On Monday of this week, the Montana High School Association held their January meeting in Butte, where they voted on a variety of potential changes to high school sports. The changes most likely to affect sports in Broadus are the inclusion of a 35 second shot clock in basketball for the 2022-23 school year, and the inclusion of 8th grade participation in high school sports in all sports other than football.
Broadus Athletic Director Mike Richards attended the meeting in Butte, and was among the group who led the push to include 8th grade participation in high school athletics. Richards spearheaded the effort with the help of Brenner Flaten, Glasgow Schools Activities Director, with the goal of opening up participation in a more equitable manner for participants in more than just basketball, volleyball, and the track relay, which were allowed previous to the newest changes. Schools looking to include participation in those sports had to ask for MHSA approval, and Broadus has used 8th graders in high school in the past in both volleyball and basketball.
Richards tells us that he spoke to a number of Class C activities directors in the eastern portions of the state while championing the cause, while Flaten pushed for the inclusion in other schools. Previous attempts to for 8th grade participation in all sports failed, but this time around the initial vote was very close – out of 159 voting schools at the meeting, the initial tally was 105 yeses to 44 no votes – just one vote shy of passing. The board called for another vote to make sure, and this time around there were 104 yeses. A roll call vote then found 109 votes, passing the 2/3 majority to pass.
The inclusion of 8th grade sports is likely to affect Broadus primarily in wrestling, cross country, and potentially track (an 8th grade student must decide whether to participate in jh or hs, they cannot compete in both, and track is the only sport in Broadus with concurrently running seasons). Since those sports are individual sports with a team aspect in total number of athletes, the potential addition of more players will be helpful to fill out weight classes in wrestling and make for more competitive teams in cross country. Wrestling in particular, where competition is between wrestlers of similar weight classes regardless of age, potentially stands to benefit the most from the change.
8th grade participation will still be dependent on the choice of local boards, and 8th graders participating at the high school level will now be subject to the same transfer rules as high schoolers, according to Richards.
When it came to the shot clock, Richards noted the school was looking to place an order very soon for a clock so as to hopefully have the clock installed in time for summer basketball, ensuring the teams time to prepare before next season begins.
Montana will be the 11th state to allow shot clocks at the high school level.
Richards commented that the changes implemented this week in Montana are not being done experimentally – North Dakota has had 8th grade participation in high school athletics for years, and a shot clock has also been used at the high school level.
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