NIAA expands state, region tournament formats
Fans of expanded high school playoffs will be pleased with the results of Tuesday’s meeting.
The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association’s Board of Control voted Tuesday at Palace Station to expand the Class 4A state tournament of nonfootball team sports to six teams, as well as expanding region tournaments to include every team.
“Expanding the playoff system to every team, I think that’s a neat thing. Some other states do that, and I’ve heard it’s a great deal,” said Grant Rice, Bishop Gorman athletic director and boys basketball coach. “I think it’s good for all students, not just Gorman students, but students in Las Vegas to get two more teams every year experiencing the state tournament is a great thing.”
For Class 4A basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, tennis and girls volleyball (boys volleyball is only Southern Nevada), the region tournament will include every team and the state tournament will include six teams. The Desert Region and Mountain Region champions will play each other in what is called a Clark County championship game, with the winner receiving a bye along with the Northern Region champion.
The region champions and runners-up will make the state tournament. It was unanimously approved at the recommendation of the realignment committee from a meeting in February.
The idea was to create a balance of teams based on the number of schools in each part of the state. There are 27 Class 4A teams in Southern Nevada and 11 in Northern Nevada.
It also prevents the issue of the top two teams being in the same region and the runner-up missing the state tournament. The suggestion was made at the realignment committee by Spring Valley principal Tam Larnerd, whose girls basketball team was ranked No. 2 but lost to Centennial in the region title game.
A similar thing happened in boys basketball, as No. 2 Clark missed the state tournament.
“In our division, we basically have to win regionals to move on to state, and sometimes a second-place team would have that opportunity,” board president and Clark principal Jill Pendleton said. “It will definitely boost the morale of our programs and increase participation.”
The 4A football postseason will remain the same.
Class 3A’s state tournament will stay the same and consist of two teams from the South and two from the North, with a cross bracket in the semifinals. The region tournament format has yet to be decided, with Valley’s entrance into the class forcing a split into a Sunrise League and Sunset League. It is expected to be voted on at June’s board meeting.
Valley will join the Sunset League, along with Cheyenne, Del Sol, Democracy Prep, Pahrump Valley and Western. The Sunrise League will be Boulder City, Moapa Valley, Rancho, Sunrise Mountain and Virgin Valley.
More preps: Follow all of our Nevada Preps coverage online at nevadapreps.com and @NevadaPreps on Twitter.
Contact Justin Emerson at jeme
