CHSAA changes track qualifying

    AURORA - It took some compromise, but Colorado's best high school track and field athletes will gather at one venue again for the first time in 14 years.

    A proposal, which was tabled in January, that would've eliminated regional qualifying meets in favor of a 12-week season rankings system to determine state qualifiers in track and field for an all-classifications meet at one site passed Thursday during the Colorado High School Activities Association board meeting.

    But how the four classes qualify for state will be different. The proposal passed only after allowing 2A and 3A schools to continue using regionals to determine state qualifiers.

    The top three athletes in each event at regionals, along with pre-qualifiers, will advance to state as they do now.

    The 4A and 5A schools will adopt the alternate method, in which athletes will be ranked by a Web site, Varvee.com.

    The top 16 or 18 athletes after the last scheduled meet - Week 12, the same week as 2A and 3A regionals - advance to the semifinals at the state meet site.

    "This proposal is meant to give us the best kids at state over a 12-week period," CHSAA assistant commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green said.

    The site for the first allclassifications meet since 1995 will be either Denver's Jefferson County Stadium or the University of Northern Colorado track and field facility.

    In basketball, the Class A state tournament will include 16 district winners instead of eight.

    Motions that failed included:

    - Allowing practice over winter break.

    - Expanding the allowed number of softball games from 19 to 22.

    - Allowing football teams with Week Zero games to start practice five days earlier and use a bye week for a scrimmage.