The N.C. High School Athletic Association has finalized details for postseason competition in the new realignment.

On Wednesday, the NCHSAA Board of Directors voted on a series of proposals that will shape the way the postseason works as it moves towards expanding to eight classifications next school year.

Among the decisions that were made, the NCHSAA will use a straight forward RPI formula to determine the playoffs in all seeded sports. Regular season conference champions and conference tournament champions will no longer be guaranteed a berth to the playoffs, instead the playoffs will be determined based solely on a team’s RPI.

The RPI formula, which will be run through MaxPreps, will included a 40% weight on a team’s winning percentage, a 40% weight on their opponents’ winning percentage, and a 20% weight on the winning percentage of their opponents’ opponents.

The RPI formula was adopted by a unanimous vote.

Strength of schedule, margin of victory, the classification of opponents, and previous seasons will not be part of the RPI formula. The board said it did not want to include margin of victory as a factor because it did not want to encourage teams to run up the score on opponents.

The decision to move forward with the proposal was made after several months of discussion and after considering various RPI formulas.

Some board members raised concerns about not guaranteeing conference champions a playoff berth. However, with so many split conferences in the upcoming realignment, most board members felt it was going to be difficult to guarantee berths.

With 48 teams making the playoffs ins 1A-7A classes and 24 teams qualifying in the 8A class, the board felt it was unlikely a conference champion would be left out of the playoffs based on their RPI.

The NCHSAA Board of Directors approved the playoff bracket structure earlier this spring for team sports.

How individual championships will work with 8 classes

The NCHSAA Bylaw Committee submitted a proposal to the board outlining the structure for individual state championships in the upcoming realignment.

The board voted 16-0 to adopt the proposal on Wednesday morning.

Swimming & Diving

Instead of holding three regional championships in swimming & diving, the NCHSAA will hold two regional championships — one in the East, one in the West. Two state championships will be held concurrently, meaning the time to complete a state championship will likely increase by about one hour.

Golf

Boys golf will hold three regional championships and girls golf will hold two regional championships. Come state championship time, one class will start off the front nine and another will start off the back nine, allowing the NCHSAA to hold two state championships at one location.

The iWanamaker platform will be required for all schedules and scoring of regional and state championships. Matches and tournaments not using the iWanamaker platform will be required to manually enter results within 48 hours of the content.

In the regular season, iWanamaker must be used for scehdules and results. Any match or tournament not using the platform will be required to manually input results within 48 hours of the contest.

Wrestling

The number of wrestlers qualifying for the individual state championships will drop from 16 to 8. There will be two regional championships in each classification, with the top four from each regional advancing to the state championships. The 1A, 2A, 3A, and 4A classifications will wrestle in a combined tournament, while the 5A, 6A, 7A, and 8A classifications will each have their own championships.

The N.C. Wrestling Coaches Association wants to take all necessary steps to keep the state championships at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Cross Country

In the 1A-7A classifications, the NCHSAA will hold three regional championships. There will be two regional championships at the 8A classification. The top six teams and the top seven individuals not on a qualifying team will advance to the state championships.

The state championships will move to a two-day event with four classifications competing each day.

Indoor Track & Field

The NCHSAA will keep 12 entries in all relay events and adjust the number of qualifers from 16 entries to 12 entries in the individual events. This decision was made due to the lane size at the JDL Fast Track.

Outdoor Track & Field

The NCHSAA will keep the top 16 entries in all relay events and in individual events.

Tennis

The NCHSAA will not require conference tournaments be played in tennis. Every school will send two doubles teams and two singles players to a pre-regional to compete for the opportunity to advance to the regional championships.

From the pre-regionals, 16 doubles and 16 singles would advance to regionals. The top two from each regional would advance to the state tournament for a total of eight qualifiers per class.

What constitutes a team in high school sports?

The Bylaw Committee was also tasked with identifying how many athletes playing a sport would constitute a team. The board has approved the following definition:

• Swimming & Diving: 6 participating athletes; This is the minimum number of athletes required to have an entry in every event
• Golf: 3 scoring in girls; 4 scoring in boys
• Wrestling: 8 participating wrestlers in boys; 7 participating wrestlers in girls
• Track & Field (Indoor & Outdoor): At least 2 participating athletes for boys and girls
• Cross Country: At least 5 participating athletes for boys and girls
• Tennis: At least 4 participating athletes