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Chapel Hill – The N.C. High School Athletic Association Board of Directors met April 29-30 and made changes to rules in almost every sports.
The directors met over two days at NCHSAA offices, where they discussed agenda items before taking action on April 30. They approved playoffs structure for individual events, as well as finance and policy items.
In golf, there will be three regional tournament sites for boys and two for girls. For championships, two will be conducted at the same site, with one class starting on the front nine and one off the back nine.
Wrestling qualifiers were reduced from 16 to eight. There will be two regionals for each class in wrestling, and the top for from each regional will advance to the state championship. The classes will be 1A-4A combined, then 5A, 6A, 7A and 8A.
In cross country, the top six teams and top seven individuals not on a qualifying team at regional meets will advance to the state championships. Classes 1A-7A will have three regionals meets – with one for East, Central and West regionals – and 8A will have two regionals meets, with one each for East and West. The cross-country state championships will become a two-day event, with four classifications competing each day.
For outdoor track and field, the top 16 entries in relay events and 16 entries in individual events qualify for playoff meets.
In indoor track, the top 12 entries in relay events and 12 entries for individual events qualify for playoff meets. In swimming and diving, regionals will decrease from three sites – East, Central and West – to just East and West regional meets.
The NCHSAA board also approved finance and personnel items. For example, directors approved the use of cash for payment at state playoff events.
Playoff tickets will experience an increase for the first time since 2018. For most first- and second-round contests will be $10 per ticket.
The price will increase incrementally in the third and fourth rounds, then again for regional and state championships. Football and basketball championship game tickets will be $20.
In policy, the NCHSAA approved extended skill development sessions from 1.5 hours to 2 hours. They also approved alignment of NCHSAA Regions with N.C. Board of Education districts as it relates to the board of directors.
With the new alignment, the Smoky Mountain Conference will once again be a 1A/2A conference. Two teams will also join the SMC – Rosman is rejoining, and the conference is welcoming Summit Charter. Both additions will be 1A. Rosman will be Big Smoky, while Summit Charter will be Little Smoky come basketball season.
Murphy, Hayesville, Cherokee and Swain County are moving to 2A. Andrews, Blue Ridge Early College, Highlands, Hiwassee Dam, Nantahala, Robbinsville, Rosman, Summit Charter and Tri-County Early College will remain 1A as part of the Smoky Mountain Conference.
The NCHSAA also approved changes to mercy rules. In football, the mercy rule is decreasing from 42 to 35 points. In basketball, the mercy rule is decreasing from 40 to 35 points.
Directors also approved general rules for sports. The approved an increase in the minimum number of matches for girls wrestling regional seeding from seven to 15. And they will only use the MaxPreps Ranking system for playoff qualification and seeding.
They altered the 2025-26 sports calendar to reflect corrected dates for the swimming and diving system. For tennis, they approved the use of the U.S. Tennis Association High School Digital Platform for state individual tennis tournament rankings.
They will also adopt the “five-quarter rule” in basketball, which ends its status as a pilot program. The five-quarter rule allows a student-athlete to participate in up to five quarters of basketball in a day between multiple games.
For example, a player could play two quarters in a junior varsity game then, three quarters of a varsity game on the same day. This rule is meant to help increase the number of players on a team with low participations by allowing players to play on both the junior varsity and varsity teams.
The board also received a special report from Alice Neelon, a senior at R.J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem and member of the NCHSAA Student-Athlete Advisory Council. She discussed the SAAC program in the state and accomplishments of council members.
At the meeting, the directors also received reports from the N.C. Coaches Association, N.C. Athletic Directors Association, N.C. Department of Public Instruction, N.C. School Board Association and Regional Supervisors Advisory Committee.