The MIL's bid to be included in the rotation for the D1 boys and girls soccer state championships came up short at Thursday's final day of the 58th annual HIADA conference. Spencer Honda | SL

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Eighteen of 23 proposals brought to the general assembly Thursday gained HIADA approval. Spencer Honda | SL

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WAIKOLOA, Hawaii — The Maui Interscholastic League's bid to be included in the rotation for the Division I boys and girls soccer state championships came up short at Thursday's final day of the 58th annual Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association conference.

Athletic directors from across the state have been gathered at the Hilton Waikoloa Village this week for the three-day conference. The HIADA voting body, made up of the 96 member schools of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association — each with one vote — brought 23 proposals that passed out of committee Wednesday to Thursday morning's general assembly.

A total of 18 proposals were passed in the session, while the five others — all brought to the general assembly floor as minority reports after being defeated in committee — were defeated by the voting body.

Among those proposals that were defeated was the MIL's hope to host the D1 boys state soccer tournament in 2020 and the girls D1 tournament the following year.

King Kekaulike athletic director Patrick Higa made a plea on the general assembly floor to try and appease concerns from the other leagues, asking his fellow ADs to focus on "how can?" and not "no can."

Higa cited the possibility of hosting dual sites at King Kekaulike and Kamehameha-Maui, which are a mere five minutes apart in Pukalani. He also noted that Kamehameha-Maui previously hosted the girls soccer state tournament within the past decade.

"We've also done the entire volleyball tournament, boys and girls," Higa said.

The proposal was defeated in committee voting Wednesday by a margin of seven for, 18 opposed with 10 abstentions, but a minority report was filed as a means to bring the issue to the general assembly. However, it was once again defeated Thursday, 27-59-10.

The MIL received some Interscholastic League of Honolulu support in the voting, but the Oahu Interscholastic Association and the Big Island Interscholastic Federation both voted against the proposal, while the Kauai Interscholastic Federation abstained.

Kalani AD Greg Van Cantfort, who doubles as the OIA and state boys soccer coordinator, explained his league's rationale for its opposition.

"I think primary the concern was the (lack of) accommodations; We don't feel that that was fully addressed," said Van Cantfort, who added that when the regional format was instituted a few years ago, it was to allow for neighbor islands to host tournament games as a compromise.

"Patrick did a good job in trying to do his homework and trying to answer those types of questions, but I think the other fallback on this was that two years ago, in kind of accommodating the neighbor islands, we went to a regional format, so they did have the opportunity to have the state-level games at their sites with the agreement that the final state tournament would be held on Oahu and that, I believe, was passed a couple years ago unanimously, so he didn't really come back to address that and the concern about that opening up all the islands for bidding for all state tournament," Van Cantfort said.

Higa rebutted that the original regional format spanned two weekends with six teams each at two separate sites for the first two rounds of the tournament before the semifinals and finals were held the following weekend at Oahu's Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.

At each regional site a total of five games were held, whereas with the current regional format, the first round is held at four sites on three different islands, with the first-round losers being eliminated from the tournament. The remaining eight teams move on to the quarterfinals at Waipio, essentially allowing for just one game at each regional site.

"I think when the regionals originally came out we were fine with that because you were hosting a true regional. Now it's just a one-day play-in game, so if you think about, it's like, ‘We're going to keep the loaf of bread and here's your little crumb,' " Higa said.

Despite the failed proposal, Higa remained optimistic that the neighbor islands are gaining traction in leveling the playing field.

"Normally it's very heavily weighted (in opposition) out of committee, (but) this time it was pretty close in terms of the abstentions, so the abstentions could have swayed the vote either way and if it came to our way it would have passed out of committee," Higa said. "I think we're continuing to start to make people to open up their eyes a little bit and open up their hearts. I think that's going to help eventually and eventually we can, like I said, focus on the ‘can' where everybody can work together because we did it before."

Eighteen of 23 proposals brought to the general assembly Thursday gained HIADA approval. Spencer Honda | SL    Purchase image

Another proposal — this one seeking to re-integrate the 4x800 relay event at the state track and field championships — was defeated by a narrow margin, 46-49-1. The measure was brought to HIADA this week by the ILH. It was defeated in committee Wednesday by a count of 13 for, with 20 opposed, but a minority report was filed.

Punahou AD Jeff Meister, the ILH and state's track and field coordinator, said the league's rationale came from its coaches.

"The coaches just wanted the opportunity for the distance kids to have the team piece of the competition with the relays," Meister said, who noted that the 4x800 relay was previously included in the HHSAA state meet "many years ago."

Among those who voted in opposition to the proposal was the OIA. Its track and field coordinator Kalaheo AD Mark Brilhante cited the potential length in time the new event could add to the meet.

"Our biggest concern is that in the trials it would add an hour more and we're taxing our tech teams already, the technology teams that are there earlier and til the end. It would be another hour-plus to wrap up and as a league, the coaches didn't express that need (for the 4x800 relay) within the OIA," Brilhante said.

Meister said that while he doesn't personally agree with the OIA's rationale, he can recognize their concern.

"I understand the concern a bit, that it would add time to both the trials and the finals — I can see that (and) it would be a factor — I don't think it should have been a factor not to vote it in, but I understand it, but it would be nice to have those distance kids have the opportunity to run on a relay," Meister said.

The three other proposals that were voted down included three minority reports from the BIIF. One sought to split the Division I and Division II races at the cross country state championships while another proposed that any league hosting the state championships hold a meet at the state site to allow for runners from outside leagues to participate in during the fall season.

The other BIIF minority report sought to increase the number of state track and field finalists to earn points for their team from the top six to all eight place-finishers. It was voted down by a margin of six votes, 45 to 51.

Among the 18 proposals that gained HIADA recommendation were three pertaining to air riflery, including a measure that state any venue hosting the state championships must be able to accommodate 60 firing points.

Five wrestling proposals passed unanimously, including a two-pound weight allowance for all wrestlers on the first Sunday of January, as well as a slight tweak to the seeding criteria for the state tournament.

All but one of the HIADA recommendations gained approval from the HHSAA executive board, which met Thursday afternoon at the Hilton Waikoloa. The only proposal that was not approved pertained to track and field, but was withdrawn by the OIA, which introduced the measure earlier in the week.

The proposal sought to start the high jump at the same time as the pole vault as a means to allow for competitors to have more time between the field event and the start of running events, but the OIA withdrew the proposal after the sport's Games Committee assured that it would institute the rule regardless of executive board approval or withdrawal, because all five leagues expressed the desire to make the change.