By Dana Hess

For the S.D. NewsMedia Association

PIERRE — Every two years, the South Dakota High School Activities Association approves school enrollment numbers that determine sports and fine arts classifications. Prior to that approval, the board may hear appeals from member schools. On Wednesday, Jan. 21, the board heard nine appeals, approving six of them. 

An appeal from Parkston High School was approved to discount one Hutterite student whose religious beliefs don’t allow him to participate in sports. Subtracting that one student allowed Parkston to stay in Class B. 

An appeal to discount two students was approved for the Eureka/Edmunds Central cooperative. School officials explained that one student was not allowed in the building because of violence and safety reasons, another student had lost his eligibility to play high school sports. 

Sisseton had two appeals approved. One was to discount students who had lost eligibility. The other appeal was to allow the school to go from 11-man football to 9AA. Sisseton Superintendent Tammy Meyer said she realized that moving down in classification would mean that the Sisseton football team could not compete in the playoffs.

“Our intention would be to go back to 11-man in the next cycle,” Meyer said, referring to the two-year classification system.

An appeal from the Flandreau Indian School, which has 10 students who have lost eligibility, was approved.

The board had a lengthy discussion about the appeal from Hamlin High School which traditionally asks for an exemption for students who are members of the Apostolic Church. Those students are prohibited by their church affiliation from taking part in extracurricular activities.

Board member Billy Clanton of Harding County School District questioned the procedure for determining which students belong to the Apostolic religion and then allowing them to be exempted from the school's enrollment count. Superintendent Jim Hulscher said the school relies on information from board members and staffers who are members of the Apostolic religion.

Clanton made a motion to deny the appeal. That failed on a vote of 1-8. A motion to approve the appeal succeeded on an 8-1 vote.

The board also approved an appeal from De Smet High School, allowing the school to discount four students of the Apostolic religion.

The board denied a request from Mount Vernon/Plankinton cooperative. School officials representing the cooperative said their enrollment fluctuated as students dropped out of school during the year to go to work. The board denied the request as there was no precedent in association policy.

A request from Douglas High School was also denied. High school principal Beau Voegeli said the school had a tough time competing at its current classification in football because of the transient nature of families living on the nearby Air Force base.

The school asked to go from 11AA football to 11A and retain its ability to compete in the postseason.

SDHSAA Executive Director Dan Swartos said there are plenty of teams that could make the same argument about not being competitive. He said the association has a committee looking at a way to determine classifications based on a success factor.

Sioux Falls Lutheran High School used its appeal to seek a move down in a football classification. Activities director James Stubkjaer said the high school football program was built from scratch and that the players suffered since they didn’t have the background in the sport that would come from having middle school and junior varsity programs.

The appeal was denied by the board.

Later in the meeting, the board approved each school’s enrollment or average daily membership. Here are the ways that the classifications break down for sports and fine arts.

Basketball – Cross-country – Track & Field – Volleyball

• Class AA – 450.000 and above

• Class A – 90.000 to 449.999

• Class B – 89.999 and below

Football (Football classifications use the male only average daily membership.)

• 11AAA – Eight largest schools, plus O’Gorman

• 11AA – Next 11 largest schools

• 11A – Next 14 largest schools

• 11B – All remaining schools with ADM of 56.001 and above

• 9AA – The top one-third of all schools with ADM of 56 and below

• 9A – The middle one-third of all schools with ADM of 56.000 and below

• 9B – The bottom one-third of all schools with ADM of 56.000 and below

Gymnastics – Competitive Cheer and Dance – Soccer

• Class AA – 450 and above

• Class A – 449.999 and below

Golf – Softball

• Class AA – 450 and above

• Class A – 140 to 449.999

• Class B – 139.999 and below

Tennis

• Divide the total number of teams competing based on ADM equally, with the odd number moving up to Class AA

Boys’ Wrestling

• Class A – 225.000 and above

• Class B – 224.999 and below

Girls’ Wrestling

•  One class

Schools petitioning to go up in class in sports for 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years include:

• Football – O’Gorman (11AA to 11AAA)

• Golf – Aberdeen Roncalli (Boys’), Groton Area, Parkston, Redfield, Tiospa Zina (B to A)

• Soccer – Sioux Falls Christian (Boys’) (A to AA)

• Tennis – Sioux Falls Christian (A to AA)

• Wrestling – Chamberlain, Milbank (B to A)

School seeks another look at six-man football

PIERRE — At its meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 21, the board of directors of the South Dakota High School Activities Association was asked to once again consider the feasibility of adding a six-man classification to high school football.

The request came from Faith High School.

“It would be beneficial for us,” said Faith Superintendent Kelly Daughters, noting that the school is challenged by dropping enrollment but would still like to keep the excitement of “Friday night lights.”

Faith Athletic Director Doug Schauer said three other schools have expressed an interest in six-man football. He said other schools were concerned about showing an interest because it might upset their partner schools in their football cooperative.

SDHSAA Executive Director Dan Swartos said that eight years ago the board approved six-man football. The plan at the time was to go with two classes of nine-man football and one class of six-man. The four teams that ultimately signed up for six-man football were located in the four corners of the state.

“That was not enough at the time to replace an entire class of football,” Swartos said. While the board took no action on the request from Faith, Swartos did tell the board that six-man football “deserves another look.”

SDHSAA sets policy to keep fans from charging court

PIERRE — After some tweaks and revisions, the board of directors of the South Dakota High School Activities Association has passed a second reading of a policy designed to keep fans from rushing the court or playing field at the end of a playoff or championship contest.

Fans who rush the court at the conclusion of a game pose a safety risk according to SDHSAA Executive Director Dan Swartos. “We want to keep the focus on the kids on the court,” Swartos said during a board meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 21.

The policy states that fans that rush the court will be removed from the facility immediately. Physical altercations will be referred to security or law enforcement. No awards or trophies will be presented until the floor is cleared. Fans will be allowed on the floor after the presentation of awards.

The policy also states that enforcement is the responsibility of the school hosting the event. The board reserves the right to issue penalties to schools that blatantly disregard the policy.

Swartos said the policy would be in effect during the basketball season.

Three legislative bills on activity association’s radar

PIERRE — The South Dakota High School Activities Association is tracking three bills that have surfaced during the 2026 legislative session. The SDHSAA board heard about the bills at its meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 21.

House Bill 1039 would provide requirements for the cardiac health evaluation of minors. SDHSAA Executive Director Dan Swartos told the board that association policy requires that athletes get two physicals while in high school. HB 1039 asks that students get a physical every year.

Swartos said the requirement of yearly physicals for students could put a strain on the health system as well as be an added cost for families.

One of the reasons for the bill, Swartos said, was a concern about the thoroughness of physicals when schools offer them to students at a mass event. With so many more physicals needed every year, “this may lead to more of those” mass events, Swartos said.

Swartos said he would testify in “soft opposition” to the bill, explaining to legislators that many of the requirements of the bill are already covered by association policies.

House Bill 1073 would require every school to create a cardiac emergency plan. One of the requirements of the bill would be for schools to have an automated external defibrillator or AED at each athletic activity.

Swartos explained that in the fall, that would require schools to have an AED available for practices involving golf, tennis, football, soccer and cross-country.

“I don’t know how many of our schools have six AEDs,” Swartos said.

The board also learned that House Bill 1008 would allow schools to offer academic credit for extracurricular activities. He said the association would remain neutral on that bill, which was opposed by the state’s Education Department and approved by the House Education Committee on a vote of 8-7.