The NJSIAA continued promoting the growth of girls wrestling, addressed winter disqualifications and more at its January meeting.
JayAnna Hahn of Central Regional defeats Lindsey McDermott of Southern in the 132 pound final during the Shore Conference Tournament girls wrestling finals at Jackson Township High School in Jackson, NJ on 1/19/26.
sanctioning flag football The committee also announced the 2026 inductees into the NJSIAA Hall of Fame and offered updates on winter disqualifications, steroid testing and honoring a former executive director.Wednesday’s meeting began with a moment of silence for former NJSIAA executive committee member and executive director Boyd Sands, who died Jan. 17 at the age of 88. Sands, who was also the superintendent at Delsea, served as NJSIAA executive director from 1993 to 2006. “It should be noted that in addition to serving as an executive committee member and executive director, Boyd was a prominent figure in South Jersey scholastic sports and served with distinction as a coach, official, principal and superintendent. He will definitely be missed,” Judy Finch-Johnson, first vice president of the executive committee said.The NJSIAA advisory committee unanimously endorsed a proposal to allow for tri-ops in girls wrestling and the executive committee voted unanimously to advance that proposal to the annual meeting in May, where the full membership will vote on whether to allow them. The presentation on the proposal to allow tri-ops in girls wrestling was made by Woodbridge AD Joe Ward on behalf of the Greater Middlesex and Big North Conferences, respectively. “We’re doing this in hopes of growing the sport of girls wrestling, giving the girls a chance to have teams that can fill out the majority of, or all of the weight classes,” Ward said. “And we’re doing this as the sport is new and growing, unlike in the sport of ice hockey, where a lot of tri-ops are being developed because the sport is declining in numbers. So the goal is to help grow the sport of girls wrestling.” The girls wrestling postseason will also look different this year. As part of a new team state tournament for girls, there will be 12 girls wrestling districts across the state. The top four finishers at each district will advance to regionals, from which the top four finishers will progress to Atlantic City. A total of 192 girls will now wrestle at this year’s state tournament, an increase of 48 from a season ago.NJSIAA chief compliance officer Paul Popadiuk said that nine teams across three sports — four boys basketball, three ice hockey and two girls basketball teams — have already been disqualified from this year’s state tournament for accruing three or more disqualifications. “There’s been a continuing trend, especially in the winter season, of teams not being eligible for the state tournament,” NJSIAA executive director Colleen Maguire said. “Yes it is a concern, but it’s not like this year is any more unique than prior years, but there’s still a lot of the season left to be played.” Maguire said she and her staff will be communicating with schools that already have two disqualifications to make them aware of that number and encourage athletic directors to speak to their coaches to ensure they avoid getting a third disqualification that would knock them out of the state tournament.Executive director Colleen Maguire announced seven inductees into this NJSIAA Hall of Fame Class of 2026 across several different sports, including one of the NFL’s top running backs, a Division I softball coach and more.Coach: Tara Madigan, Northern Highlands, Girls SoccerOnly one athlete failed steroid test NJSIAA chief operating officer Tony Maselli said that out of the 148 athletes tested for steroids, the association only discovered one positive test. The athlete chose not to appeal the test result and will be barred from NJSIAA competition for one calendar year.NJSIAA announces which football teams are moving up due to success factor‘Ridiculous’ non-compliance draws NJSIAA crackdown on hockey safety, more from Dec. meetingA lifelong Bergen County resident, Jake Aferiat joined the NJ.com high school sports staff in September 2022. A 2021 graduate of Penn State University, Jake spent all four years at Penn State's student...
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