ASAA temporarily amends rules for sports impacted by school closures following earthquake

PALMER —As Mat-Su Borough School District and Anchorage School District students and staff wait for the green light to return to school following the Nov. 30 earthquake, the Alaska Activities Association Board of Directors called an audible Monday to reduce the impact on a pair of sports at key points in the season.

Prep wrestlers are entering their postseason, with region tournaments across the state scheduled to start Friday and the state tournament slated for Dec. 14-15 at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage. Monday, ASAA granted all wrestlers one additional weight-in at the minimum weight they will wrestle during the state tournament, according to a post on ASAA’s website. A pair of Valley schools were scheduled to host region wrestling tournaments. The Northern Lights Conference Championships will continue as planned Friday and Saturday at Palmer High School. The Kachemak Conference Championships were scheduled for Friday and Saturday at Redington, but the tournament was moved to Grace Christian in Anchorage on Tuesday.

Palmer reopens to staff Wednesday and students Thursday. District officials announced Tuesday that a group of Valley schools will now be closed to staff until at least Monday. Redington is in that group.

Palmer High School principal Paul Reid said Monday, PHS will be prepared to host the NLC tourney this weekend. The lone difference is teams will not be able to stay overnight at the school, to ensure the staff has enough opportunity in the continued cleanup effort following the earthquake.

Local prep basketball teams began hosting practices last week, before the earthquake hit Southcentral Alaska Friday at 8:29 a.m. Official games are scheduled as early as Dec. 13. Student-athletes typically are required to have 10 practices before eligible to complete in official games. The ASAA board temporarily amended that rule for basketball. Players will only need five practices to be available to play in games Dec. 13-15. After Dec. 17, all players will need at least 10 practices to remain eligible.

Monday, Mat-Su Borough School District superintended Monica Goyette said all extracurricular activities will remain canceled until schools reopen.

“Student activities resume when academics resume,” Goyette said.

The school district released a list of dates when certain schools are scheduled to reopen. See related story at frontiersman.com. The Anchorage School District announced all of its schools are closed until Dec. 10.

Contact Frontiersman editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.