Lexington School District 1’s appeal of a proposed athletic plan for the 2020-21 received a split decision Wednesday.

The Appellate Panel did not vote to accept the plan co-presented by District Superintendent Greg Little and District Athletics Director David Bennett. Instead, the 6-member committee voted 5-1 to table the final decision on District 1’s appeal to Aug. 10 at an 11 am during a face-to-face meeting.

Raleigh King of the 6th Congressional District was the lone “no” vote. 

Under the Lexington District 1 plan, the athletics year would be split into 4 seasons and start in September:

FALL (Sept. 21 - Nov. 27)

- girls tennis (12 varsity matches, 8 JV matches) 

- girls golf (8 varsity matches, 4 JV matches) - swimming (4 meets)

- baseball (16 varsity games, 12 JV games)

- softball (16 varsity games, 12 JV games)

- girls lacrosse (12 matches)

- cross country (5 meets)

(NOTE: The golf and swimming seasons will take place Sept. 7 - Oct. 30)

WINTER (Nov. 23 - Jan. 29)

- basketball (16 varsity games, 12 JV games)

- spirit cheer 

SPRING 1 (Jan. 25 - April 2)

- football (6 varsity & JV games)

- volleyball (12 varsity, 8 JV games)

- Competitive cheer (4 competitions) 

SPRING 2 (March 22 - May 28)

- track (5 meets)

- wrestling (8 varsity, 4 JV matches)

- soccer (12 varsity, 8 JV matches)

- boys golf (8 varsity matches, 4 JV matches)

- boys tennis (12 varsity, 8 JV matches)

- boys lacrosse (12 varsity, 8 JV matches)

The sports would be classified into 3 groups - high, moderate and low. The “low” risk spring sports like baseball, softball, track and field, tennis, swimming, golf would move to the fall and “high risk” sports like football, lacrosse, wrestling and competitive cheer would take place in the spring. 

The plan was originally voted down 15-1 by the SCHSL Executive Committee last week. The League instead approved 14-2 its plan to push back the starting date for preseason football practice from July 31 to Aug. 17. The regular season would then kick off Sept. 11 and play a shortened seven-game schedule through Oct. 23 with schools facing region teams first.

The playoffs would then begin Oct. 30 and culminate with the “Weekend of Champions” Nov. 20 at Williams-Brice Stadium. Commissioner Jerome Singleton said their plan provided the most flexibility given Gov. Henry McMaster's suggestion that school districts open Sept. 8.

The timeline of other fall sports: 

Girls tennis and volleyball - Aug. 31 - Oct. 31

Swim and Girls’ Golf - Aug. 31 - Oct. 27

Cross Country - Aug. 31 - Nov. 14 

Competitive Cheer - Sept. 12 - Nov. 14 

Teams have already started submitting revised fall schedules and the S.C. Executive Committee is scheduled to meet Aug. 4-5. Pending the appeal, the committee will continue to move forward with its plan. 

“Right now, we don’t want to get distracted,” Singleton said. “We know what we have, so we want to put all of our focus and concentration on that and try to avoid the distractions and things that we can control. We can improve on where we are right now. If it changes, we have to do what we have to do to address those changes.”