Good news and bad news came out of the Minnesota State High School League's four-hour board of directors meeting Thursday.

First the good: The board approved newly determined section assignments for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years.

Now the bad: The new section assignments won't be revealed publicly until Friday, after schools are allowed to see them and weigh in.

A few changes were made known when Bob Madison, MSHSL senior associate director, showed a detailed presentation that explained the process league committee members undertook to ensure geographic representation and competitive integrity in each section.

It was revealed that Brainerd will no longer be a Class 6A football school. The Warriors will drop to Class 5A, and Rochester Mayo will replace Brainerd as the only 6A football team outside of the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Buffalo also will move up to Class 6A.

The rest of the section placements will be available on the MSHSL website Friday morning.

Other actions by the board of directors:

  • In response to the snowy winter and late spring, the board approved five-inning doubleheaders in baseball and softball. It also approved playing one seven-inning game and one five-inning game and allowed doubleheaders to be played against different teams.
  • There was lengthy discussion about the league's policy regarding the seeding of teams in state tournaments. The league seeds teams 1-5, and the sixth, seventh and eighth teams are placed in brackets against the top three seeds. Board members said they receive many questions about the policy and that there's support for seeding all eight spots. The board agreed to ask coaches and advisory committees what changes they'd like to see.
  • A 35-second shot clock will be standard in boys and girls basketball next season, and procedures are still being discussed by committees. Expect two policies to be put in place once the basketball advisory board makes its recommendation. Following the lead of college basketball, it's likely that a shot clock will be reset to 20 seconds rather than the full 35 seconds if a shot is taken with less than 20 seconds left on the shot clock and the ball goes out of bounds off a defensive player. And the "closely guarded" rule, in which a defensive team can generate a five-second call on a stalling offense, likely will be de-emphasized if the offensive player maintains the dribble. The rationale? With a 35-second clock, it will be no longer be necessary to force the team with the ball to play offense.
  • The subject of making boys volleyball a fully sanctioned MSHSL sport will again come before the MSHSL's representative assembly when it meets in May. It was rejected by a single vote when the rep assembly voted on it in spring 2022. Since then, the MSHSL has given boys volleyball the designation of "emerging sport," which is used to put sports on a path to becoming fully sanctioned. The belief among many is that this is the year boys volleyball will be approved.