sports/Activities January 15th
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2nd and 3rd Quarter Grades: All Winter Sports/Activities
-April 15

3rd and 4th Quarter Grades- June 30

The SAC is a diverse group of students who
participate in interscholastic athletics/activities
and are focused on providing education and
leadership through open and honest
communication with all member school students,
administrators and coaches. The committee serves
as a liaison between students, administrators, the
IHSA Staff and Board of Directors. The Student
Advisory Committee promotes the ideals of the
IHSA, including leadership, sportsmanship and
integrity.

SAC Nomination Process
• Any IHSA member school Administrator may
nominate a freshman and/or sophomore male and
female to be a member of the IHSA Student Advisory
Committee.
• There is no limit to the number of students
nominated from a school but no more than one
student from a school will serve on the committee at
a time.
Nomination forms can be found online by clicking on
the Advisory Committee page link followed by Student
Advisory Committee.
IHSA By-law 3.101
IHSA Policy #15

IHSA By-law 3.101 prohibits a student from
participating on a non-school team or in non-school
competition in the sport or any skill of a sport at the
time the student is a member of a school team in that
same sport. During the school term, special
permission may be granted to permit a student to
compete in a non-school event during the school
season in competitions which are directly sanctioned
by the national governing body for the sport or its
official Illinois affiliate. No student may participate in
more than three (3) approved non-school
competitions during a sports season.
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A request must be faxed to the IHSA Office no later
than ten (10) days prior to the date of any
competition.
Verification from the National Governing Body for
that sport or its official Illinois affiliate indicating it
is directly sanctioning the event is required with
the fax.
No student may participate in more than three (3)
approved non-school competitions. during a sports
season
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Badminton-USA Badminton
Baseball-USA Baseball
Basketball-USA Basketball (USAB)
Bowling-USA Bowling
Diving-United States Diving, Inc. (USD)
Golf-United States Golf Association (USGA)
Gymnastics-USA Gymnastics
Soccer-United States Soccer Federation (USSF)
Softball-USA Softball
Swimming-United States Swimming, Inc. (USS)
Tennis-United States Tennis Association (USTA)
Track & Field-USA Track & Field (USATF)
Triathlon-USA Triathlon Association
Volleyball-USA Volleyball (USAV)
Water Polo-United States Water Polo, Inc. (USWP)
Wrestling-USA Wrestling
Policy 8 pg. 90
Sanctioning enhances the likelihood that events will
adhere to sound and detailed criteria which meets
the specific requirements of a state association.
 Sanctioning serves to promote sound regulation of
the conditions under which students and teams
compete.
 Sanctioning is a means of encouraging wellmanaged rules and regulations.
 Sanctioning adds an element of “due diligence” that
encourages compliance with state associations’ rules
and regulations.
 Sanctioning protects the welfare of the studentathletes.

 Sanctioning
helps reduce the abuses of
excessive competition.
 Sanctioning promotes uniformity in
obtaining approval for events.
 Sanctioning helps protect students from
exploitation.
 Interstate and International sanctioning
at the NFHS level promotes financial
transparency and equivalency of
treatment of participating high schools.
a) Any interstate event involving two (2) or more
schools which is co-sponsored by or titled in the
name of an organization outside the high school
community (e.g., a university, a theme park, and an
athletic shoe/apparel company).
b) Non-bordering events if five (5) or more states are
involved.
c) Non-bordering events if more than eight (8) schools
are involved.
d) Any event involving two (2) or more schools that
involves a team from a foreign country. The host school
should complete the international sanction application.
(The exceptions to this rule are Canada and Mexico,
which are considered bordering states).
www.nfhs.org/sanctioning
 The
host school is the school who
assumes the accountability of the being
responsible for the event.
 The
host school’s principal assumes
oversight responsibility for the event by
being either present onsite during the
event, either in person or by designee.
 Can
a host school be responsible for an
event outside of that state (e.g. Illinois
high school signing off as the host school
for a Florida event) ?
 No, it
is NFHS board policy, that the host
school shall be in the same state of the
event in the event something occurs at
the event, then the principal or his/her
designee could quickly assess and report
 Applications
must be completed 60 days
prior to the event start date.
• The initial list of schools must be submitted upon
application
• The final list of schools must be submitted 20
days prior to the contest
 Host
states must then approve the event
 Participating states must approve the
event
 NFHS approves the event

$100 if the application is received 60 days or more prior to the
event date

$200 if application is received 15-59 days prior to the event
date ($100 application fee plus $100 penalty)

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$200 penalty if the application is received less than 15 days
prior the event date plus an additional $100 penalty for not
forwarding the list of actual entries 20 days prior to the event
date for a total of $300 ($100 application fee plus $200
penalty)
$300 penalty if the application is received less than 15 days
prior the event date plus an additional $100 penalty for not
forwarding the list of actual entries 20 days prior to the event
date for a total of $600 ($200 application fee plus $400 penalty
fees)
 Other
School Forms