Athletic activity for the 2000-2001 school year will begin Friday (July 28) with the first authorized practice in girls golf. Competition in girls golf begins Aug. 2. Practice in the other seven IHSAA fall sports -- football, volleyball, boys cross country, girls cross country, boys soccer, girls soccer, and boys tennis -- begins Monday (July 31). Competition dates and tournament dates for all IHSAA sports during the 2000-2001 school year are listed on the final two pages of this release.

Bobby Cox, who was named an IHSAA assistant commissioner in June to fill the vacancy left by the promotion of Blake Ress to the post of commissioner, has assumed his duties. Formerly the athletic director at Carmel, Cox officially joined the IHSAA staff July 1.

With the addition of Cox, changes have been made within the IHSAA Executive Staff regarding the administration of the 20 IHSAA sports. Those assignments are as follows:

• Ray Craft, associate commissioner -- Boys basketball, girls cross country, boys cross country, girls golf, baseball.

• Bobby Cox, assistant commissioner -- Football, wrestling, boys track and field, girls track and field, boys golf.

• Sandy Searcy, assistant commissioner – Volleyball, girls swimming and diving, boys swimming and diving, gymnastics, softball.

• Theresia Wynns, assistant commissioner -- Girls basketball, boys tennis, girls soccer, boys soccer, girls tennis.

Schedules for each of the 309 high schools that play varsity football – up one in 2000 as Wheeler High School begins varsity competition -- are available within the football section on the IHSAA webpage. The schedules are organized by class and sectional. Scores will be updated weekly throughout the season. Additionally, each outlet on the IHSAA media list will receive by Aug. 10 a complimentary booklet that lists each school in the same format as on the webpage. Additional copies will be available for $10 each.

As in the past, several regular-season high school games will be played at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis during the 2000 season. The IHSAA office DOES NOT handle credential requests for those games. Media outlets should contact the participating schools regarding credentials.

Polls for football and the other seven IHSAA fall sports will be updated weekly on the IHSAA website under the respective sport. Polls will be posted as they become available from the respective coaches associations which conduct the polls in their sport.

Members of the 2000-2001 IHSAA Board of Directors began their term of service July 1 and will continue through June 30, 2001. Oren Sutherlin, principal of North Vermillion High School, is serving as president of the board for the 2000-2001 school year. Cecil Raymond, principal at Castle High School, is serving as vice president.

The 18-person board of directors, elected by the IHSAA member school principals from within the five geographic districts, meets annually on Monday of IHSAA Week 44 (April 30 in 2001) to review the IHSAA By-Laws and consider proposed amendments.

Within the board of directors is the 12-person IHSAA Executive Committee that meets on a monthly basis within the school year. Its first meeting for the 1999-2000 school year is scheduled for Aug. 3. Dale Crafton, principal of New Washington High School, is serving as chairman of the 2000-2001 IHSAA Executive Committee. Mike Blackburn, athletic director of Northwestern High School, is the vice chairman.

*Linda Barnett, athletic director, Clinton Central.

*Mike Blackburn, athletic director, Northwestern.

Curtis Casbon, Morgan Township.

*Dale Crafton, principal, New Washington.

*Dan Cunningham, principal, Owen Valley.

*Dennis Eller, principal, Rochester.

Jim Feist, principal, Eastern (Pekin).

Phillip Gardner, principal, Wes-Del.

*Sue Keenan, teacher, Lakeland

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Lee Lonzo, assistant principal, Carmel.

*Michael Necessary, principal, Winchester Community.

Pam Noble, athletic director, Connersville.

Michael Powell, principal, Mississinewa.

*Janis Qualizza, athletic director, Merrillville.

*Cecil Raymond, principal, Castle.

*Oren Sutherlin, principal, North Vermillion.

*Joseph Trimboli, principal, Mishawaka.

The 2000-2001 IHSAA Board of Directors began the year with one vacancy. The Class 3 seat in District 4 was vacated by Steve Riordan, formerly principal at Jennings County. Riordan is now principal at Mount Vernon in District 5, and resigned his seat effective June 30, 2000 in accordance with the IHSAA by-laws. Riordan’s term of service extended to June 30, 2001. The remaining portion of that term, and a new three-year term running through June 30, 2004, will be filled during the annual board of directors elections that occur in December.

Since its debut in September 1996, the IHSAA website has become an essential component in the delivery of news and information pertinent to media professionals who cover Indiana high school athletics. During the past four years, the website’s content and traffic have increased markedly.

For the 10-month period of September 1, 1999-June 30, 2000, the IHSAA website measured 1,825,489 page requests. That’s an average of 182,548 page requests per month, topped by a record 351,648 during February 2000. The record for a 24-hour period also was set that month when 29,598 page requests were made on Feb. 27. Overall, the traffic on the IHSAA website nearly doubled during the 1999-2000 school year from the previous year.

We appreciate the many positive comments from members of the media regarding the website and its helpfulness in the daily course of gathering and dispensing information on and about Indiana high school sports. We appreciate your support and look forward to improvements to the website that will enhance its use in the future.

Paralleling the growth in traffic on the website has been the newsroom access of media professionals to the Internet and email. Because of that growth, the IHSAA will discontinue its practice of sending the weekly media release by fax. This release will be the last sent by fax unless an outlet specifically requests fax service because it does not have access to the Internet or email.

Why the change? This is intended to:

• Provide media professionals the information they need in a more timely fashion and with savings to both the outlet (fax paper and toner) and the IHSAA (telephone charges).

• Send the releases earlier via email than in the fax version. Typically, outlets have been faxed the weekly media release on Tuesdays after 9 p.m. to use off-peak long-distance telephone rates. With email, releases typically will be sent by 5 p.m. on Tuesdays at the same time the information is placed on the IHSAA website as in the past. In the case of breaking news, email can be sent at any time and accessed in the office, at home, or on the road.

NAME OF OUTLET ______________________________________________________________________________