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Miles City to host Class A state wrestling, B-C will be in Sidney
The Havre Blue Ponies march in the annual Parade of Athletes which kicked off the 2019 All-Class State Tournament last February in Billings. The state tourney is one of the biggest sporting events in Montana each year, but because of the ongoing coronavrius pandemic, there will be no such event in the Metra this winter. Instead, Class AA, A and B-C will hold separate state tournaments, with Miles City hosting the A event, and Sidney taking the B-C event, the Montana High School Association announced last week. For now, state basketball tournaments will go on as scheduled in Class A, B and C, but that is also subject to change.
Winter sports have reached the second month, and the postseason is drawing closer and closer. As such, the Montana High School Association held a meeting via Zoom last week to make several finalized plans for the upcoming postseason, which will be held during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Of course, one of the biggest changes to winter has come in the way of wrestling, as the season was delayed by a month, and the state tournaments pushed back to March 5-6. Also, there will be no All-Class State Tournament in Billings this year due to the pandemic.
Instead, Class A state wrestling will be held in Miles City and Class B-C will take place in Sidney. Class AA had not yet finalized its plans for a postseason.
This is also the first season of girls wrestling in Montana, and they will have their own state tournament, which will be held Feb. 19-20 in Billings at Lockwood High School.
Swimming will also forgo an All-Class Meet this season. Like wrestling, swimming was pushed back a month, so the Class A-B State Meet will be held March 6 in Polson, while the Class AA State Meet will take place March 5 in Great Falls.
As for basketball tournament, the MHSA announced that, for now, Class A-C will remain as scheduled, pending approval from those county health departments. However, to accommodate formats that would adhere to COVID-19 protocols, a fourth day for each tournament could be added.
For Class A, the boys and girls tournaments are set for 11-13 at the Butte Civic Center, while Class B is scheduled for March 11-13 the Billings Metra, and the Class C is set for Bozeman on the same dates. Class AA has opted for a playoff format for both the divisional and state tournaments.
As for attendance at state tournaments, the MHSA said each site must provide a minimum of two tickers per suited player for both home and visiting teams. From the meeting it was decided that state swimming will have two tickets per swimmer. Wrestling will have a minimum of two tickets per wrestler, a maximum of four depending on venue. Basketball is allowing a maximum of 25 percent capacity of the facility but no more than 500 fans per team in larger facilities or whatever the lower limitations imposed by local health departments would be.
There will also be a maximum of 12 cheerleaders for basketball - no cheerleaders for wrestling or swimming. Bands - no bands at state events, though district and divisions can have a different policy. Student Cheering Sections - there will be no endzone seating for cheering sections. Students with tickets will have to practice proper social distancing in the fan seating area.
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