A full heat alert across Section XI is active on Thursday, September 7 until 6 p.m.

No practices or games are permitted in any sport until after 6 p.m. Stay safe and stay cool.

Several student-athletes from Section XI are attending the NYSPHSAA Student Leadership Conference upstate.

We’ll be sharing more info about them and their insights from the conference in the coming days.

It was a big weekend for Section XI swimming as Hauppauge-Smithtown returned as public school state champions.

They won two relays and Leah Treglia won the backstroke.

They also had three State Championship first place winners: 200 Medley Relay- Sofia Burns, Madison Dominger, Sarah Lucca, Leah Treglia, 400 Freestyle Relay – Sofia Burns, Madison Dominger, Leah Treglia, MaryGrace Waring and 100 Backstroke – Leah Treglia!

They will all now have consideration for All-American Honors.

East Hampton’s Jane Brierley won the state championship in breaststroke.

The New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) held its quarterly meeting of the Executive Committee on Wednesday, October 19th at the Embassy Suites in Saratoga Springs. The committee voted on several key proposals important to the Association’s 787-member schools.

The Executive Committee approved the NYSPHSAA softball championship becoming a two-day event starting in June 2023. Semifinals will be played on the Friday of week 49 of the standard NYSPHSAA calendar and the finals will be played on that Saturday. Also related to championships, the committee approved establishing a Game Day Cheerleading State Championship starting in October of 2023 (week #17). Queensbury High School (2024 & 2026) and Letchworth State Park (2025) were approved as hosts of the NYSPHSAA Cross Country Championships.

The sport of boys wrestling had a pair of proposals approved with the first to extend the current weight class system (13 weight classes) for the 2022-23 school year. The second was to require all coaches to use the Track Wrestling weigh-in form to enter all weigh-ins for dual meets and tournaments.

The committee approved four girls wrestling proposals. The first was to use the NFHS 12 female weight classes along with a NYSPHSAA weight class of 94 lbs. starting this season. The second was an approval for a two-year waiver for the maximum number of tournaments (6) by a wrestler for female-only tournaments. The third approval in girls wrestling was to allow a two-year waiver of the NYSPHSAA representation rule from six events to three in post season only. The final approval was to conduct a girls-only wrestling invitational was approved to begin in the 2022-23 school year and continue in the 2023-24 school year.

A boys soccer proposal to increase the number of allowable yellow cards in the postseason was defeated, 5-17, by the Executive Committee.

Action items related to the classification cut off numbers for six classes in the sports of boys basketball, girls basketball, boys soccer, girls soccer, girls volleyball, softball and baseball were tabled by the Executive Committee to allow sections to have more time to discuss the cut-off numbers. The Executive Committee will reconvene on November 1^st to vote on these proposals.

The complete meeting agenda can be found here.

The list of approved items can be found here.

The meeting was called to order by President Russell Bartlett at 9:00 am and concluded at 2:00pm The next meeting of the NYSPHSAA Executive Committee will be held Wednesday, February 1^st at Embassy Suites in Saratoga Springs.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone today released updated guidance for high school sports from the Suffolk County Department of Health Services. Based on the decreasing positivity rate for COVID-19 in Suffolk County, the increasing rate of vaccination, and the eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine having been expanded to those 16 years of age and over, as well as the ability to practice and play outdoors, mandatory testing for high-risk sports is no longer required.

While testing is no longer required, the Health Department recommends weekly testing and encourages athletic programs to develop opportunities for their student athletes 16 and over to get vaccinated. The County will continue to provide test kits to those districts that request them for Boys Lacrosse – the only high-risk sport involved in the Spring season. Since February 1, the County has distributed 80,000 test kits for high-risk sports. Additionally, the County Executive’s Office and Health Department are coordinating with the Suffolk County Police Department’s MedCAT unit to pilot a vaccine clinic for student athletes and other student groups next week, beginning with Center Moriches School District.

“As a parent, I understood just how important it was to get our kids back out on the field, and over the last few months our student athletes and coaches have proven that with the right protocols in place, all sports can be played in a safe manner,” said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. “From the onset of this pandemic, we have followed the data, and with the lowest positivity rate we have seen in months and increasing vaccinations, the health department will no longer be requiring weekly testing for student athletes. Ultimately, the vaccine is the tool that will enable us to win this war, and we will be working with our local districts to ensure student have access to the COVID-19 vaccine.”

In January, County Executive Bellone announced a comprehensive plan that would allow for sports deemed as high-risk to resume with common sense safety measures and guidelines in place. The County’s plan, which was developed in close consultation with the Suffolk County School Superintendents Association and Section XI, has allowed for approximately 21,500 student athletes to participate in their respective high-risk sports. On average there are more than 60,000 student athletes participating in various high school sports during a normal school year.

Suffolk County Department of Health guidelines to ensure safe play include:

• Taking the temperatures of players and coaches prior to practices and games.
• Masks should be worn whenever possible, especially when on the sidelines not engaged in play.
• Enforce social distancing when not engaged in play.
• Require hand washing or sanitizing of hands before and after practices and games, and after sharing equipment.
• Minimize equipment sharing. Players should bring their own equipment; have individual water bottles, and no sharing of food.
• Maintain attendance logs of players, staff, and coaches. Attendance logs should include contact information.
• Play in smart spaces. Always outdoors if possible. Use large and well-ventilated spaces for play.
• Consider dividing larger teams into smaller groups and stagger practices with different times or days. Limit those individuals not essential to the practice from attending.