WIAA announces minor modifications to state championship formats for winter season

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association announced minor modifications to state championship events for the winter season next month in compliance wit the state department of health.

For state cheerleading, to be held Feb. 4-5 at Battle Ground High School, the closing ceremonies/parade of teams have been eliminated and trophies will be presented virtually after everyone has left the facility.

For boys swimming and diving, to be held Feb. 17-19 at King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, the diving preliminaries and finals for all classifications will be held on Thursday, Feb. 17.

For state wrestling, to be held Feb. 18-19 at the Tacoma Dome, the Thursday practice session has been canceled, and other measures have been taken to limit the number of people and time spent on the arena floor. The Saturday parade of champions will be limited to finalists only. And while alternatives were considered, the regional qualifying format will continue as normal.

For state gymnastics, to be held Feb. 25-26 at Sammamish High School in Bellevue, the individual apparatus finals have been eliminated. Individual champions will be determined during team competition and what would normally be the preliminary round. This allows for state competitions to be one-day evets for each classification — 3A/2A competition on Friday, Feb. 25, and the 4A on Saturday, Feb. 26.

Changes to the format for the state bowling championship, Feb. 3-5 at Narrows Plaza Bowl in University Place were announced by the WIAA earlier this month.