CHAPEL HILL —The North Carolina High School Athletic Association Board of Directors held its semiannual board meeting at the Simon F. Terrell Building earlier this week, and there were a number of agenda items that were discussed.

As is customary, the first day of the Board meeting was devoted almost all day to committee work, during which the Board divided into those groups. The committees include policy and student services, sports, review and officiating, and finance and personnel. Then the second day of the meeting includes action items when the Board convenes and takes action on committee recommendations.

Here are some of the highlights of the Board meeting:

— approved several changes in wrestling, including eliminating the midyear weight certification and hydration and requiring the use of the National Wrestling Coaches Association on-line system for weight management (which costs only $30 per school) ; also approved two-pound growth allowance to be in effect on January 1 only after making scratch weight in a weight class

–also in wrestling, set a limit for individual participation, with the number of matches an individual may wrestle not to exceed 55 prior to the conference tournament; only one “double dual” match will be allowed per season for a team

–approved a two-year trial for a double elimination tournament format in wrestling at the regional level which would not increase loss of school time

— approved a new state football championship rotation since Duke has opted not to continue to host NCHSAA championship games. Three sites (Wake Forest, N.C. State and University of North Carolina) will remain in the rotation and two of them, N.C. State and UNC, have agreed to take an additional game. The new rotation will start for the 2007 finals and was initiated by a draw. The 3-A, 3-AA and 1-AA games will be at Kenan Stadium at UNC, the 2-A, 2-AA and 1-A games at Carter-Finley Stadium at N.C. State, and the 4-A and 4-AA games will be at Groves Stadium in Winston-Salem.

–approved a total of $100,000 from the Endowment be returned to NCHSAA member schools on a pro-rated basis as partial reimbursement for catastrophic insurances payments. Checks will be received by member schools at the NCHSAA’s fall regional meetings.

— made one slight change in football seeding process, with all conference champions who are tied for first to be seeded as number ones if they are going into different classifications

–an adjustment was made in the “eight-quarter rule” for football individual participation as it enters the second year of a two-year experiment. Schools still have to fill out the pre-participation forms for those players but will now just keep them on file at the school instead of sending them to the NCHSAA. Schools still have to file the reports of those who played on the Monday following the games with the NCHSAA

–for sectional basketball tournaments, recommend that Saturday be used as a make-up day, with playing dates to be Monday-Wednesday-Friday or Tuesday-Thursday-Friday, depending upon whether it is men or women in a certain year; play will be at higher seeded sites throughout sectionals, or a neutral site mutually agreed upon, and sectional committees would not be necessary

–approved an addition to the Handbook in the wording about a medical exam, adding words “and be cleared to play” to language about physicals

–approved a change in assigning of officials in first two rounds of appropriate state playoffs; officials will now be assigned by the local booking agent of the higher seeded team and then neutral crews (from a booking agent not used by either of the participating teams) will be used the rest of the way in those playoffs

–approved a change in uniforms for basketball officials that was first unveiled at the 2007 NCHSAA championships; the gray shirt with black pinstripes will be mandatory for those officials working in the 2007-08 sectional and regional tournaments and state championships, but it will be optional during the regular season if the entire crew wears it; it will be mandatory for all officials in 2008-09

–approved two new booking agents, Carol Cutler for Pitt County Association in volleyball and Bobby Pennington for the Northeastern Officials Association in basketball; also set local booking association fees to be no greater than one varsity game fee per sport