Switching seasons

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports on the possible switch of the boys and girls swim seasons, with mostly negative reactions from some of the Milwaukee area's high-profile boys programs such as Hartland Arrowhead.

See: http://www.jsonline.com/sports/preps/35842309.html

It's worth noting, again, the rather imprecise language of WIAA officials when discussing this issue. Note the following from the article (re. the Michigan court case cited by WIAA officials for considering making the switch):

"The court ruling with the (MHSAA) led to not only Wisconsin, but it has required all state associations to look carefully at what's called 'preferred seasons' for seasonal placement," said Tom Shafranski, assistant director of the WIAA. "Courts determined that, for swimming and diving, the preferred girls season is the winter period."

Questions and observations:

-- Did the Michigan court case really "require" Wisconsin and other states to "look carefully" at the issue of preferred seasons? Courts in one state rarely require other states to do anything, as a legal matter. Or did WIAA officials simply infer from the Michigan decision that they might be pressed in a similar manner, via a lawsuit, to switch some seasons around, and thus decided to talk about the switch in order to fend off any potential lawsuits?

-- The Michigan court case said exactly the opposite of what the WIAA says in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article:

"The Court finds that the fall season for swimming has advantages that outweigh advantages to
swimming in winter." (See section III, part E, starting on page 46, here:

http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/sports/coemhsaa121401opn.pdf

The Michigan High School Athletic Association switched several seasons as a result of the litigation there, but not swimming. In Michigan (outside of the low-population Upper Peninsula) girls swimming is a fall sport, while boys swimming remains a winter sport. (Interestingly, MHSAA officials, in assembling which sports to switch seasons in response to the lawsuit, received the most vocal opposition from its member high schools to the idea of switching girls swimming to winter and boys swimming to fall.)

There are already rumblings among some boys swim coaches that they expect the switch to be made. But it's still unclear where the WIAA derives its (apparent) belief that girls and boys swim seasons in Wisconsin should be switched.