Hawaii’s high school athletic directors took a big stride Thursday toward giving neighbor island leagues a bigger share in hosting state tournament games.

The Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association, meeting at the Hilton Waikoloa Village, approved a proposal in which the Maui Interscholastic League and the Big Island Interscholastic Federation will host first-round/play-in contests for most 12-team state tournaments.

It was one of 21 measures approved Thursday that are awaiting to be ratified at the Hawaii High School Athletic Association executive board meeting today in Waikoloa.

The new regional format for 12-team tournaments will be for boys and girls volleyball, soccer and basketball, along with girls water polo. The second-place MIL and BIIF teams will host two of the four first-round/play-in games on Mondays, with the winners entering an eight-team bracket against the MIL, BIIF, Oahu Interscholastic Association and Interscholastic League of Honolulu champions to be played Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays on Oahu.

According to HHSAA executive director Chris Chun, baseball and softball were not included due to the three-day window between the first two rounds. A team’s No. 1 starting pitcher, generally considered the most important player affecting the outcome of games, would be able to pitch the first two games under this format.

“It would change the meaning of the tournament,” Chun said.

Other changes are afloat:

>> Boys and girls state championship cross country races will now be 5 kilometers instead of 3 miles, an increase of about a tenth of a mile. The change was made to align with most of the rest of the nation. Only four other states — Illinois, Louisiana, Montana and Utah — use the 3-mile distance.

>> At the cross country championships, one boys race and one girls race will continue to be run, but within those races will be Division I and Division II individual and team winners and placers. Hawaii’s five leagues — the MIL, BIIF, OIA, ILH and Kauai Interscholastic Federation — will determine which member schools will go into D-I and D-II.

>> For the state track and field championships, there will be only one qualifying standard instead of two. Gone are the days when athletes who don’t hit the automatic qualifying standard can be considered for qualification to fill out spots. Punahou athletic director Jeff Meister said one reason for the change is that athletes will know whether they are in or out and can prepare either way instead of waiting for an invitation.

>> The field events at the two-day state track meet will be held on the second day. It was proposed to eliminate the controversial situation of athletes scoring points and receiving medals in events they do not attend on the day of the final (trials performances can hold up as scoring or winning performances). Under the new scenario, athletes will get three attempts in the trials and the top eight will move on to the same-day finals for more attempts if they so choose. This proposal was voted down in committee, but resurfaced to the general assembly via a minority report. Roosevelt assistant athletic director Jeff Azuma, who was among the substantial opposition, did not see a benefit in this change and said he thought it should have remained “status quo.” The single-day format is used in the NCAA and many states in the Western U.S., including California, Oregon and Washington.

>> The girls basketball state tournament semifinals and finals will be played at premier venues such as the Stan Sheriff Center and the Blaisdell Arena. In the past, only the finals were held at those sites. This issue addresses gender equity because the boys basketball tourney has secured those venues for the final two nights in recent years.