HELENA -- The Montana High School Association executive board announced the dates and sites for 2022-23 state events on Thursday. The board also completed the 2021-22 schedule.
The dates and sites indicate that the executive board is planning for a return to normal for the 2021-22 academic year after the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on athletic events over the past 13 months.
"We're hoping for that (return to normal)," MHSA executive director Mark Beckman said. "We're always going to be cautiously optimistic to make sure, as we look as some other states are having some surges right now, but things are going well right now. Our pediatricians and county health officers, we have a little committee that helps advise us. Things are looking good right now. We'll stay on it.
"Our plan is to go forward as scheduled with everything, but we'll continue to monitor and make sure that everything is going good. We're optimistic with vaccinations and those things going on that we'll have a hopefully near-normal 2021-22."
The all-class state volleyball tournaments are set to return to Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in Bozeman on Nov. 11-13, 2021, and the all-class state wrestling tournaments will be at First Interstate Arena at MetraPark in Billings on Feb. 11-12, 2022. The board approved starting the state wrestling tournaments on Thursday, Feb. 10, if necessary. In that case, the girls would begin wrestling on Thursday.
Bozeman and Billings are scheduled to continue hosting the all-class state volleyball and wrestling tournaments, respectively, during the 2022-23 academic year, as well.
The state basketball tournaments are scheduled for March 10-12, 2022 and March 9-11, 2023. In 2022, the combined Class AA boys and girls tournaments will be in Billings (First Interstate Arena), the Class A tournaments in Missoula (University of Montana), the Class B tournaments in Bozeman (Montana State University) and the Class C tournaments in Great Falls (Four Seasons Arena). The Class C tournaments will run March 9-12, 2022.
The 2023 state basketball tournament sites: State AA in Butte (Civic Center), State A in Bozeman (MSU), State B in Great Falls (Four Seasons Arena) and State C in Billings (First Interstate Arena). The State C tournaments will again start one day earlier than the other tournaments and tip off on Wednesday.
The addition of the new track and field complex at Bozeman Gallatin is bringing another state event to Bozeman, too, with the complex scheduled to host the 2023 Class AA and Class B state track and field meets. Those will run concurrently on May 26-27, 2023, while the State A and State C meets are in Laurel the same days.
For the complete list of dates and sites for the 2021-22 state events, click here.
For the complete list of dates and sites for the 2022-23 state events, click here.
