NSAA adds shot clock for all classes, splits girls wrestling into 2 classes
Class B will grow by five schools in several sports, the shot clock is headed for all classes and girls wrestling will be split into two classes after action taken Thursday by the NSAA board.
Class B will grow by five schools next season in basketball, volleyball and cross country.
The NSAA Board Thursday approved increasing the total number of schools in Classes A and B from 60 to 65. Schools expected to move up to Class B are Nebraska City, Omaha Gross, Aurora, Douglas County West and Wahoo in boys basketball and Lincoln Standing Bear, Omaha Gross, Aurora, Sidney and Platteview in girls basketball and volleyball.
In terms of number of schools, Class B has been the smallest class. But opening in the past two years have been five schools -- two in Omaha, two in Lincoln and one in Gretna -- that have pushed some traditionally Class B schools into Class C1.
Class A is for schools with a three-grade enrollment (9-10-11) of 850 or more. Class B consists of the remaining schools, now cut off at 65, based on boy or girl enrollment.
Class A will be unchanged for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. Class B, like the rest of the classes, is reclassified annually except for football.
As expected, the Board voted to adopt the shot clock for basketball in all classes and create a second class for girls wrestling. A format for next year's boys and girls wrestling state meets has not been determined.
By a 6-2 vote, the interim tag was removed from Executive Director Jennifer Schwartz. She will receive a two-year contract.
Schwartz came to the NSAA in 2002 from Omaha Westside, where she was an assistant athletic director. She was associate executive director for four years when the NSAA Board in December 2022 named her the interim replacement for Jay Bellar, who retired last June.
The two dissenters, Jon Cerny of Bancroft-Rosalie and Troy Unzicker of Alliance, had applied for the position during the job search in 2022.
Postseason play will change in Class C1 and C2 basketball and volleyball. In each of those sports in each class, there will now be 10 subdistricts instead of 12.
Schools will be grouped into regions. The Western region will have one subdistrict for the five or six westernmost schools. The other three regions will have 15 to 18 teams grouped into three subdistricts based on a serpentine assignment based on the NSAA point standings.
The 10 subdistrict winners and the next six teams from the point standings advance to the district final elimination round. The eight highest seeds will host those games.
In Class C softball, subdistricts statewide will become determined by the serpentine method and the point standings.
In boys golf, Scottsbluff/Gering, Grand Island and Columbus will be state tournament sites from 2025 to 2028. A fourth site is still needed.
NSAA assistant director Jon Dolliver, in charge of golf, said fewer cities bid than in the past. Tournament sites may have to be done year-to-year and the NSAA may have to start paying course rental fees.
Among the rejected proposals were an attempt to raise from 47 to 51 the boys enrollment maximum for eight-man football playoff eligibility while adding a third eight-man class.
